Law enforcement officers work at the scene where people were found dead inside a trailer truck in San Antonio on June 27.
photo:
Kylie Greenly Beale/Reuters
Human trafficking is an ugly business, and sometimes a deadly one. The death of at least 50 migrants trapped in a truck in the scorching heat on Monday is a crime, but it is also another sign that the US lacks a humane, sensible immigration policy.
Temperatures in San Antonio soared to 103 degrees on Monday after a passerby heard a weak cry for help from migrants trapped inside a tractor-trailer and called 911. First responders found “piles of dead bodies” and no signs of water inside the trailer, said San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood.
Sixteen survivors, including four children, were “hot to the touch” and suffered from “heat stroke, heat exhaustion,” Mr Hood said. Three died after reaching the hospital. The dead included migrants from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.
Both sides of the US immigration debate are blaming each other for this tragedy, and they are both right. The failure of the Biden administration to work with Republicans to enforce border security or to reform US asylum law has encouraged more and more migrants to take their chances on a cross-border trek. Border apprehensions are setting new records and this financial year has crossed 15 lakhs since May.
Migrants believe that even if they are caught, they have a good chance of staying in the US; the administration may fly them internally on one of their night flights while they are on asylum hearings. wait for which they may never appear. But this human traffic is now dominated by criminal groups, who have some doubts about who lives and who doesn’t.
Meanwhile, immigration banists on the right and unions on the left oppose any agreement that would allow more legal immigration to meet economic needs and reduce such trafficking. Migrants will keep coming as long as they think they can make a better life for themselves in America
As the party in power in Washington with responsibility for immigration policy, the Biden administration has a duty to fix it so immigrants don’t have to play roulette with their lives. But like many other issues, it seems to be bogged down by political demands left to do little or nothing at the White House border. More human tragedies are inevitable.
Journal Editorial Report: The best and worst of the week from Kim Straussell, Kyle Peterson and Dan Henninger. Images: Composite: Mark Kelly
opinion | When the US Immigration Policy Ends
Law enforcement officers work at the scene where people were found dead inside a trailer truck in San Antonio on June 27.
photo:
Kylie Greenly Beale/Reuters
Human trafficking is an ugly business, and sometimes a deadly one. The death of at least 50 migrants trapped in a truck in the scorching heat on Monday is a crime, but it is also another sign that the US lacks a humane, sensible immigration policy.
Temperatures in San Antonio soared to 103 degrees on Monday after a passerby heard a weak cry for help from migrants trapped inside a tractor-trailer and called 911. First responders found “piles of dead bodies” and no signs of water inside the trailer, said San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood.
Sixteen survivors, including four children, were “hot to the touch” and suffered from “heat stroke, heat exhaustion,” Mr Hood said. Three died after reaching the hospital. The dead included migrants from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.
Both sides of the US immigration debate are blaming each other for this tragedy, and they are both right. The failure of the Biden administration to work with Republicans to enforce border security or to reform US asylum law has encouraged more and more migrants to take their chances on a cross-border trek. Border apprehensions are setting new records and this financial year has crossed 15 lakhs since May.
Migrants believe that even if they are caught, they have a good chance of staying in the US; the administration may fly them internally on one of their night flights while they are on asylum hearings. wait for which they may never appear. But this human traffic is now dominated by criminal groups, who have some doubts about who lives and who doesn’t.
Meanwhile, immigration banists on the right and unions on the left oppose any agreement that would allow more legal immigration to meet economic needs and reduce such trafficking. Migrants will keep coming as long as they think they can make a better life for themselves in America
As the party in power in Washington with responsibility for immigration policy, the Biden administration has a duty to fix it so immigrants don’t have to play roulette with their lives. But like many other issues, it seems to be bogged down by political demands left to do little or nothing at the White House border. More human tragedies are inevitable.
Journal Editorial Report: The best and worst of the week from Kim Straussell, Kyle Peterson and Dan Henninger. Images: Composite: Mark Kelly
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Appeared in the print edition, June 29, 2022.