Total system failure: The immigration system at the southern border

Total system failure: The immigration system at the southern border

Center for the Study of Social Policy (September 25, 2019)

The immigration system at the southern border is a product of a century of conflicting policies aimed at facilitating trade, limiting undocumented immigration, and protecting national security. It was not designed to protect and promote the health and well-being of children and families, but it has an obligation to do so as a publically-funded institution acting on the behalf of the American people. We all know that it is not meeting these obligations. When my colleagues and I visited the southern border, we did not just see a system that was ignoring the health and well-being needs of children and families. We saw a system that was intentionally causing harm and failing to meet the most basic obligations of a public system in a well-functioning democracy.

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