NOGALES, Ariz. (KGUN) — Arizona is not only a battleground state, it’s a border state. Immigration and border security are top issues for Arizona voters this election.
Migrant encounter numbers peaked last December, when Customs and Border Protection reported nearly 90,000 in Arizona alone. Since then, the numbers have dropped more than 80 percent because of increased enforcement on both sides of the border.
Critics have gone after the Biden-Harris administration for not taking enough action to secure the southern border.
But humanitarian aid volunteers working to help migrants at the border say the action the president did take this summer, an executive order restricting the asylum process, is already too harsh on legitimate asylum seekers.
“This is about our fellow humans. That’s all it is,” said Dora Rodriguez, a migrant rights activist who works with different groups including Salvavision. Rodriguez herself came to the U.S. as a migrant fleeing violence in El Salvador in 1980.
Immigration advocates like Dora and fellow immigration advocate Helen Porter now spend many days in Nogales, Sonora, trying to comfort migrants who are sent back to Mexico through expedited removal.
“They’re essentially just thrown out into the street,” said Porter.
Migrants usually receive repatriation papers, which explain they could face jail time if they return to the U.S. Even their shoelaces are taken away so they won’t be used as a weapon in custody.
“So our job is to bring a blanket, shoelaces, teddy bears for the babies,” Rodriguez explained.
“The joy that they find in this little toy,” Porter added. “Just a little joy. And that’s about all we can do.”
The activists say President Biden’s executive order defies U.S. law because it denies asylum seekers a chance to ask for protection.
“It’s easy to just see [migrants] as statistics,” said Porter. “They left for a reason and they put their children’s lives, left their family, left their pueblo. They did that for a reason.”
But CBP says the order is helping agents handle the flow of border-crossers after they were overwhelmed last winter.
“Less people across gives us more time to do more in-depth interviews with people when they cross, and to determine if they have mal-intent towards the United States,” John Modlin, former CBP Chief Patrol Agent of the Tucson Sector, said last month.
Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller told reporters last month that the agency had a strong finish to the fiscal year—which ran from October 2023 to September 2024.
“We are putting more people into expedited removal than ever before, which means strengthened consequences and less strain to the cities around the country,” he said.
It’s a country that’s divided. Rodriguez and Porter feel it’ll take much more than a new president to make progress at the border.
“I don’t know what is going to change,” Porter said. “This [issue] has been so politicized.”
“Both parties are really, have to come together,” Rodriguez added. “This is something that needs to be solved in Congress. And we, as communities that care about this issue and trying to bring humanity to it, need to be present.”
Until then, they’ll keep sharing small gifts and smiles, hoping immigration becomes less about politics and more about people.
Asylum seekers are still able to enter the U.S. through appointments on the CBP One app, but only about 1,500 are available each day across all ports of entry.
The executive order is facing legal challenges, but those have not yet been resolved.