Member-only story
Why Can’t Congress Do More to Protect Migrant Children?
Our lawmakers are too busy, too divided, and too slow to get anything done on the border
There’s a human rights atrocity happening along the United States’ southern border, and Congress continues to do practically nothing in response. Why?
As unrest and violence in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador continues to drive families from their homes in search of greater security, the U.S. southern border has seen a record number of families with children seeking asylum. Recent reports suggest the Trump administration separated thousands more children from their parents than initially reported in 2018. New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has caused a buzz by calling the camps housing the immigrants concentration camps. Her fiery words come in the wake of a number of immigration controversies: reports, including a recent one from the New York Times, that children as young as four months old have been taken from their parents; significant overcrowding in the facilities meant to house these migrants; and news that some migrants will be moved to facilities that once housed Japanese Americans in internment during World War II.
Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have condemned Trump’s border policy, and polls show that most Americans are not in favor of it. So why isn’t Congress doing anything to help solve this crisis?
Congress could be drawing more attention to the issue by holding more oversight hearings, using the Government Accountability Office to audit the facilities, or using their considerable collective public profiles to publicly showcase the victims and their plight.
But instead, only a few members of Congress have attempted to draw public attention or use their legislative authority to challenge the executive branch policy. There are three explanations behind congressional inaction: Our lawmakers are too busy, too contentious, and too stagnant to get anything done.
Congress is overwhelmed
To address the simplest explanation first, Congress is overwhelmed. There is a regular stream of issues they are asked to address: voting rights, the opioid crisis, healthcare, gun violence…
