A call for immigration reform: a response to the northern triangle epidemic

Abstract

The current immigration crisis is a global humanitarian crisis. As members of the United Nations, the United States of America has a responsibility to provide aid to those seeking refuge from dangerous conditions in their home countries. In recent decades, however, the United States’ response to an influx in immigration has walked a fine line on constitutionality. This paper discusses the causes of migration to the United States with particular emphasis on the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA) which consists of the following countries: El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, where the majority of immigrants seeking asylum in the United States are coming from. It analyzes the United States’s response to this humanitarian crisis, as the U.S. has failed to adequately provide refuge to immigrants from the NTCA. It exposes the discriminatory policies that exist in the United States, the racialization of the United States’s approach, and the malpractices of U.S. immigration agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). This study ultimately questions the constitutionality of these laws and practices, critiques them, and offers a more humane approach while still maintaining national security.