Why Safe Harbor Matters at The Southern Border
Hadidja Nyiransekuye lives in Denton, Texas. She is an Honorary Delegate of Refugee Congress.
I grew up in Rwanda. And I would still be there today, if it hadn't been for the genocide that happened there in 1998.
I am 66 years old and I am not going to be able to retire any time soon. But I still reflect a lot on how lucky I am that Texas welcomed me when I couldn't return home for safety reasons. These days I am proud to call myself a Texan. I have my PhD in social work, and I pay it forward. I teach my students to help people who need it. Not everyone is so lucky. Right now, in the U.S., there's a law called "Title 42." It means we turn people away at the Southern border without asking if they are in mortal danger. As a result, for many people in desperate straits, these days, it is much harder to find a safe path forward.
I know how important the stakes are because I know what mortal danger feels like. I can't walk without a leg brace and a cane. But in Rwanda things were so desperate that I carried my youngest daughter on my back for five miles on foot. My family and I crossed the border into neighboring Congo and found temporary refuge. And in the end, we found our way to the United States as refugees. Still, it wasn't exactly a walk in the park. I often talk with my children about what would have happened if Congo had turned us back. They tell me, “Don’t talk about it, mum." Because it's too terrible to contemplate. They would have killed us. It's that simple.
Title 42 came to pass under the previous administration during COVID. And the Biden administration has gone back and forth on what to do about it. But it saddens me that it still exists because I'm concerned with what's decent and right. As a mother, it's frightening to me. It's not as though I came to the United States because I wanted to. I ended up here because I faced death if I returned to my homeland. It's a feeling that comes up for me when I see footage of families crossing the Darien Gap. Many of them are holding their babies on their backs, knee-deep in jungle mud. That's not a journey you would undertake by choice.
Many of these families are fleeing mortal danger, like we were in the late 1990s. It is inhumane to turn such people away at the border without screening them for asylum. It's also about their human rights. National and international law recognize the right to seek asylum. Title 42 thwarts those fundamental rights to curb migration. But it fails to honor our capacity to provide support for the people who need it the most. I also want us to push for a world where our foreign and international policy means people are safe at home. I am appalled by the kind of conditions that force people to flee. So, I'm for a two-pronged strategy to curb forced migration. But the truth is, that genie is already out of the bottle.
Texas has been deep under ice rain and a snowstorm this month. And with global weather changing, estimates suggest more people will need to move. Not less. As the leader of the free world, it matters to me that America has policies that show our values. Welcoming people who are in danger and giving them safe refuge is one of those values. After all, it’s no more than we would all want for ourselves, isn’t it?
