Texas has bused thousands of migrants to Chicago, demanding a border crossing crackdown, but a PNW professor says more walls will not solve the problem.

Kathleen Tobin, a History professor who studies immigration, said the best way to solve illegal immigration is to eliminate the problems migrants are fleeing from in their home countries.

“Several conditions are contributing to the substantial number of immigrants coming across the Mexican border and into the United States in recent months,” said Tobin. “There is an economic crisis in Venezuela, continuing effects of the earthquake and political violence in Haiti and climate change affecting agricultural production in Central America to name a few.

“Many of those displaced are moving elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean, but a significant number are coming into the U.S. by way of the Mexican border,” she said. “We have a long history of immigration surges, but the political climate today has intensified the situation.” 

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics show more than 2.8 million undocumented migrants have had encounters with authorities through the end of September. The total for all of 2022 was about 2.7 million.

Through August, about 2.2 million people were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico, compared to 2.38 million border encounters for all of last year.

The issue has hit the Chicago area since Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott began busing migrants to northern cities. Since the first buses arrived in Chicago in August 2022, Texas has sent about 20,000 people to Chicago. More than 9,000 are staying in city-operated shelters.

“While Chicago is proudly a city of immigrants, the new people are arriving very quickly and without resources,” Tobin said. “With winter coming, I understand there are plans to build a heated tent community in the city, but living in such conditions for an extended period is not good for the individuals, families, or the city itself.”  

Tobin said the ultimate solution requires bipartisan federal action.

“Comprehensive immigration reform needs to come from Congress,” she said. “But you can imagine that we will not see anything like that anytime soon, given the state of Congress. 

“What would help significantly is quicker processing and a shortening of the time it takes to get work permits. The more quickly we can get people working legally, the easier it will be for them to settle in and start providing for themselves and their families.”