For decades, border policies have been driven by rhetoric, not reality. Alliance San Diego and our partners in the Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) are trying to change that.

We have created Border Lens, a research and story hub that features data on the recent encounters at the southern border. SBCC and its partners are currently engaging with the Biden Administration officials about how to address the challenges at the southern border. Because of an executive order that prevents asylum seekers from seeking entry at ports of entry, children and families in danger are attempting to cross between the ports with the hope of applying for humanitarian protection once inside the country. They are then turned back and some have been killed as a result.

The exclusion of asylum seekers serves neither the country nor the people in danger. That is why Alliance San Diego and our partners in SBCC are calling for the Biden administration to stand up a regular process for migrants to present their claims instead of spending billions of dollars on militarizing our border. While there’s many factors that have contributed to the hyper-militarization of the border region, SBCC Director Vicki B. Gaubeca notes two of them: decades of a racist immigration system and private contractors who profit from a border security industry. Learn more about the anti-immigrant origins of different laws here. To better understand the complex private contractor business when it comes to the border, read this report which highlights the relationship between private contracts and political leaders, including President Biden.