“If we lose the next election, it’ll be over the southern border not Ukraine.”

 The political pressure generated by migration is set to intensify in the US this week with the expiration of Title 42 — a pandemic-era policy that allowed for the swift expulsion of undocumented migrants on public-health grounds. American officials are braced for as many as 13,000 would-be migrants to cross the Mexican border every day — more than double the current number.

The White House is dispatching troops to the border to demonstrate its resolve. 

Rightwingers stress walls and deportations. The left tends to talk vaguely about economic development and “safe and legal routes” for migration. 

Development is much easier to call for than to conjure up. Safe and legal routes for migration are clearly desirable — but the number of potential migrants is always likely to exceed the number of visas on offer.

Gideon Rachman FT 8 May 2023

https://www.ft.com/content/f408b448-7bff-4837-8505-21e6e994c40e