Reframing the “Migration Crisis” as a Humanitarian and Public Health Emergency

Abstract

The current narrative of a “migration crisis” has so severely misdirected the understanding of the fundamental human safety, security, and health challenges that confront migrants, that we feel compelled to reframe the issue as a public health and humanitarian emergency. By looking at migrants as an economic threat or as an “invasion” that threatens the American way of life,” it becomes difficult to view their humanity as vulnerable individuals who confront a host of challenges at the border, including abuse, dehumanization, and incarceration. The forced migration of thousands of individuals and families who flee their countries of origin to escape violence and insecurity to then be demonized and retraumatized at the border is a public health emergency. We propose a set of guiding principles for a more just and humane immigration reform, including the need to provide appropriate, trauma-informed care for migrants in detention, an expansion of access to alternatives to detention, especially for children, and the need for an alignment of immigration policy with national law and international human rights treaties.