The most neglected story of 2021? Immigration

The ImmigrationProf blog obviously focuses on developments in immigration law and policy.  Marcela García for the Boston Globe reports claims that mainstream news reporting generally neglected reporting on immigration in 2021.  She writes:

Thousands of immigrants seeking safety in the United States keep getting expelled at the US-Mexico border, which means some of them are living in overcrowded shelters and shantytowns and makeshift encampments [in Mexico] . . . . The expulsions have been enabled largely by Title 42, the rule that allows border officials to turn away asylum seekers on public health grounds.

Our country’s vast and complex immigration system is incontrovertibly broken:  Millions of residents live in the shadows without status and yet keep contributing to our economy — many of them as essential workers. Then there’s the trauma that immigrant parents and their children continue to suffer after being separated at the border. The federal government reportedly stopped negotiating a potential monetary settlement with the families, which would have helped repair the harm it so cruelly inflicted on them.

Does that sound like a flashback to Trump’s America circa 2018? Yes, but it’s also the status quo of immigration policy under President Biden. And it stands as one of the most neglected news stories of 2021."

(bold added).

THE MOST UNDERREPORTED STORY OF 2021? Immigration, this reporter believes. And it could spell more political trouble for @POTUS Biden in 2022: “This is an issue he seems allergic to discussing when he’s asked about it or confronted with it.” pic.twitter.com/YCpmn32CTu

— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) December 27, 2021

KJ