Special Briefing
IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL DAILY BRIEF

New Frontiers

The Beyond the Border Dossier

This is an OZY Special Briefing, an extension of the Presidential Daily Brief. The Special Briefing tells you what you need to know about an important issue, individual or story that is making news. Each one serves up an interesting selection of facts, opinions, images and videos in order to catch you up and vault you ahead.

WHAT TO KNOW

What happened? The growing crisis at the U.S. border has dominated headlines for months, with concerns over border security, separated families and ICE raids at the forefront of many minds. But it’s not the only border, and it’s not the only crisis. In fact, migration has societies in churn across the globe, and OZY’s Beyond the Border series is bringing you those stories. 

Why does it matter? With India, Jordan and Turkey now increasingly rejecting refugees, some are blaming wealthy Western nations for being the first to flout human rights norms. But not everything revolves around U.S. and European migration: Mass movements in South America and Africa are increasingly taking center stage as well, affecting the lives of millions and creating new crises all the time.

HOW TO THINK ABOUT IT

Open door. African migrants hoping to make it to the U.S. have much farther to go than those already in the Western Hemisphere. But one country is offering a way in: Ecuador’s relatively lenient visa policies have led to a sharp rise in African migrants over the past few years. As those numbers grow, however, the situation could change, as increasing migration stretches Ecuador’s resources to the breaking point. 

Trans rights. Though many migrants attempting to enter the U.S. are fleeing bodily harm, the situation is particularly desperate for transgender people, who often face extraordinary discrimination and danger back home. The average life expectancy in El Salvador is 73 years, but for trans women, it’s just 33 years — and with more and more asylum applications to the U.S. being rejected, and with roughly half the trans women detained by ICE since October 2018 being sent home, the situation may turn more desperate.

Lifesavers. An estimated 4 million people have fled Venezuela since the country began to collapse, with shortages of food and medicine making life there difficult. But that’s been a boon to Chile, where thousands of Venezuelan doctors have fled … and set up shop, helping to mitigate a notorious dearth of doctors there. The change is especially notable in isolated Chilean Patagonia, which has struggled to retain medical professionals. 

Storyteller. Nearly 1.5 million Syrian refugees are currently in Lebanon, and there’s some political pressure to send them all home. But Lebanese national Ali Abou Dehn, who spent time in Syria’s Tadmor prison, isn’t letting them go without a fight. He’s creating plays and films to educate people about his time in the notoriously horrific prison system, hoping to raise awareness (and anger) about the dangers faced within Syria. 

WHAT TO READ

The Harsh World of Offshore Borders, by Paul Kramer at The New Republic
“Buffer states are regimes cultivated by destination countries to block migrants and prevent their onward mobility, often neighboring countries that are unstable, war-torn and migrant-generating themselves.”

Some Churches Offer Refuge From Deportation With ‘Sacred Resisting,’ by Talal Ansari in the Wall Street Journal
“Churches have long served as places of refuge, from sheltering escaped slaves as part of the Underground Railroad to providing safe haven for Central Americans fleeing conflict. Often, they have done so with little interference from the government.”

WHAT TO WATCH

How Donuts Have Benefitted America’s Immigrants

“For me, Blinkie’s is everything about the American dream. It’s not a big dream … but I’m living the dream.”

Hungary Is Locking Up Migrants in Shipping Containers to Stop Border Crossings

“Most of the migrants here are actually trying to pass through to other, more prosperous European countries. But to the Hungarian government, it doesn’t matter.”

WHAT TO SAY AT THE WATERCOOLER

Mistaken premise? Though it’s long been a staple of immigration policy that foreign aid from rich countries to poor ones deters migration by making poorer countries more stable, there’s no real evidence to support that. In fact, says one recent study, foreign aid may increase migration — because people from the world’s poorest countries don’t have the funds to migrate, no matter how desperate their situation.