Migrant image captured on internet.

ALAMOSA — The question of how to prepare in the event that a large group of migrants come unexpectedly to the San Luis Valley has appeared on agendas of county commissioners in recent weeks, culminating with a discussion during Monday’s meeting of the San Luis Valley County Commissioners Association.

The topic gained commissioners’ interest after witnessing the challenges currently facing the town of Carbondale on the Western Slope following an influx of migrants in December.

Of all the topics in public discourse today, immigration is — and has been for decades — one of the lightning rods, sparking fierce, often partisan debate and even giving birth to conspiracy theories that stretch the imagination and have little to no merit.

And now, strong emotions around the issue have only intensified as media coverage has shown groups of migrants being transported via bus from states along the southern border to cities in states further north, like Denver, prompting responses from other smaller communities.

While there is, as of yet, no clear path forward that can gain bi-partisan Congressional support, understanding what terms mean — sanctuary city, illegal immigrant, asylum seeker, migrant — and using them correctly in a conversation might provide some common ground, however small it may be.

There is no legal definition of “sanctuary city”, but the term is widely used to describe a city (or county or state or university) that limits the extent to which local resources are committed in support of federal immigration agents’ enforcing federal immigration law. 

Examples can range from local law enforcement declining to join federal agents in “sweeps” where large groups of people suspected to be without documentation are detained, refusing to jail someone who has posted bond and a judge has ruled they can be released or declining to gather more information than is legally required to obtain services, such as enrolling in public school.

Sanctuary cities do not violate federal law as long as those cities share and maintain information that has been gathered on an individual’s citizenship or immigration status, as federal statutes require. Aside from that, federal law does not require a local entity’s participation in supporting federal immigration agents in enforcing federal immigration law. There are no sanctuary cities or counties in the Valley.

According to the Department of Justice, “illegal immigrant” is a colloquial term used to describe a noncitizen who entered unlawfully or who entered lawfully but has overstayed a visa.

Asylum is a different situation where a person has stated that they have been persecuted or are in fear of being persecuted should they return to their own country.

Asking for asylum is not illegal. Those who have a pending asylum applications are not in the country illegally and are, in fact, protected from deportation provided certain factors are in place.

According to the Department of Justice, “anyone who has a pending asylum application should have a stay of removal [i.e. protected from being deported]. Technically speaking, the Department of Homeland Services (DHS) cannot deport someone until there is an ‘order of removal’ issued by an immigration judge.

“There are exceptions for people encountered at the border or for people who have been removed before but if the person has filed for asylum or has been found to have a credible fear of persecution or torture by a DHS asylum officer, they should not be removed until a determination on the asylum or withholding of removal application is adjudicated.”

Once a person has completed the application for asylum and begins the long wait to appear before a judge, biometric data is collected to make certain that he or she has not entered the country illegally before and been removed. The asylum seeker must also register his or her physical address with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (U.S.C.I.S.) Department, check in on regular intervals to see the status of the application and keep their address current if there is a change is residence.

There are also a series of hearings to determine the person’s asylum status. There are consequences should a person miss a hearing, not the least of which is a delay in the process that is currently taking four years to go to court.

The challenge facing many communities is that, for a minimum of 180 days, asylum seekers are prohibited from working, which essentially means they “are protected from deportation but have no status.”

Asylum seekers may not submit an application for a work permit until they have been in the country for 150 days, and, once that application is submitted, there is another 30-day period after which — if there have been no delays — the work permit is issued.

Due to the current backlog that period may extend far beyond 180 days.

And it is during that six-month (or more) period that most asylum seekers are at the greatest risk since they are in the United States but unable to support themselves or their families, which makes them reliant upon social services that some communities are unable (or, perhaps, unwilling) to provide.

So, where does the term “migrant” come in? It is used as it has always been used: a person who moves — either willingly or, perhaps in this case, not — to another part of the country where they are living is referred to as a migrant.

Immigration has always been a complicated subject. Given the confluence of factors across the globe that are impacting immigration here and elsewhere, it’s not like a conversation that is going away anytime soon.