WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, FWD.us is publishing a new policy framework, “A Better Way Forward,” which makes bold, practical recommendations to help policymakers reimagine border security, modernize the asylum system, and reduce reliance on other countries to control our nation’s border security.

Authored by Andrea Flores, Vice President of Immigration Policy and Campaigns at FWD.us, former policy advisor in the Obama and Biden administrations, and a native of the Southern border, the white paper draws on over a decade of analysis, governing experience, and evidence on federal border and regional migration policies. “A Better Way Forward” serves as a first-of-its-kind blueprint designed to help lawmakers break free from the failed policies that have driven the cyclical security challenges at the border. Today’s framework release takes place at a critical time for the future of the U.S.-Mexico border and will be followed by a launch event in Washington, D.C., featuring Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (D-TX-16).

“By the time someone makes the choice to migrate irregularly to the United States, the government has already missed multiple opportunities to help them avoid a dangerous and life-threatening journey. To take advantage of these opportunities, the U.S. needs a new legal regime that does not merely react once people have reached the border, but instead addresses the forces and processes that draw people to the border in the first place,” said Andrea Flores, Vice President of immigration policy and campaigns at FWD.us. “Coming into 2025, our goal is to use this white paper to embolden the policymakers looking to reimagine the future of U.S. border security by orienting them around a set of effective policy solutions that secure the border, reform the asylum system, increase legal pathways, and advance U.S. economic interests. Border communities, immigrants and American people deserve a better way forward.”

“For too long, failed immigration policies have created chaos at the border and undermined public trust, leading to hard politics,” said Todd Schulte, President of FWD.us. “‘A Better Way Forward’ offers policymakers an affirmative vision and an evidence-based blueprint to seize the opportunities of migration and manage the challenges of irregular migration so we can have an orderly, fair and secure border and immigration system. FWD.us is proud to lead in shaping the solutions to build a fair, orderly and secure  immigration system that meets the needs of American communities.”

Over the last decade, spanning three presidential administrations, U.S. border policy has relied on stop-gap policies that failed to reduce unauthorized migration. These include temporary border shut downs that drove up unauthorized border crossings and diplomatic solutions that were unsuccessful in preventing further displacement. “A Better Forward” reckons with past policy failures and introduces new concrete solutions to relieve border pressure, modernize the asylum system, and create new legal pathways for immigrants. The white paper was previewed in October last year in an article in Foreign Affairs. 

Years of evidence make clear how to build a better response to the border crisis: one that reduces pressure at the border, allows orderly, legal, and safe migration, and enables people to economically contribute and integrate when they enter the United States. The new framework includes the following six pillars, which represent major policy interventions designed to be implemented together in an integrated approach:

1. Reducing Irregular Cross-Border Movement in the Region: Successful migration management requires a targeted and strategic foreign policy response. The United States must address the drivers of displacement to decrease the number of migrants seeking to make irregular cross-border movements.
2. Expanding Access to Humanitarian and Labor Pathways Closer to Countries of Origin: The United States must work domestically and diplomatically to provide irregular migrants access to jobs and humanitarian protection throughout the region, helping them avoid crossing multiple countries to find work or safety.
3. Increasing Legal Pathways to the United States: The U.S. Government must identify and create new legal pathways that fulfill key U.S. interests, incentivize irregular migrants to use immigration pathways outside the U.S. asylum system and provide accessible immigration options away from the dangerous land-based route to the United States.
4. Modernizing Border Security Infrastructure and Asylum Processing: The United States requires a modern border infrastructure that is fully equipped to intercept security threats at ports of entry, facilitate lawful trade and travel, receive asylum seekers through an orderly appointment process, and protect border communities from security threats.
   Reforming the U.S. Asylum System: Until we achieve a fast and fair adjudication process for asylum seekers, the asylum system will continue to be overwhelmed, and public opinion will continue to turn against it. The U.S. Government must modernize asylum law, clear the immigration court backlog, and address the inefficiencies in our systems.
5. Developing a Federal Resettlement Process for Asylum Seekers: Accepted asylum seekers can then be matched with a community that has resources to support them to prevent the displacement of American workers and other community residents.

Click HERE for the full framework, “A Better Way Forward”

Click HERE for the Executive Summary

Click HERE to visit the new website and to sign up for updates 

Click HERE to read the Foreign Affairs Article