No one factor is driving the latest migrant surge on the nation’s southern border and no easy solutions are available to prevent these cyclical eruptions among those seeking asylum or trying to slip across the border.

But arriving at policy solutions will be close to impossible if leaders in the major parties see more political advantage in dishing out blame than in fixing it. After President Joe Biden was justifiably critical of the often-inhumane approaches of his predecessor — separating children from parents, providing no refuge to asylum seekers awaiting verdicts on their requests — Republicans are happy to gloat about the border surge Biden now faces and use it to propagate overblown fears of an America under siege.

Since Oct. 1, the start of the federal fiscal year, Customs and Border Protection has recorded more than 396,000 migrant crossings, nearly double the 202,000 recorded the same period a year ago. An added complicating and concerning factor is the number of children arriving unaccompanied by adults, with 9,400 documented last month, a 170% increase from a year ago.

Pushing many of the migrants is the poverty, crime and corruption found in Central American countries such as Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. These countries have been infected by violent crime syndicates, infused with illicit drug money coming from the U.S.

The existing instability has been aggravated by the economic outfall from the pandemic and the devastation caused by two major hurricanes — Eta and Iota — that ravaged sections of the region last year.

But it is also likely that many of these desperate people have been emboldened by the rhetoric of Biden, in his bid for the presidency, that he would pursue more humane treatment of those making amnesty claims. In mid-November a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration had to stop the expulsion of unaccompanied minors. The Biden administration is abiding by the ruling and not challenging it. Despairing of the life at home their children face, parents are willing to send teens and even younger children forward to America in hopes they can find better, safer lives.

Now the new administration is facing criticism of its own policies as these children are warehoused in crowded and overwhelmed border facilities and the press is denied access to record the situation. In the short term, Biden teams must find more residential sites to house these migrant children for the weeks and months it can take to find someone to care for them.

Meanwhile, Biden must send a clear and strong message that it would be a mistake to attempt to migrate now. The system is overwhelmed. And the new administration has no choice but to continue to expel back across the Mexican border tens of thousands of migrant adults with no legitimate amnesty claims.

In the longer term, comprehensive immigration reform would help. Give immigrants who came to the country, or stayed here, outside of the legal process — but who have otherwise been law-abiding residents — a chance to gain permanent legal status. This would take an enforcement challenge away from an overstretched immigration service. It would also provide homes for asylum seekers awaiting a decision.

Compromise legislation would also have to include improved border control. While the Trump Wall was an overreach, border security could benefit from enhanced technology and improved infrastructure in key areas.

Other necessary reforms include improving the asylum request process, with the ability for foreign citizens to submit their requests without having to show up at the border. There is a need to vastly increase the number of judges and immigration officers. The case backlog is approaching 1.3 million. It doubled during the Trump years. That administration banished the requesters to Mexico and saw no advantage in expediting the process.

Most daunting is the prospect of working with our southern neighbors to improve their economies and reform corrupt governments, courts and police, so that their people do not feel they must flee. As difficult and complex as that undertaking may be, it perhaps offers the only genuine solution.

While the Biden administration would rather talk about a vaccine rollout that is picking up pace and the massive relief program that Democrats in Congress approved to expedite the economic recovery, it can’t take its eye off the immigration problem on the southern border. Criticizing the Trump administration for what it did wrong was the easy part.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.