Donald Trump conveniently ignores the reasons why so many people are leaving central America and seeking asylum in the first place. It's because living conditions in their home countries are so bad they have no choice. Is he doing anything to reduce problems with the violent gangs in central America? Absolutely not! He ignores the fact that past U.S. policies including the installation of U.S. puppets has helped foster this problem.
Donald Trump thinks that all he has to do is threaten this, threaten that, and treat people cruelly and inhumanely and he can get exactly what he wants. His policies are taking us entirely in the wrong direction.
The border closure that Donald Trump wants to impose will inflict massive harm on huge numbers of perfectly innocent Americans and Mexicans. There are many people who have jobs that depend on them crossing the border daily. Otherwise they lose their jobs and income. Many food items will vanish from grocery store shelves if Trump gets his way along with massive layoffs of grocery store workers and delivery personnel.
There are many manufactured goods that depend on parts that come across the border. Thanks to Donald Trump we would see widespread product shortages and massive job layoffs because of the product shortages. It would be a catastrophe of the highest magnitude!
JHolmes-- thank you for reading my entry and looking at this issue from the same perspective. I was discussing the Trump strategy for the Southern Border-- and explained how while a "Wall" may be popular among his followers, it is not any kind of solution. There is no instance in which a wall has been an effective solution. It is the equivalent of trying to bury one's head in the sand. Real leadership looks to solve the problems that lead to the crisis of refugees at our border. Throwing money at it nor building a wall will resolve it. It takes more than that. Looking overseas and seeing what has worked and what has not in other nations-- what a gift that is to our leadership, if they would only analyze it with some critical thought. International organizations-- like UN/EU/WHO should truly form a interdisciplinary organization that can help design the best strategy for handling diaspora in a manner that is humane, respecting both refugee and host country's citizens.
@5leafclover: I don't think T is "ignoring" the strife in Central America so much as he is intellectually incapable of grasping the chains of cause and effect that have led to so much suffering in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. The real shambles in all of this is that reasonably intelligent figures within the GOP have continued to stand by and defend the stances such an intellectually and emotionally challenged man (ahem, Kirstjen Nielsen and Mitch McConnell).
Although I wouldn't count on any GOP figure (or even some establishment Democrats) owning up to the role past US foreign policy has played in creating the current state of affairs in Central America. It's still taboo for politicians to talk about America's history of imperialism.
Latest is that Trump announces he is cancelling the 5% tariffs on Mexico. His comments at first seemed to conflate his reasons for these tariffs relating them to trade issues (which I thought were resolved with the new agreement now before Congress) instead of the immigration issue in which he expects Mexico to be our border security... Many have thought he raised these threats against them as a distraction from the Mueller testimony. I think I have to disagree. I think this is going to be an ongoing thing with him d/t the chip on his shoulder he has against Mexico and it's high success - I think he finds his approval among registered Republicans increases whenever he threatens that nation. Naturally the wealthy and the Republican politicians were aghast. I think he will do this again and again and eventually Mexico is going to call his bluff (if they are smart, they will have already begun making trade deals with other nations to soften the blow of this unstable leadership in the US and I think automakers and other manufacturers should be doing the same). Of course, if they feel that he will not be re-elected, they may just wait him out. But I did not think he would win the last one and no longer can I be so sure again because I believe that our elections/machines have been manipulated and there has been nothing to stop that so it will happen again.