Immigration Crisis at the Southern Border

There are many reasons that don’t involve the U.S. directly.

https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/hondurans-flee-climate-change-violence-and-mining-project?amp

https://www.axios.com/migrant-surge-border-crossings-reasons-dd0c6171-df76-43a6-a12f-78eaa4df73d0.html

The US destabilized Central America's government for decades. The CIA was behind the coup against the Guatemalan government in the 1950's which lead to decades of instability, civil war and genocide against the Indigenous populations. The US supported the banana conglomerates over the needs of the local citizens. The US basically supports any right wing government, no matter how bad (most recently Honduras) And the US exported the gang problem that's made El Salvador and Honduras a living hell for many people, especially women and children. US policy of mass incarceration of Central American youth throughout the 1990's and 2000's led many young men to become gang members, and the US then deported these gang members to their home countries. Without any way to make a living. We know how that worked out.

The real crisis is US-destabilization of other countries. The border is humanitarian karma. 

The US needs to to stop equating right wing governments with the lesser of two evils, stop messing in the affairs of other countries, and start working to stabilize them instead. People will stay in their countries if they can live in relative peace and safety and have some hope of a better future. No one comes here for kicks, or for money. They do it out of desperation. 

@lowtide.  Thanks for the links! Once again, the problems link to what the U.S. did to those countries. @lynnventura summarized it well. That Sierra Club article reveals U.S. interests in the mining mix especially when you trace it back to a hundred years of U.S. propping up right wing elite governments, and fomenting violence against progressives. 

It is the outcome that would happen in the U.S. if the likes of Donald Trump had continued to stomp out progressive government here for another decade. We'd be fleeing this country. 

My goal in this thread was to understand the roots of immigration at our border. The more I learn, the more I see my original gut feelings are correct: It is our fault. Accepting migrants at the border is not an act of charity. It is an act of rectification.

I am hopeful that Biden will be able to help to rectify the damage we've done to these countries.  I see he wants to do that but as he said in his first amazing press conference, these are problems that were decades in the making and they will take decades to rectify.  He was careful not to blame the U.S. for the issue, but he knows what we did.  And that is a great start.

https://theconversation.com/how-us-policy-in-honduras-set-the-stage-for-todays-migration-65935

I have difficulty expressing ideas sometimes. I agree with all the points made above, @lynnventura and @jeanne-mayell. I have made 12 trips into the remote areas of Honduras over the past 5 years. I have seen the rubber, palm oil and pineapple plantations. I have seen acres and acres of African palms that have depleted the soil and rendered it infertile. But we buy their oil without a thought to what it does to their farmland. I have listened to many Hondurans who have spoken of their corrupt government.  I have seen dust, drought, mudslides, hurricanes, crops withering in the fields and hunger, always hunger.

There is no social safety net in Honduras. Nothing. The poverty where we serve is stark and deadly. Mothers who cannot breastfeed their babies because they themselves are starving. Blindness from cataracts in field workers by age 30. No way to get to an eye doctor. If you are lucky to have a job cutting weeds and grass with a machete you might make $1 a day. We can’t comprehend how they live.

Of course the US set a lot of this in motion, many years ago with the banana plantations and fruit companies. We used, abused, stole and made Central Americans dependent on us. And yes, I agree that the immigrants coming en masse to our border is our opportunity to rectify and reconcile and partially make right the grave sins of our past. Thank God, Biden is going to do his best to make it right.

I also believe that the leaders of Central American countries have choices and paths they can follow that will take their citizens to a more developed society. The choices are not easy but they have them nonetheless. And most of the time they choose political expediency and $$$ to line their pockets instead of any aid for their people.

I don’t know the answers. I know what our foundation in Honduras does, we promote health care and health education and collaboration with the community in learning self reliance and improving their communities together, with an eye to one day working ourselves out of a job, then moving on to another community to aid. That to me is justice and a small part of reconciliation. And there are many other NGOs down there working toward the same thing.

@lowtide Thank you for such an amazing first hand account.  So helpful. 

Posted by: @lynnventura

The US destabilized Central America's government for decades. The CIA was behind the coup against the Guatemalan government in the 1950's which lead to decades of instability, civil war and genocide against the Indigenous populations. The US supported the banana conglomerates over the needs of the local citizens. The US basically supports any right wing government, no matter how bad (most recently Honduras) And the US exported the gang problem that's made El Salvador and Honduras a living hell for many people, especially women and children. US policy of mass incarceration of Central American youth throughout the 1990's and 2000's led many young men to become gang members, and the US then deported these gang members to their home countries. Without any way to make a living. We know how that worked out.

The real crisis is US-destabilization of other countries. The border is humanitarian karma. 

The US needs to to stop equating right wing governments with the lesser of two evils, stop messing in the affairs of other countries, and start working to stabilize them instead. People will stay in their countries if they can live in relative peace and safety and have some hope of a better future. No one comes here for kicks, or for money. They do it out of desperation. 

 

thank you, Lynn, for spelling this out.  I am putting a copy of this in the Hall of Fame, to make it easy to find for the next time i hear anyone spouting anti-immigrant crap.

@unk-p. Yes, I agree that it belongs in the Hall of Fame. I was blown away by how Lynn summarized the entire history in one post.  @Lynnventura, you are amazing.