The second act of an unprecedented tragedy
NEW YORK CITY — Nobody can predict the outcome — if there is one — to the humanitarian crisis created by the exodus of innocents who, against all obstacles, cross the border by themselves, coming from Mexico and Central America.
But there is no doubt that, if Washington attempts to solve it by the rigid application of the existing laws, it will only exacerbate the immigration chaos that now prevails, the product of a long list of injustices and errors, such as the mass deportations, the multimillion-dollar business of private jails, the abuses of the Border Patrol and the lack of political will to fix the situation of the 11 million undocumented immigrants that are surviving in this country.
That, however, seems to be the solution the federal authorities are leaning to. If that is so, the curtain may be about to rise on the second act of this unprecedented tragedy: the repatriation of the largest number of boys and girls as quickly as humanely possible. The show, if it is performed, will not be exactly cathartic.
“Those apprehended at our border are priorities for removal,” Johnson told reporters at a Washington news conference “They are priorities for enforcement of our immigration laws, regardless of age.”
The official also said that he’s holding conversations with representatives of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico about border security and a “faster repatriation.”
Repression and force are also the proposals made by Republicans such as Virginia’s Robert Goodlatte, a rabid anti-immigrant Congressman who presides the House’s Judiciary Committee.
“Word has gotten out around the world about President Obama’s lax immigration enforcement policies and it has encouraged more individuals to come to the United States illegally, most of whom are children from Central America,” Goodlatte has said.
To him the growing wave of children is “an administration-made disaster,” so “enforcement at the border and in the interior of the U.S. is crucial to end with these kinds of situations.”
It is clear that both Goodlatte and Johnson prefer to present as a problem of border security what really is a humanitarian crisis of enormous proportions. To them, the 90,000 children who are expected to arrive by themselves this year are just another group of “individuals” who seek to take advantage of their rich and generous neighbors to the north.
Goodlatte is wrong and so is — again — the Obama administration. The children don’t come after the increasingly illusory American Dream; they come fleeing from the dangers of misery, despair and unchecked violence created by the drug cartels and the murderous gangs that are displacing an entire generation. They come here to save their lives.
To implement stricter laws and deport more children will not stop this wave of youthful immigration. What can is giving them an opportunity to survive and develop their potential in their own homeland.
For that reason, the only effective and just measure is to invest the billions that are now spent repressing them into creating the conditions that will permit youngsters from Central America and Mexico to NOT be forced to flee at any cost.
After all, that investment would be only a modest down payment on the huge debt contracted with them over, among other things, the devastating armed conflicts financed by Washington during the Cold War and its shameful support for illegitimate and criminal governments.
