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| Honduran migrants 2018 - John Moore / Getty |
One of the greatest challenges currently facing the new Biden Administration is the virtually overwhelming influx of migrants at our southern border.
President Biden's decision to reverse the draconian policy of the former Administration, including the deliberate separation of children from their families at the border, has created an exponential increase in the amount of people migrating to the U.S., particularly from Central America.
The United States has always had a complex relationship with immigration. On one hand, we pride ourselves as being a nation of immigrants while on the other we have made it as difficult as possible for them, first to get onto our shores and then assimilate. That has been true in the past and even more so now.
The journey that this new wave of people make is incredibly dangerous, taking weeks or even months, walking through all kinds of conditions, often without food, water, or proper medical care. Some come as individuals, others as families. Many juveniles travel completely alone.
There is only one word needed to explain why this is happening:
HOPE
They are willing to risk everything for even just a chance of a new, better life in America.
In a recent news piece produced by the BBC* on the dilemma at the border, a young man from Honduras was interviewed about his efforts to reach America. He appeared educated, clean, and well bred. He explained that he was leaving his home country because gangs had extorted his family right out of their small business and threatened his life. He set out weeks before on this perilous journey saying that he'd rather die on the road seeking a chance for a new life in America than dying with nothing in Honduras.
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| Honduran migrants 2018/Jorge Cabrera - Reuters |
Some would ask, why should we accept him? Why wouldn't he stay in his home country and fight to right what is wrong there? Well, to them I would answer that since it was often American foreign policy supporting rouge governments in Central America that gave rise to these gangs that terrorize their own people, we owe these people at least a chance at a better life here. In addition, the American ethos has always been summarized by the Statue of Liberty and the Lazarus poem at its base, i.e. Give us your tired, your poor, etc.
These are either words to live by or they are just so much bull shit. I would prefer to believe that they belong to the former, especially when it comes to young men like the one in the BBC video. It was obvious, at least to me, that, given an opportunity, he would return that kindness ten fold. In other words, he would become the type of person who truly makes AMERICA GREAT.
Certainly, we need a cogent Immigration Policy. Open borders are not the answer. There must be some semblance of order. Chaos will simply not do. However, denying access to desperate people is not the answer either. It is simply not the American Way. And, don't tell me that we don't have the means. We certainly have the budget to drop bombs where and when we deem them as needed. So, we don't lack the resources but rather the will.
The choice is clear and ours to make. Let's make the right one.
*https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-56432363?fbclid=IwAR0rLRxiVglE0uzlzTEdvn0JKzTY2-iWfzAZ9DgM7JDrZIbh4u4F_okHLU4
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