That’s Our America
President Trump has what he wanted. He has a crisis on the border, at Tijuana, where thousands of migrants from Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua have come to cross into the United States. They have walked a thousand miles because of rising gang violence at home, threats to their children and to themselves, and to find a better life.
In preparation for their arrival, the President sent the more than five thousand US Army soldiers to the border. They didn’t do a whole lot, spread some barbed wire, and built their own camps. They ate MRE’s (meals ready to eat) in sight of Burger King, and spent Thanksgiving far from home. According to the latest, they are scheduled to withdraw in a couple of weeks, and they are specifically NOT to directly confront the migrants. Other than that, the President has done little to prepare for this temporary increase in pressure, except to raise the rhetoric with his language of “caravans” and “hordes” and “invasion.”
The Mexican government has done a lot to prepare. They have moved Federal Police to Tijuana, and they have arranged for food and shelter for the thousands in sports stadiums there as they wait. And when some of the migrants attacked police, the Mexican government rounded up the violators and sent them back to their country of origin.
The Trump Administration set the rules for this confrontation. Most of these migrants seek asylum in the United States. Asylum is a legally defined term, controlled by the UN Convention on Refugees signed by the US in 1951. It is the granting of residence and protection to a migrant, based on a legitimate fear of punishment or death in their home country.
Asylum was an easy concept in the 1950’s; the Cold War between the Communist Soviet Union and the West made it clear. If you were an East German escaping to the West, or a Cuban crossing the Straits of Florida to the Keys, you were automatically granted asylum. But it has become more complex today, as the “black and white” values of the Cold War no longer apply. In Syria, where civil war has burned for years, millions of refugees have left to the surrounding countries. They left from fear for their lives, and their family’s lives; from all sides of the battlefield. The world has recognized their plight, but has struggled to deal with the volume of people seeking help. Camps are still packed in Jordan and Lebanon, and there is pressure at all of the crossing points along the border.
To clear up a couple of technical points: a refugee (migrant) must be in a country to claim asylum in that country. Someone cannot walk into the US Embassy in Nicaragua and demand asylum, they have to literally have feet in US territory. Think back to the 1960’s, of the Cubans on rafts, who until they actually reached the US beach, could not claim protection. And, other than in the European Union, migrants do not have to claim asylum in the first country they enter. They may transit to another nation, before asking for that legal status.
The migrants in Tijuana know the rules: they have to get into the US to claim asylum. They also know that getting asylum is not a “sure thing,” that it is a legal decision that will be made by a US judge. But if they don’t get “feet on” the United States, they cannot even apply.
The Trump Administration has unilaterally ruled that only those who cross the border at an official “point of entry” can ask for asylum. This means that those who cross at some other point, say, a river (notably the Rio Grande in Texas) or by climbing a fence (say along the Pacific Ocean beach) who are able to get “feet on” US soil, are still denied the right to ask for protection. The US Federal Court in San Diego has ruled that this is not allowed under law, but the Trump Administration continues to do so anyway. And, since no additional immigration judges have been sent to help, the maximum number of “legal migrants” who can be processed at the point of entry (San Ysidro at Tijuana) is one hundred. This means a delay of months.
It can be no surprise then, that the thousands of migrants, who have left their homes because of the dangers to their families and walked a literal thousand miles; aren’t so willing to wait for the US process. They know what they have to do, even if it means going into US custody by crossing the border illegally. The pressure at Tijuana is going to grow, and the spectacle of US border agents firing tear gas at women and children will continue. Unless the situation is defused in some way, ultimately someone will die.
Jordan has this figured out. They set up refugee camps in their territory along the Syrian border, and they care for the refugees while they sort out the legalities of asylum. The US has the resources to build camps to hold these folks, already many have been built; we could bring them in, then adjudicate their cases.
The Obama administration had this figured out. When large influxes of migrants were headed to the border, they sent judges rather than troops to greet them. The judges sped up the process of determining asylum, and the crisis of thousands trying to cross was alleviated.
But all of these are short-term measures. Until the nations of the Americas, from Canada to Mexico to Columbia, and certainly including the US: begin to deal with the core problems of violence and poverty in the “northern triangle” of Central America, there will be no end to the refugee crisis. There is no easy answer: we know that economic improvement is critical, and that the US demand for illegal drugs fuels the gang activities in the region. When those two factors are changed, then life will improve, and there will be less pressure on families to leave.
Instead of doing any of these, the Trump Administration has determined to “stop the horde,” using violence and ignoring US law. They have precipitated an unnecessary crisis, intentionally, to leverage their goal of “building a wall” and keeping their base inflamed. The price will ultimately be someone’s life, probably several, and the continuing spectacle of American forces waging war on children.
That’s our America.
