History of the Flow of Children to the US-Mexico Border - Essay Example

Latino Studies History of the flow of children to the U.S.-Mexico border The history of Latino child migration into the United States-Mexico border has its roots from the removal of the democratically elected president of Honduras in June 2009, through a coup that received implicit support from the United States. Despite the military support, from the United States the county political system continued to deteriorate which finally saw the country being the most dangerous in the world. To make things worse, the intensified campaign of the Mexican government in opposition to drug cartels in Mexico transferred Honduras into a major drug distribution center (Alamo par.1). Keeping in mind of the extensive and porous border that the United States shares with Mexico, many people in the United States worried that, the violence in Mexico could extend to their country. Furthermore, Mexico, being the second biggest state in Latin America, it constitutes the largest portion of the total number of immigrants into the United States. Therefore, at first, the matter of child immigration in the eyes of the people was a Mexican issue (BBC 3). However, child migration from Honduras as well as from the other Central American nations has become a great matter of concern as the then small problem grew steadily to become a critical humanitarian condition according to President Barrack Obama. Soon after, all the discussions regarding immigration in the United States turned on to child migration into the U.S-Mexico border. The matter prompted president Obama to request for additional funds from the members of Congress to help mitigate the problem (BBC 5). There is a lot of controversy regarding the exact reasons that led to this rapid increase in child migration who mostly come from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Some people in Central America hold the false belief that children who make their way to the United States enjoy great autonomy in their lives. Many president Barrack Obama critics indict him for escalating the problem through his careless enforcement of the immigration laws of the United States (Hing para.5). Different leaders and influential people in the United States started expressing their opinions on the best ways of solving the problem. Hillary Clinton asked the Obama government to clearly, inform the Central American people that migrants of all age including children will have their way back to their respective countries. Biden, the vice president, with instructions from the government went to Guatemala to meet the Central American leaders and pass the message. With this step, United States hoped that the problem would end (BBC 3). Questions rise of the possible forces that influenced these children to go though all those difficulties and challenges, which range from long journeys through the desert to human dangers associated with the harsh conditions in their countries. Their aim is to seek for a solution in the United States, which is the country responsible for the problems they are running away from in their countries. Evidence such as the doctrine of Monroe, show that since the early years, the United States has been struggling to dominate the Central American nations rather than empowering them to enable them solve their problems independently on their own (Alamo para.6). In addition, Kennedy principle had an objective of combating socialism in the Latin American countries at all cost without considering the negative effects that the move would have on those nations. The Reagan policy worsened the problem as well as not forgetting the war on terrorism and drugs in the Latin American nations. Indeed, the United States history on imperialistic strategy in the Latin American nations is very disgraceful, as it did not in any way benefit the people of Latin America. In all cases, the overall result of the United States foreign rule in Latin America and more specifically Central America is devastatingly negative (Alamo 9). The main objective of the United States government in Honduras, just like in the other Latin American countries, has not been to set up a secure and flourishing society for the people. The government of Honduras on the other hand, has just been a substitute for the United States government commercial interests in the country. The success of the United States government in Honduras means that it has to accept all the consequences and be ready to carry the blame. Today, it is not surprising to see that the greatest number of children immigrants is coming from Honduras with the other Central American nations constituting just a small percentage of the children. The United States opportunistic policy is that which ruined Honduras and the other Latin American nations (Alamo 10). To continue, the implementation of a foreign plan that faked the sovereign of Central America that we observe today has impoverished and unsterilized them leaving them with frail systems that are poorly equipped to revive themselves. The United States war on drugs has created both a soaring demand and black market for unlawful narcotics thus making the production, supply and the sale of drugs a very profitable enterprise. The business is so profitable that in the areas mostly affected people find it the only way to move out of poverty with others valuing it so high to kill somebody to safeguard the business (Alamo 11). Enforcement as the recent strategy adopted by the United States government to solve the problem of child migration from the Latin American nations does not constitute the best approach for dealing with the problem. To stop child migration means the United States government has to revive the Latin American nations to make them livable again, bearing in mind that it has been the chief mastermind in those nations for the whole past century. The government of Barrack Obama and the future administrations must consider the social and economic consequences of the child migration crisis. United States must understand that it should not continue providing funds to fight criminal organizations such as Barrio and Mara Salvatrucha as doing that would endorse the sovereign of neoliberal strategies in the countries that will encourage poverty and depression. This in turn will influence many other people to join the gangs and hence worsening the problem (Alamo 13). The parents in Honduras and the other Latin American countries want to see for their children exactly what parents in the United States are seeing for their children. That is, the opportunity to establish a respectable life that is both strong as well as secure. The children coming to the United States-Mexican border are not travelling with dreams of purchasing luxurious items such as sports cars but they come in large numbers like all other immigrants to seek solution for their poverty and harsh living conditions in their mother countries. In the past, the United States had an extended plan for helping impoverished people anywhere they were in the world. However, recently it has been withdrawing that plan despite the fact that these child immigrants are too desperate that they decided to visit the country for assistance. The United States foreign policies in their countries are the ones that drove them to the border. The same country can thus come up with new strategies that can help reverse the situation in their countries that stop making such dangerous journeys. Failure to come up with such policies then the United States will continue to harvest the fruits of the bad trees that it has planted in those countries and thus the problem will ever remain unsolved (Alamo 14). Contentious issues about the children Scott Haskin, though he is for the idea that the children deserve a fair treatment, he proposes that the United States government has to take the children back to their respective countries. Surprisingly, he fails to admit that these are true children running away from harsh living conditions from their countries but just militants. First, the problems in the countries they come from are real and not something to think about or to imagine. Secondly, we cannot argue that they are militants because their age does not allow them to voluntarily, join militia groups. In addition, taking them back is not the real solution because the harsh living conditions in their countries will force them to come to the country again. There is always going to be children to take back hence a waste of time and resources. The only solution is to create a friendly environment in the area they are coming from so that they cannot think of running away to look for survival opportunities in the United States (Van and Bachmann YouTube). Jimmy’s statement that the liberals will change their minds when they start getting diseases from immigrants does not make sense at all. These immigrants, including children are not coming to the United States with the aim of spreading diseases. They are looking for solution to the problems they are facing at their home countries. Therefore if we do not want them to spread diseases then let assist them have good life at their countries so that the stop coming (Van and Bachmann YouTube). Stama’s view that the liberals are receiving support from the Obama administration does not really reflect to the problem. The problem of illegal immigratio in the United States did not start during obama’s time but has been there throughout the twentieth century and has now crossed over to the twenty first century. The problem will continue even with a change in regime in the United States if we do not employ better strategies of dealing with it. However, there is still a chance for eradicating the problem if we combine efforts (Van and Bachmann YouTube). Works cited Alamo, Hector, Luis. The U.S.-Created Child Migrant Crisis. Latino Rebels, 18 June 2014. Web. 11 October 2014. BBC. Why Are So Many Children Trying to Cross The US Border? BBC, 30 September 2014. Web. 11 October 2014. Van, Jones, and Bachmann, Michele, “Border Crisis: Children in Limbo.” Online video clip. YouTube. 15 July 2014. Web. 11 October 2014. Hing, Julianne. Dispatch from Murrieta, Calif.: Protesting Migrant Children. Race Forward, 16 July 2014. Web. 11 October 2014. Read More