I don't really care what your politics are, the ongoing migrant situation on the U.S.-Mexico Boarder right now demands immediate action from Congress, not the president but Congress. Full stop.
Congress has been unable to pass comprehensive legislation in regards to the Southern Boarder in over 10 years now and the efforts from both Dems and the GOP to blame whoever's in the White House is Congress passing the blame when it's really on them to actually solve the problem.
Before Trump Supporters already saying "If Congress let Trump build the wall we wouldn't still be talking about it" get the wrong idea, look at Europe and Northern Africa. Walls alone do not work. Plus, the migrants in this case are crossing a river that cannot but dammed--mostly because it is the international boarder separating the U.S. and Mexico in that area--or have a physical barrier on either side on top of it.
As for those on the Left who may sympathize with the Migrants saying "We should not be deporting them, they'll just come right back", the fact of the matter is they are illegally crossing into not just the U.S. but Mexico too. The Mexican government wants to deport as many of them as they can detain because their presence is putting a strain on their resources.
Let's be blunt, Biden being perceived by migrants as being the polar opposite of Trump is what is driving the waves of Migrants seen moving through Mexico since Biden's Inauguration. Some are even demanding they that they be let them into the U.S. on humanitarian grounds.
Yeah, no. That's not how it works.
Two things CNN got right covering this story is most of these migrants are Haitian and most of them left Haiti after the 2010 Earthquake. Where were they until now? South America. Many of them left Haiti after the 2010 Earthquake and resettled in Peru, Chile, Brazil and Venezuela. This is of course excluding those with family in the U.S., Canada and other Western Countries who were allowed to resettle in those other countries.
When Trump became president in 2016, a mass exodus of mostly Haitian immigrants from the U.S. to Canada started happening within days of the election. Why? Because Trump promised mass deportations as soon as he was sworn in. While that ultimately did not happen, the Trump Administration did tighten the immigration rules and shrank the annual quota of immigrants however.
Trump also took the unprecidented step of reversing the citizen statuses of thousands of Naturalized Citizens and revoking Green Cards he claimed were acquired fraudulently--some having been tax-paying Citizens or military vets with no police record for years--despite the lack of evidence. This was what drove a mass exodus of people who were still going through the immigration process out of the U.S. during Trump's first year in office.
While Trump obviously failed to convince Mexico to fund the construction of boarder wall, he DID cut a deal with the Mexican govenment that temporarily stopped the flow of immigrants at the Mexico-Guatemala boarder until Amnesty International stepped in and said Mexico was violating international law by keeping their southern boarder closed, forcing the Mexican government to reopen it. They were basically forced to despite backlash from their own people who liked the idea of migrants traveling through their country even less than Americans do.
With Trump no longer president, many hopeful Migrants took that to mean America was "open to them" again. While Trump was president, Migrants who normally would have tried to cross into the U.S. went to South America instead. When Venezuela imploded a few years back, that changed everything. Did you know Columbia is second only to Turkey in terms of the number of Refugees--mostly from Venezuela--that it hosts?
Haiti now joins Venezuela as basically being a failed state in the Western Hemishere. It meets the minimum criteria and actually has for most of its existence as a country. This is to say nothing of the 2010 Earthquake, last month's Earthquake and the assassination of Haiti's president in July. That country just can't seem to catch a break, can it?
If you're wondering what is in the picture above, those are Mud Cakes. Made with actual mud and dirt. If you're Haitian and lived there, chances are pretty good you "ate" this at some point. Not because you wanted to but because you were too poor to buy food. Of course, they have no nutritional value but they do help suppress hunger to an extent. Malnutrition is rampant in Haiti and more so given unlike neighboring Dominican Republic, the country is not able to feed itself.
Even worse is because of government corruption, it's impossible for Aid to be distributed in the country. Why? Because the Haitian government charges absurd import taxes and fees on Aid Supplies anyone might want to bring into the country. Whoever can't or doesn't pay has the goods confiscated and they're left to rot in a warehouse. Yes, really. They could care less if the aid is coming from an NGO or Nonprofit for that matter, they don't make exceptions.
As of September 23, all of the mostly Haitian migrants who were camped out under the bridge connecting the U.S. and Mexico have been cleared out. Some of the mostly Haitian migrants were moved to immigration detention centers and some were allowed entry into the U.S. but the majority of them were deported back to Haiti.
It is worth keeping in mind these Migrants left Haiti after the 2010 Earthquake that devastated Haiti's capital Port au Prince, not the one that happened last month. Where were they living until now? South America, that's where. The collapse of Venezuela saw a new crush of Migrants that led many Haitians to decide seek assylum in the U.S. For those who were recently deported from the U.S., they are going to a Haiti that is far more dangerous and far more lawless than the one they left 10 years ago.
Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince remains almost the same as it did after the 2010 Earthquake and by that I mean still in ruins. Large sections of the city have been abandoned as people have fled the city to escape violent gangs, some of whom are believed to have been the ones who assassinated Haiti's late presisent two months back. Most Haitians living abroad no longer believe the country is safe and more so given their president was assassinated in his own home.
CNN and other Media outlets followed some of the Migrants deported back and almost immediately, they have been targeted by gangs for kidnapping and ransoming. The gangs' plan is to ransom their captives to relatives in the U.S. in exchange for money.
There are those in the U.S. as well as Refugee Advocacy groups who have heavily criticized the Biden Adminstration over the deportations back to a country most of the world knows is basically hell on earth. Anthony Blinken, who is the U.S. Secretary of State defended the deportations by saying in part the U.S. coordinated with the Haitian government and determined the country could receive the deportees they sent over.
Some might see this as either a "disregard of reality in Haiti" or "Cruelty for those who risked everything to travel to the U.S." but the Biden Administration made the right call. As much as some are saying Biden is continuing Trump's Immigration policy, the truth Republicans pointed out when Trump was president is these policies are Obama era.
Let's be real, Congress is to blame for the lack of sorely needed Immration policy overhaul going back decades. Democrats now whining about the optics is pointless without the willingness to act. Full stop.
All that said.
The U.S. should have a much harder stance when it comes to the issue of Migrants who travel to the U.S. mostly because of economic hardships in their country of origin. The U.S. has been respecting International Laws on the treatment of Migrants and Refugees. So has Europe, Turkey, Peru, Columbia, Greece, Germany, Chile, The UK, Australia, Egypt and South Africa to name a few other countries that are popular refugee destinations.
The UN seriously needs to step up and hold failed states like Haiti, Nigeria and Venezuela accountable for allowing their countries to become so unstable and so unsafe, people are fleeing in droves. If the UN doesn't step in...well, it's not unreasonable for a country with a strong military to one day decide to just forcefully annex one or more of these countries. I do think it's a matter of time personally but I'll save the speculation for another time.
Getting back to just the U.S. Migration Crisis specifically. Congress needs to step up and get something done. Hopefully sooner than later. When the Migrant camp was packed, almost 24 pregnant migrants gave birth. A quarter of the migrants were children, some unacccompanied. As much as some might want to say "Let them stay in the U.S.", that's not how it works and there are already alot of people in other countries who legit think "it's that simple". The U.S. does not and should not have an open door policy. Period.
Yes, the U.S. is a nation of immigrants but there are immigration policies and procedures in place that are expected to be followed and respected. The problem is people think if they just show up at the boarder, they don't have to go through said processes. That's not how it works and most importantly, that's not how it should be.
Wanting to come to the U.S. alone is not a valid reason to have the rules ignored. Even more so if you have a poor quality of life in your country of origin. It's not the responsability of the U.S. (and other countries Migrants are trying to get into) to take in Migrants just because their country of origin sucks, sorry not sorry.
I do draw a sharp contrast between Migrants and Refugees which most of the media is not doing a good job of explaining the differences. A Refugee is someone who has fled or is fleeing their country of origin because they are in fear of their life due to conflict, political violence or ethnic persecution.
The way the western world turned their backs on Jews after Hitler came to power in Germany as well as during World War II was a cautionary tale of what happens when clear warning signs are ignored and whole nations are indifferent. This is also why only 3 generations later, there are whole nations who think the Holocaust never happened despite surivors and the familes of those who died still being very easy to find.
All that said.
Your country of origin being a failed state does not give you the right to demand other countries take you in. If your country of origin lacks Economic, Education or Medical oppotunities, it's on you to demand your government provide both opportunities and incentives. If your country of origin has food shortages, you need to demand the country do something about it.
...I mean weather government officials are corrupt or not.
If you are invited or sponsored to enter your destination country, that is one thing. If you are traveling to another country for specialized medical care or because your life is in imminent danger from violence, that's another thing and you have the right to petition emergency refugee status. My comments are not directed at you if these apply to you.
My comments are directed the overwhelming majority who want to just illegally cross into the U.S. and expect everyone to just accept them. That's not how it works. Not just with the U.S. but other countries.
Speaking of.
I wanted to end with this because this is a precursor of what's to come in not just Europe and the U.S.-Mexico boarder but other parts of the world. The world watched in horror last week week when the Belarusian government used Migrants from the Middle East as pawns to attack Poland's boarder with them. These Migrants from the Middle East were displaced by ISIS for those who don't know. Most of them are from the Kurdistan region of Iraq and Syria.
We are in the middle of a global migrant and refugee crisis and most of the world doesn't even know it yet. Emphasis on yet.
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