The US-Mexico border continues to be a massive migration headache for President Donald Trump and his neocon team. RNA - So far, their response to the rising tide of migrants and refugee crisis has been anything but inadequate and shameful. The border is closing, pushbacks are increasing, and hostility is rising. This appalling policy, together with more smoke and mirrors than substance, is driven by the same warped logic that lords over the Trump White House: Satisfying the baseless fear of the ‘other’ and ensuring the reelection of 45th president.
What drives this set-up is not difficult to measure. Throughout Trump’s America, far-right politicians shape the whitewashing agenda, preying on their constituents’ ignorance and fear. It is condensed into this official song: “They’re coming here to rape and kill you, and steal your jobs.” And, “They are being infiltrated by terrorists and encouraged by the Democrats.”
This, of course, is dirty politics, also stemming from a post-colonial capitalist mindset in which the border is open for trade and capital and not for migrants and refugees that America helped to create in the first place.
The Central American refugee crisis did not come about by accident. This is the result of decades of interventionist policies that have allowed the US to topple Central American governments, steal their natural resources and pilfer their goods. In more recent times, the inequalities and under-developments have been reinforced by an unfair trade system and business environment that operates according to the zero-sum game policy - those who run the Wall Street and corporations make the rules.
The Trumpsters must, at the very least, acknowledge how much of this misery the US is responsible for. This is not a question of guilt, but international-moral responsibility, and they are long overdue a reckoning.
A large number of migrants have been displaced by organized crime, civil wars and military coups against democratically-elected governments the US helped to stage. Together with many other factors, they destabilized Central America and subjected its people to violence and poverty to protect American interests.
The top nations from which Central American refugees go to the US are El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela. The country where they start their journey is Mexico - which was forced to reach a shortsighted and morally wrong deal with Trump to stop them on Friday, June 7. The deal passes off responsibility to Mexico and sends its troops to the Guatemalan border to stem migrant flows.
The fact that they now seem more than ever enthusiastic about deploying Mexican troops than adjusting their foreign policy does underscore the colonial nature of this deal. Most Trumpsters will probably never agree, but the fact is that the hellish nature of migrant trade has developed around America’s vicious policy of intervention. The US responds with inhumane tactics and outrageous tools like tariffs when cooperation for economic growth and shared prosperity are what’s actually needed.
According to Fars News Agancy, Trump should take note that this is a face-saving migration deal between the US, Mexico and Guatemala. It has nothing to do with what Trump tweets as a trade deal. Trump has a low approval rating and had to back off his unpopular threat of slapping a five percent tariff on Mexican goods. He didn’t want to jeopardize congressional approval of the new US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
His deal, however, will not solve the border crisis; nor will it stem the increasing flow of migrants, even if this includes Mexico becoming a third country for asylum seekers. Regardless of political wrangling, leaning on it won’t deter others from journeying over land to the US, either.
In many ways, the US has stoked the migrant crisis and it has a moral responsibility to solve it. This stands to reason. A real commitment to saving lives and protecting refugees would not focus on tariffs and troop deployments to prevent departures and contain those fleeing poverty, conflict and persecution. It would start with promoting economic growth and a policy of non-interference. This could begin with presidential pardons and agreeing to fulfill the pleas of the United Nations to resettle vulnerable families already languishing along the US-Mexican border.
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