US immigration, legal and otherwise, has always been a barometer of the projected hopes of America’s poorer, less stable southern neighbours. After the 2008 financial crisis immigration to the US – more than half of it originating in Latin America and the Caribbean (up from one-fifth in 1970) – dipped noticeably. Since then “comprehensive immigration reform”, a subject no less divisive than Obamacare, has been a common talking point for both parties, as have debates over such niceties as whether “anchor baby” should be a pejorative term, or “touch-back” remigration required from illegal aliens seeking to regularize their status.
The question of immigration – both in the Europe and North America – has generally centred on economic questions. Since immigrants usually compete for low-paying, unattractive jobs, they tend to be heavily concentrated in industries susceptible to economic downturns. Agriculture, construction and the hospitality industry in the US could barely function without the steady influx of illegal immigrants, many of whom work unconscionably long hours, for a pittance, in hopes of being able, one day, to realize the American dream. The reliance of these industries on cheap migrant labour has further complicated the question of immigration. As the US foreign-born population has quadrupled (from 10 to almost 40 million) in the last 40 years, the political stakes of the debate have increased accordingly.
Little, however, has prepared the US government for the child refugee crisis it is currently facing. More than 50,000 unaccompanied minors have crossed its borders during the last nine months – compared with 19,418 in the whole of 2009. Daunted by the scale of the influx, the Obama administration is seeking extra funding of $3.7 billion to cover a “surge” of immigration officials who can process the resultant bureaucratic logjam. In the meantime, many of the children are being held in conditions that would elicit criticism, if not outrage, if some other country were responsible. There has been some discussion of “detention alternatives” (such as bracelets that can be electronically monitored) but the question of how best to respond to the root problem of the current mass exodus, namely the political and security crises in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico, remains unanswered.
Consider the fate of a 15-year old girl that a Guardian reporter spoke to last week. Karla had fled from Honduras because of fears that her father, who had been convicted of raping her as a child, would take his revenge. Her brother had also fled to the US after learning that the father had contracted a gunman to kill him. After being trafficked more than 2,000 km to what she assumed would be a safe country, Karla found herself transferred back to Mexican immigration control prior to being sent home. “We are back where we started and I don’t know what to do,” she told the reporter. “We haven’t got a dollar between us.” Many other child refugees report comparable scenes of violence and instability.
Last week the UN High Commission for Refugees urged that Central American migrants be considered as refugees displaced by armed conflict, “which implies that they shouldn’t be automatically sent to their home countries but rather receive international protection.” The point bears repeating, especially with respect to the large number of children involved.
Under the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, the US is obliged to take their claims seriously. The current rush to expedite deportations, and discourage further immigration, while understandable in terms of domestic politics, veers uncomfortably close towards wilful indifference to a humanitarian crisis.
Many Guyanese know all too well how fraught with danger and criminal exploitation human trafficking can be. After the extortionate fees, there is pain of separation from friends and family, the disorientation of life in a foreign culture and the constant terror of being arrested and deported. Despite these considerable obstacles, millions of formerly illegal migrants have managed to make successful lives in their new home. The current refugee crisis highlights the US failure to overhaul its out-of-date immigration policy, and reaffirms the need for much more engagement with, and action on, the unstable politics and deteriorating security conditions in key parts of Central America.
