The current issue of border crossing involves asylum seekers from one of the most unstable and violent areas of the world, the "Northern Triangle."
June 26, 2018
by Rocio Cara Labrador and Danielle Renwick
...The number of asylum seekers (click here) worldwide originating from the Northern Triangle reached 110,000 in 2015, a five-fold increase from 2012. Unaccompanied minors accounted for much of this surge [PDF]. Migrants from all three countries cite violence, forced gang recruitment, and extortion, as well as poverty and lack of opportunity, as their reasons for leaving. While Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama have reported a sharp increase in flows from the Northern Triangle since 2008, most migrants are passing through to settle in the United States. In 2015, the latest year for which data is available, as many as 3.4 million people born in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras were living in the United States, more than double the estimated 1.5 million people in 2000. About 55 percent of them were undocumented....
I've discussed this once before on this blog. This area is where the drug cartels' TRAFFIC from South America becomes congested on it's way to the USA's market. The drug cartels flourish because of it's ability to establish militias along the way for the passage of their product.
The militias enforce terror and fear and enlist children against their will to be part of the militia. The drug cartels have larger budgets for their militias then the governments do and movement of refugees from this area results in an influx into the USA at it's southern border.
The answer for this region is somewhat different than that of Mexico. Mexico rehabilitated it's economy with NAFTA to the point where illegal migration into the USA was silly. Mexicans do not want to leave their families any different than any American. Migration into the USA was and always has been about BEING ALIVE. In case anyone doesn't get the picture, poverty in many countries means death can be a real end to the poverty.
These countries are poor.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the United States was worth 19390.60 billion ($19,390,600,000,000) US dollars in 2017. The GDP value of the United States represents 31.28 percent of the world economy. GDP in the United States averaged 6991.52 USD Billion from 1960 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 19390.60 USD Billion in 2017 and a record low of 543.30 USD Billion in 1960.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in El Salvador was worth 24.81 billion US dollars in 2017. The GDP value of El Salvador represents 0.04 percent of the world economy. GDP in El Salvador averaged 8.13 USD Billion from 1960 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 24.81 USD Billion in 2017 and a record low of 0.63 USD Billion in 1960.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Guatemala was worth 75.62 billion US dollars in 2017. The GDP value of Guatemala represents 0.12 percent of the world economy. GDP in Guatemala averaged 17.35 USD Billion from 1960 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 75.62 USD Billion in 2017 and a record low of 1.04 USD Billion in 1960.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Honduras was worth 22.98 billion US dollars in 2017. The GDP value of Honduras represents 0.04 percent of the world economy. GDP in Honduras averaged 5.99 USD Billion from 1960 until 2017, reaching an all time high of 22.98 USD Billion in 2017 and a record low of 0.34 USD Billion in 1960.
When countries are this poor, there are frequently a place in the country for organized crime. We still see the corruption in Mexico when a group of college students were assassinated. However, Mexico is moving into a place where the economy is stronger and fighting crime rather than running from it has become a habit among the people. There are still areas of Mexico with violence and drug cartel dominance, however, those areas are becoming smaller and the USA has a major King Pin in prison.
...The nature of the violence is distinct in each country, but the proliferation of gangs, narcotics trafficking, weak rule of law, and official corruption are common threads.
Organized crime is a legacy of decades of war in the region, notes a CFR special report. In El Salvador, fighting between the military-led government and leftist guerrilla groups (1979–92) left as many as seventy-five thousand dead, and Guatemala’s civil war (1960–96) killed as many as two hundred thousand civilians. Honduras did not have a civil war of its own, but nonetheless felt the effects of nearby conflicts; it served as a staging ground for the U.S.-backed Contras, a right-wing rebel group fighting Nicaragua’s Sandinista government during the 1980s....
The issues in these countries are profound. Their people are desperate for LIFE sustaining economies and the threats are real. Their people die and the government cannot stop it. Their children are removed from loving and FAITHFILLED homes and put to work as soldiers within the world of the drug cartels.
The problem is always has been the hunger for drugs in North America. The smartest country on Earth is Canada. Canada has legalized marijuana. It is looking at it's illegal drug trade and deciding where and how it can end this blight that visits on the people of Central America. Canada is moving in the right direction and it will have an impact on the drug cartels.
Fighting the drug habits within the borders of the USA and Canada will help eliminate the demand and will begin to end the nightmares of the people in the "Northern Triangle."
The USA is a destination for these people. That is not going to change. The USA is caught between being the cause of these migrations and the humane demand of their treatment. We cannot become viciously violent and kill people seeking help.
IT IS WHY THE "CATCH AND RELEASE" PROGRAM WORKS. There is no other answer for the USA at this time. The PROCESSES at the USA southern border are good and allows for the identification of criminals. We know the danger the Border Guards face every day from drug cartels' movement of their products into the USA. The Border Guards are successful in interrupting drug shipments, but, there are also the east and west coasts that receive drug shipments from Central America.
I might add, when hurricanes lay devastation along those coasts, including the Gulf Coast, it makes it far easier to be a drug cartel.
The people of the "Northern Triangle" need answers as they do love their countries, but, face death everyday and the loss of their children. The USA is doing it's part to move away from it's drug habits, but, it can do more. The USA makes other less wealthy countries more safe by improving it's own bad habits. But, the idea all the migration north can stop by threatening to take children from the migrants is nonsense. That won't stop it. More children will come to the USA unaccompanied at great risk to their lives if the destination is becoming part of the USA's population through adoption or becoming a permanent Foster Child.
Migrant families MUST stay together, processed for criminal backgrounds and at that point allowed to move into the country to find their own way. It is the only answer while the USA grapples with it's nasty bad drug habits.
THERE IS NO OTHER ANSWER TO THIS ISSUE.
GOT THAT?
THE DEMOCRATS NEVER APPROVED OF OPEN BORDERS, THERE IS ONLY ONE ANSWER FOR BOTH REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS. BELIEVING OTHERWISE IS POLITICAL HORSE HOCKEY.
