A National Crisis

Throughout history nations sought to gain security by protecting their borders. Many a time the process of protection involved military intervention. The United States though has had a long history of border protection without military intervention. We have been a safe haven for millions of immigrants for over 100 years. It is what has made this country unique. Now, the escalation of refugees coming from south of the border has again put the spotlight on immigration and border protection. Many have begun to realize that the timing of this crisis is by no means just happenstance. It could very well be an orchestrated ploy by the Republicans to use this crisis as a means to an end. Using tactics of fear and intimidation to push an agenda by its own nature is contrary to what the United States has stood for.

The focus by the media and the rhetoric spewing from President Trump has only heightened and exasperated a potential national emergency. There are questions concerning the timing of this refugee crisis. Many think someone or an organization has put up front money to sponsor thousands of refugees at this particular time, two weeks before a most crucial mid-term election. It is very hard not to consider that the Republican base has had a hand in what is amounting to a huge refugee crisis. Now, the President has said that our military will be deployed. We have to remember that 30 years ago our military bases around the country were strategically placed. Most of our military bases were along our southern border. But, due to budget cuts, too many bases were closed and thousands of people who relied on those military bases for work were left unemployed.

We also have to remember that this crisis is a continuation of a much broader global refugee crisis. There have always been organized migrant treks through Mexico. Back in the 80s hundreds of thousands of Central Americans were fleeing massacres and political persecution that the United States was actually funding. Today, violence in Central America has only escalated. Their own governments have been infiltrated by organized crime. Increasing government repression in Honduras has fueled the influx of refugees fleeing that country. The refugee crisis has swept into much of South and Central American countries. What is adding fuel to the fire of this humanitarian crisis is that the influx of illegal immigrants coming into the United States is not slowing down, according to the Department of Homeland Security. In fact, illegal immigrants crossing the border tripled in April 2018 compared to April 2017.

This refugee crisis has exploded right at a time ripe for Trump and the Republicans to capitalize on. The caravan numbers have only increased not only by increasing numbers fleeing Central America but by recent deportees who had lived in the United States for years or even decades and are now desperate to reunite with their children and other family members still living in the U.S. These numbers are a direct result of unconscionable policies of the Trump Administration of deporting people who already have deep social and family ties within the United States.

Now, it is looking like this whole crisis is a direct result of Trump and the Republican base coordinating events for the sole purpose to lay claim that their agenda is warranted to stave off what is now a monumental humanitarian crisis. They have managed to manipulate and create this crisis to sway public opinion to secure more votes for Republicans. What is actually needed is not the harsh rhetoric and policy directives spewing from Trump but a more compassionate policy by sending the Red Cross and trained asylum officers to our border instead of the military. We also should rigorously support efforts to combat impunity and corruption in those Central American countries.

What Trump has done is cause for alarm all across this nation by creating a tempest for the sole purpose for political gain. His unconscionable behavior throughout his tenure has only deepened America's dive down into an abyss for which this nation may never recover.