Source: Xinhua News Agency
Beijing, 22 Apr (Xinhua) -- Recently, the Ministerial Conference on Immigration in the Americas was held in Panama City, attended by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. A number of Latin American scholars have complained about the US immigration policy, attacked the United States for intensifying the Latin American immigration problem, violating the human rights of immigrants, and frequently throwing the pot at solving the Latin American immigration problem.
The perpetrators of the immigration problem
U.S. law enforcement arrested 210,000 Latin Americans trying to cross the border at the U.S.-Mexico border in March, setting a new 20-year record for monthly arrests. Thousands of unaccompanied children were trapped at Border Patrol stations.
As a "derivative" of the United States in promoting the Cold War, the United States vigorously stirred up the situation in Central America and sowed the evil consequences of poverty and violence in the region. It can be said that Latin American immigrants went north to escape the consequences created by the United States.
On June 30, 2018, people marched against immigration enforcement policies in New York, USA. On the same day, rallies and marches were held in many places in the United States to protest the immigration enforcement policies of the US government. (Photo by Xinhua news agency reporter Li Muzi)
Historically, under the banner of "democracy," "human rights," and "anti-drug," the United States has repeatedly interfered in the internal affairs of many Latin American countries for its own selfish interests. The invasion of Panama by the U.S. military in 1989, the military coup in Honduras in 2009, the forced resignation of Bolivian then-President Morales in 2019, and the political crisis in Venezuela that lasted for many years... In the view of Adalveto Santana, a researcher at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the Shadow of the United States can be seen behind many Latin American political events.
Julio Yao, a Panamanian scholar of international relations and vice chairman of the Center for Asian Strategic Studies, analyzed that another reason for the continuous emergence of "northbound" immigrants in Latin America is that the economic and social development of their countries is limited by multiple factors. The United States has never been interested in supporting the development of Latin American countries, but it has allowed Latin American countries to support the accumulation of wealth in the United States.
In addition, Cesar Rios, an el Salvadoran immigration expert, said that the immigration crisis in the Americas is intensifying due to the long-term change in U.S. immigration policy and the unresolved political divisions in the United States over immigration.
Blatant immigrant human rights violators
In 2021, a video of U.S. border police riding horses and whipping away Haitians trying to enter the country was exposed on social media, exposing a shocking act of barbarism reminiscent of the scene hundreds of years ago when American slave owners drove out black slaves.
Julio Yao is outraged by what happened to the Haitian people, seeing it as "a microcosm of the slavery and racist system that has prevailed in the United States since the 19th century in today's world."
Rios, who has studied U.S. immigration policy for many years, believes that "the current owner of the White House still continues the immigration policy of his predecessors", and still continues to trample on human rights and undermine dignity.
(Xinhua News Agency/Painting by Yu Aichen)
Many Latin American experts pointed out that in recent years, the US government has introduced a policy of forcing immigrant children to "separate flesh and blood" from their parents, a policy of "staying in Mexico", and a policy of excluding Latin American immigrants under the guise of "epidemic prevention and control", resulting in the violation of the basic human rights of a large number of people crossing the border.
Rios indignantly pointed out that the United States embodies hegemonism and unilateralism everywhere on the issue of immigration. "The United States has used unilateral privilege to resolve almost all issues and negotiated separately with Latin American countries."
He believes that the Biden administration's announcement that it is about to cancel the immigration deportation order has left a large number of people stranded at the border, and the deteriorating health and health conditions have left a large number of families in trouble, constituting an unprecedented immigration crisis.
Rudolf Caseillas, an expert on migration at the Mexican Academy of Latin American Social Sciences, pointed out that in recent years, the United States has advocated that transit countries increase the arrest of migrants to reduce the flow of migrants, which has had little effect and increased the risk of violent incidents such as kidnapping and homicide among migrants during their journeys.
"These measures not only increase the transportation costs of migrants and increase their risk of physical and mental injury, but also breed illegal business of smuggling migrants." Casillas said.
Passively responding to the migrant crisis bystander
The immigration policy adopted by the United States Government has been criticized for alleged racial discrimination, human rights violations and abuses of dignity. Experts said that the conference can play a role in solving the migration crisis in the Americas, experts said that they are not optimistic.
Rios argues that countries of destination for migrants should also be responsible for resolving the migrant crisis, and that it would only backfire if only the country of origin of migrants was focused or held accountable. He is disappointed that the United States has not yet been able to effectively implement refugee asylum policies, arguing that American politicians have not delivered on the promises they made on immigration during campaigns and lobbying.
"We vividly remember that Biden promised permanent residency for about 11 million immigrants, but he didn't do it, and he promised to implement immigration reform according to the latest situation, but he didn't do it either." Rios said.
Illegal immigrants who purchased supplies traveled back and forth on the Rio Grande River on the U.S.-Mexico border on Sept. 19, 2021. (Xinhua News Agency)
The negative attitude of the United States in responding to the immigration crisis has made Mexican President López Lopez quite critical. He has repeatedly called on the United States, urging the United States to increase investment in Central America and calling on the United States to honor the multi-billion dollar economic development fund it promised earlier to help solve the immigration problem.
Panamanian political scientist Edwin Cabrera noted that for some time the United States has focused its efforts on Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, and has been slow to respond to the migration problems of the Americas themselves.
"They always want Latin America to solve the immigration crisis in front of everyone alone, but they stand by and watch." Cabrera said. (Reporters: Su Jin, Wu Hao, Chen Yin, Chen Yao; Editor: Huang Shunda; Comics: Yu Aichen; Editors: Zhao Hui, Ma Xiao, Jin Zheng)
Produced by the International Department of Xinhua News Agency
Produced by Xinhua News Agency's International Communication Integration Platform