Saturday, September 22, 2018

A Few Thoughts on Our Border Crisis

What is happening at the US - Mexico border is very complex. Here are a few points to consider.

1. The way the media have reported on this is shameful. They have politicized these desperate people in order to try to harm President Trump and gain support for the Democrat Party. 

By doing so, the "press" - though our 1st Amendment means much more than just the media when it addresses the subject of freedom of the press - has discredited itself. That is a serious issue, since we the people need to be given facts, and not propaganda in order to know what is happening and make informed decisions. 

2. One huge humanitarian problem involves human trafficking. Here is an excerpt from an email I got from a friend who lives in Edinburg, TX.

Greetings from the Rio Grande Valley! Things have quieted down considerably here since all the uproar a few months ago about the immigrant children being separated from heir parents, etc. Not that the situation has changed any, but the media have lost interest for the time being. If you ask my opinion about it, I’d have to say, “It’s very complicated!” A lot of these kids did not come with their parents, but with “coyotes” who were paid by the parents to bring them up here. Many have been molested, raped, their money stolen, etc. There is a huge human trafficking problem in this area, but the media have not focused in on that.
3.  Now the media have pretty much dropped this story, and have moved on to something else. Does the crisis no longer exist, does reporting on it no longer serve their purposes, or did they get bored?

4. There are some good articles out there about this crisis, but one has to dig deep to find them. Here is the best I have found if anyone who might be reading this would care to investigate further.

Fleeing to Mexico for Safety: The Perilous Journey for Migrant Women
This article has links to many other scholarly works. Of course, as the title says, this is about migrant women coming up from Central America into Mexico and on. Children face similar perils.  Some of them are trafficked and are never seen or heard from again.

5. Central America and Mexico are at war, that is, the drug war. What can we do about it? Well, we declared war on drugs, and drugs are winning. Why not declare a truce, a cease fire of sorts? Why not reexamine the subject of the legalization of drugs?

That is not a popular subject, but our insatiable desire for illegal drugs is destroying Central America and Mexico along with the US and, yes, even Canada. The poor suffer the most even here in the US.

These desperate children & families at our border are, to a large extent, victims of our lack of self control. This did not start with Trump or Obama or Bush, and so forth. This started with us. We are responsible for our actions and the effects they have on others. Drug and human traffickers are taking advantage of the most vulnerable.

Well, that's my opinion. I could share some things I have experienced and seen in my extensive travels throughout parts of Latin America. Maybe I will.

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