So either Americans accept our alleged moral responsibility for the needs and wants of every single unhappy poor person somewhere or we let them move here.
Nah.
3
Use eminent domain and build illegal immigrant detention centers right on the most expensive, most liberal areas of the SF Bay Area and Los Angeles. Then maybe we'd see the conversation change.
10
It is amazing what changes could be made in those countries with a little help from our NGO's and government sponsored organizations with expertise in rural development. I have seen the results in many places if the goal is to improve living conditions. But first, you have to deal with host country government and that is not easy.
We should be sending teams of young people to help along with experts in agricultural sciences. Farming practices have to change when the climate changes. Our farmers will have to adapt as well. People will stay there if there is a way to survive there. How do expect them to stay if they are starving?
11
The crux of the issue... illustrated by this comment in the article:
"Trump’s cutoff of financial assistance in March. This reversed an Obama administration effort that enjoyed some success in using aid to improve conditions in Central America and reduce migration. El Salvador is the best example: Aid helped improve governance and reduce gang violence, and the number of its migrants to the U.S. fell by 56 percent over the last two full years.
In contrast, Guatemala is becoming more corrupt and messy, yet the Trump White House is ignoring the deteriorating conditions. Pushing for credible elections and effective, clean governance would do more to reduce emigration than a wall, and would be far cheaper, but Trump doesn’t think like that.
That is a broader problem with Trump. He inclines toward the dramatic, visual and simplistic — a modern version of Persian King Xerxes lashing the sea for damaging his bridge — rather than grasp the difficult, complicated and imperfect policy tools that don’t quite “solve” problems but do mitigate them."
Trump really needs to learn that solving problems in a complicated and chaotic environment is best done without resorting to brutal wielding of threats, withdrawing aid (which is much more cost effective then building billions of dollars in walls, and spending countless billions trying to force immigrants back with a wall of Homeland Security bodies and draconian enforcement policies.
7
The mere fact that Trump is a dangerous textbook psychopath does not make his argument, misrepresented here, wrong.
Guatemalans here phone relatives and friends back home. They tell them that American law does not allow them to be stopped at the border if they claim persecution. They tell them that once they’ve entered our country they will be able to stay, work, send their kids to school, procure false identities and drive illegally.
They tell them that there are powerful people in my party, Democrats, who do not believe in rule of law when applied to illegal immigrants. They tell them that the Democrats and powerful procurers of cheap illegal labor are working to let them stay forever.
They know that they’d have to return home the day the first employer goes to jail for violating eVerify, but that neither Trump nor Congress dare to take this step.
20
I just read, "We fed an Island" by Jose Andres and Mercy Corps is on the top of his list. We stopped giving to Red Cross after Haiti and after listening to this, will stop salvation army too, Mercy Corps is the way to go for your giving, unless you send it to the local institution.
6
We might also take steps to combat Global Weirding, because it is changing climates, droughts, and floods that are helping create migration.
But serious policies and ambitious plans to send real aid to places that need it aren't going to get those people to chant, "Lock _____ up!"
The knowledge that they were doing good was sustenance enough for previous presidents; with this one the inner knowledge is too quiet, he needs to hear the applause, to feed on the cheers, to feed his fragile sense of self. And those cheers are not going to come from doing the behind the scenes work of governing.
We the People don't necessarily applaud those we vote into office just for doing the jobs we sent them there to do. But we are thankful. Or we were thankful at one time.
6
Just more hate? Why does the media stoke the fire that is dividing the United States?
4
Well, the real problem lies in those nasty 'socialist' leaders who want to see the wealth of their countries go to the people rather than to the foreign corporations who are stripping the land of its resources. Uncle Sam just hates that. Can't have anyone rocking the USS Capitalist. So, they get one brutal, corrupt dictator after another. Unless you're one of the wolves, you're one of the sheep. Hence, immigration. Hence, asylum. Thanks, uncle.
6
That is a broader problem with Trump. He inclines toward the dramatic, visual and simplistic — a modern version of Persian King Xerxes lashing the sea for damaging his bridge — rather than grasp the difficult, complicated and imperfect policy tools that don’t quite “solve” problems but do mitigate them.
Nicholas, just take us into the jungle and show us the beanstalk sprung from magic beans, no need to defoliate everything around it for us to see it.
2
If he were serious, Mr Trump would order the military to invade Honduras and remove the gangs, that would send a message to the rest, including gangs in Mexico. Then he’d take what was just raised for a church in France, and put that $1 billion into drought relief for Central America.
4
@James Masciandaro
Check your Central American history and see how many times we have sent military troops to El Salvador and Guatemala just to name a couple of countries, many. Not only have we sent troops, but American private industries like the United Fruit Company have raped these countries of their natural resources, influenced the U.S. congress to invade and had their own private armies, acquired vast tracks of land that was previously indigenous communal lands, etc. etc., The last thin we need is to send American troops anywhere near Latin America.
11
@James Masciandaro
If the conditions that create the gangs don't change then no amount of military intervention is going to succeed. If our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have taught us anything it's that the army is not always the solution.
It's easy to send other people's children to die in ill-thought out wars while one sits at home with bone spurs and plays at being commander.
8
Aside from corrupt governments, climate change, lack of education, the countries from which people are fleeing are just plain over-populated. We would do well to support family planning instead of the ridiculous laws that prohibit this.
14
Very nice... BUT -- when is every other article going to call for a reduction in you carbon footprint and global warming by simply NOT reproducing. Personally, I wince at year-round everything in the veggie section of the super market. I don't know anything about agriculture in Guatemala (or food distribution there). Supposedly the US throws out 264 billion $$'s food annually. (Two women approached me on the street this AM, saying they were here in NYC from NC and would I buy them food!! No food in the shelter??? -- how about researching that one, Mr. Kristoff? Where do people in shelters get their food?)
People who are here well are here -- however, IMO fewer of us would be a good thing... and I do not believe in war as a population control policy.
12
Common sense tells me, that if you improve the living conditions and economic opportunities of the people that have been risking their lives to migrate to the U.S., then most of them will gladly remain where they are. Unfortunately, common sense does not appear to be very common anymore, in our current Administration. If we don't try to solve the reasons why people are fleeing their countries, then they will continue to do so. The most cost effective long term solution to this "crises on the border" is:1) increase economic aid to these countries 2) increase recruitment to the Peace Corps, to bring the information necessary directly to the people to improve their conditions. 3) increase funding for Doctors Without Borders, to provide basic medical services to the people. In the long run, it will be much more cost effective than: building a wall, putting tariffs on Mexico, separating children from their parents at the border, and building more detention centers. Frankly, it's a NO BRAINER, because it's COMMON SENSE!!!
9
Improving economic and social conditions south of the border should bring down mass migrations north. However, there also has to be border security, as the US will still be an attractive destination for migrants looking for a better life. The person in the article was a young girl, and she was right, chances are she would be assaulted if joining a caravan by herself, which may be why most women stay behind. You have to have immigration in the US, but it should be legal, if possible.
4
Evaluating a problem by examining the factors that contribute to it, determining how to target your available resources to get the best results possible and consideration for the people at risk, not this counter punching President's forte. He considers such tactics as a sign of weakness, not worthy of a strongman like himself. He has trained his base, nothing but threats of force are acceptable. His campaign is relying on the immigrant issue. Therefor, he must keep it front and center for his base. The self reinforcing cycle continues with its whack-a-mole agenda.
4
The GOP employees dog whistles to keep their cult under control. "Migrates will take our jobs". Migrates will "overwhelm our health care system", etc.
It is odd though that, given the state of health care in the US, many US citizens consider migrating to Canada or even Mexico.
My daughter broke her clavicle and had to spend 3 days in the hospital that included surgery. The tab for the hospital was $50K, not including the surgeon. She is a young adult and has no alternative but bankruptcy.
We have the GOP to thank for that. A friend retired to Mexico a few years ago. He and his wife are very happy and tell me that health care there is "great". Friends in Peru tell me the same.
What is wrong with us?
17
I wish it were that simple.
See: https://www.cgdev.org/publication/deterring-emigration-foreign-aid-overview-evidence-low-income-countries
Summary: In response to the recent migrant and refugee crisis, rich countries have redoubled policy efforts to deter future immigration from poor countries by addressing the “root causes” of migration. We review existing evidence on the extent and effectiveness of such efforts. First, development aid disbursements do not generally follow “root causes” rhetoric. The sectoral distribution of aid to migrant-origin countries does not significantly differ from its distribution in other countries. Second, the evidence suggests that the capacity of development assistance to deter migration is small at best. Aid can only encourage economic growth, employment, and security to a limited degree. Beyond this, successful development in almost all formerly-poor countries has produced an increase in emigration. Third, this evidence implies that donors could achieve greater impact by leveraging development aid not to deter migration but to shape it for mutual benefit.
5
"migrants are simply fellow humans like Cano Gómez scrambling to do the best they can for themselves or their children"
Is the humanitarian response to ignore the overpopulation of the region? Is it climate change that is driving these folks to come to the USA or is it unsustainable breeding practices?
How does the Catholic Church go unmentioned when it is their policy to encourage population growth?
Respecting the Earth isn't just a rhetorical exercise; it requires us to adjust our cultural norms and habits sometimes radically to ensure survival.
Are we ready for that?
19
@Carl Hultberg
In rural villages around Lake Atitlan in the Highlands of Guatemala, there are women’s clinic that provide birth control—and advertise this on signs.
Most of the people actually still practice the Mayan religion. Sometimes the Mayan ceremonies take place in Catholic Churches.
Yes, birth control is needed more. Especially in the cities.
18
And yet right here in the USA conservatives are trying to shut down Planned Parenthood.
15
Mexico has just promised to deploy up to 6,000 national guard troops along the portion of the border that adjoins this territory.
It is an area that not only has migrant traffic, but also daily crossings by citizens who live on each side near the border.
It would be interesting if NYT would do a follow up to see if the 6,000 troops become a barrier for this girl and others who rely on the cross border neighboring economy as a market for goods.
10
this is what we should be doing, instead of building walls as if its a monument to (individual) one's self.
while i am sympathetic to the plight of people fleeing their countries for better opportunities and safety elsewhere, i also am sympathetic to those on the right who want them to stay put.
people need to fix their own countries instead of fleeing them. fleeing beings its own problems - even if you make it to america, if you dont know anyone, its a lot easier to be preyed upon by the very problems you were fleeing - MS-13 anyone?
6
Trump goes for the visual, dramatic and simplistic for the same reasons that he makes false statements: because work they work politically and mobilize his base. Simple explanations and solutions for complex and difficult problems that confirm pre-existing biases and, in giving a target for anger, feel empowering.
4
It is amazing that this article as well as the individual comments below focus in each case on only one aspect that drives immigration, legal or illegal. I submit that the following are all true.
1. People are taking unbearable risks to leave the northern triangle countries because life for them is unbearable. Aid will help.
2. However, some people are leaving because gaming the system is indeed easy. Aid alone will not help, because even if people can stay in their countries they will continue to be peasants without even the likelihood of serious upward mobility for their children. Not that that will happen necessarily in a country where the language and culture are different. But many have unreasonable dreams.
3. There is no penalty for hiring illegal immigrants.
4. Illegal immigrants do indeed suppress the incomes of the American born underclass.
5. But yes, many of these jobs will not be done by many Americans.
6. There are others, like climate change has been largely caused by rich countries.
Is it possible to develop a comprehensive immigration policy
that considers all of the above? The answer is a definite ``yes''. Will that be perfect? No, but gradual progess is possible.
Is Congress responsible for the absence of such a policy? To a large extent yes. To a large extent no, because we as individuals get riled up by one or two of the above.
14
Trump's audience is his core voter. He has no interest in reducing immigration- to the contrary, he needs the immigration "crisis" to inflame his voters. He does not care about the human collateral.
5
Calling any PT Barnum publicity brawl Individual 1 blows into mass media a "strategy" is a grossly misplaced compliment.
The man cannot plan, solves no problems. He creates mayhem.
Clearly, as Kristof makes clear, help will—help. Hate and force will—fail. The numbers show this so-called president's "strategy" is exactly backfiring and utterly failing.
3
Here's an idea - let's emigrate en masse to Guatemala, to the extent that within just one or two decades we've dramatically changed the demographics and culture of the country. We'll tell them that "no person is illegal," and that it's the plucky immigrants who get things done.
Then we'll see how they like it.
12
@Jon they would probably like it if we brought a sense of safety and help with infrastructure
2
The online version of this story seems to have
left out the link for the liberals to send money.
I'm all for aid to a well-managed country, but then -
if it was well managed, they probably wouldn't
need foreign money.
How come Belize and Costa Rica are having so
much trouble ? They're still Latin America countries.
4
Liberals are so funny. Calling themselves "Liberal," to begin with; usually they don't believe in exporting a form of government. Rather, they believe in honoring "culture." But, now even they show a limit to tolerance when that "culture," be it violent or anti-democratic for women and gays, comes to the U.S. So, they propose exporting Democracy anyway. Which is only a feeble attempt at covering up their own bias over immigration. Moreover, the Democracy they wish to export is simply an expansion of their elitist Western ideas. The very ones which "OLD WHITE MEN," who they loath, invented. In my kid's H.S. they aren't even allowed to say "Western world," because it is seen as supremist ideology.
7
This is just echo chamber rhetoric with no substance.
4
Thank you for good old Midwestern common sense. You expressed well what I believe works. Trump cannot understand nuance.
3
Very good!! Success stories like these are what needs to be published and built upon.
2
Your column opened my eyes to the truth that Trump is doing all he can to make the migration crisis worse so that he can make his presidency all about the fight between his voter base and the progressive Democrats they love to hate. By cutting off foreign aid funding to Central and South America Trump ensures that migrants situation in their home countries will decay even faster than it has in the past. By refusing to focus diplomatic resources and pressure on dictatorial governments and their bad acts, he knowingly adds to the pressure for northern migration so he can rant and rave about the growing problems at our border. Trump is all about creating chaos and using it to his advantage.
3
I spent time last November in remote villages throughout Belize, Guatemala and Honduras, plus a couple cities.
I did not go to the section this girl is from, but I was in all the neighboring regions.
I was shocked by the customary farming practices that degrade topsoil by burning all the nutrient rich stubble after harvests. (This means the soul isn’t enriched by compost. Also, the soil more easily blows away after it is set on fire and the top layer turned to ash.)
We have no description in this story of the actual housing, But I suspect much of it is what I say in the remotest areas: literally mud hits with thatch roofs.
Absolutely every place I went, people volunteered the information that they had relatives and neighbors who had gone illegally to the USA for a few years to earn money to raise the family living standard.
Over and over I was told: $5,000 USD sent home was sufficient to upgrade the family home to a far sturdier cinderblock home with a metal roof.
Also many readers talk about their assumptions of gangs in this region, but I did not find that to be the case in many rural and remote villages.
However, the one constant was that everywhere people pointed out the huge cattle farms that kept growing in size. It was no secret that the majority of cattle barons in Guatemala and Honduras funded their purchase of more land and more cattle by underwriting much of the drug smuggling trade. Local police chiefs and mayors were paid sizable bribes by them.
131
@Jean Thank you. We constantly need fresh eyes on the ground to bring this story home.
I think Nick is a very sensitive humanitarian centered journalist, but for whatever reason, I feel he left a lot of the story.
Things don't happen in a vacuum. The US has used its national interests as a front to exploit Latin America, particularly Mex and Central America since the 1880s.
How many times did we invade, invent and support tyrants to keep a lid on things. That was just how business was and is done. I urge you to elaborate and publish in whatever print or online media platforms you can. Your insights are what this article was sadly missing.
19
@Jean
And the birthrate is astronomical. The land is finite.
16
@Jean
And who eats the meat from those cattle farms, I wonder? Policy tools. such as putting tariffs on products produced in a way that degrades the planet, would also be helpful.
15
You make the mistake of ascribing Trump's intent on immigration to stopping immigration. He has absolutely no interest in actually stopping immigration - there are proven methods of doing so, and building walls is definitely not one of them. He knows how to WIN, especially public opinion and elections. He knows his simplistic slogans and "solutions" sound perfect to his core constituents and the more he demands them, the more loyal they are to him and no one else of any political stripe who dares to challenge him with "alternative facts".
5
Most people don't want to move to a strange land where they speak a different language, far from friends and family. Yes, some do - but most undertake such a trek from necessity, and hope for a better future.
So it is with all the folks seeking to migrate to the US. Between climate change, corrupt and dictatorial governments, and drug gangs - many people decide to take the risk of heading North.
It is unfortunate that the Republican Party cares more about scapegoating than solving problems. Cutting aid to punish countries whose residents migrate to the US is one of those "beatings will continue until morale improves" solutions - it sounds good to angry people taught by media types that immigrants are both too lazy to work, and are also stealing their jobs. However, it does nothing to solve the real problem.
Folks believing in supply-side economics should be open to a supply-side solution: figure out ways to help make these countries less threatening to their citizens. Alas, they apparently want to keep the migrations going - so they can keep recycling their standard campaign issues.
Will aid program money occasionally get mis-spent, or stolen? Yes, just as defense contractors sometimes overbill the US for $1000 ashtrays, aid programs will have waste and fraud. The answer is to put sufficient controls in place to minimize theft and mismanagement, without spending more to prevent misuse than is wasted. Plus, aid programs cost perhaps 2 F-35 fighters - a savings.
103
@John M
For these people the US is not a strange land. We speak Spanish. There are millions of their countrymen throughout the US.
5
@as
Many of these migrants from remote rural areas do not speak Spanish. Many speak only Mayan or another dialect of their ancestors who were the occupants before Columbus opened the door for the Spanish Conquest of Central America.
8
This truly explains the fallacy of MAGA jingoism. Our world is a giant balloon, where pressing on one part of it simply causes another to swell. Throwing up walls and legal barriers doesn’t solve the root causes of illegal immigration which, as described here, are governmental corruption and loss of hope that things will change in their home country. A young woman willing to risk a thousand mile journey, possible rape and death to leave a terrible situation is not going to be deterred by any cruelty Stephen Miller can dream up.
These policies also makes no sense from a foreign policy perspective. In many cases, when we pull our support from a country due to the head-in-the-sand nationalism of the Trump administration, China moves in to fill the void. For example, through dealmaking and other financial ties, China now effectively controls a great deal of the minerals and ports in several African nations. As another, when Trump killed the TPP last year, China immediately stepped in to begin negotiating deals with the countries shunned, including Japan. So if Trump believes that much of Central America is non-strategic, how would he like to have China as a key trading partner and ally of several central American countries, right here on our continent? Maybe he and his isolationist braintrust should think about how they would like to see the Chinese navy docked in Guatemala or Honduras.
96
@Jack Sonville
Forget the TPP (many of us were agin it-- not knowing what was going to be in it!)-- maybe NAFTA wasn't such a great idea as now apparently most of the automobile parts come from MX where workers are paid less than in the USA. OF course, the stock market can soar -- as the FED has decided not to raise interest rates... (fear of banksters, since WJC freed the market from regulation.) We can blame a lot ofn Trump but he had loads of help getting here/there.
4
Most Americans welcome LEGAL immigrants, but do not want ILLEGAL immigrants. They recognize that the US cannot afford (or choose not) to support our own citizens: the poor, the ill, elderly, disabled, veterans, et al., and that they and other US taxpayers cannot possibly support the hundreds of millions of foreigners who would like to come here.
US laws allow foreigners to seek entry and citizenship. Those who do not follow these laws are in this country illegally and should be detained and deported; this is policy in other countries, too.
The cruelty lies not in limiting legal immigration, or detaining and deporting illegal immigrants, or forcing those who wish to enter the US to wait for processing. What is cruel, unethical and probably illegal is encouraging parents to bring their children on the dangerous trek to US borders and teaching the parents how to game the system to enter the US by falsely claiming asylum, persecution, etc. Indeed, many believe bringing children on such perilous journeys constitutes child abuse.
No other nation has open borders, nor should the US.
58
@Mon Ray. Unfortunately, our mmigration laws have become so difficult that even well-educated and well-to-do foreigners can hardly come here. I have tried in vain to help my in-laws come to live near us here in Florida. I was born in DC and my husband is a naturalized US citizen. We wanted his sister, her husband and 2 sons here but it would take around 20 years for them to come here legally. Both adults are college grads and successful in business. We just wanted to be closer to each other. But no, Uncle Sam makes that impossible. That is why I say that illegal immigration will continue to flourish. Nobody will play by such illogical rules.
41
@Robb Kvasnak
"Nobody will play by such illogical rules."
It is a shame that you criticize the Country that welcomed your husband because it places limitations on relatives of the naturalized citizen. It would seem that successful adults with degrees would want to stay in their Country instead of following one sibling who left to marry a person in another country.
To suggest that they will get in one way or the other means that there are many more laws that need tightening like e-verify, an ID for housing, etc.
26
@Mon Ray, I agree that our borders should not be completely open, but our laws currently provide for persons fleeing persecution to claim asylum here. It is up to Congress to pass some kind of comprehensive immigration legislation, but until that happens we should greatly increase the number of judges hearing asylum cases so these poor people are not stuck in limbo for so long. How do you, personally, know these are false claims? That is for a judge to determine.
30
"When he thunders about migrants, he isn’t scaring people away, but rather is sparking more discussion about migration." I.e., migrants are coming in a rush because the fear the border may soon be closed. Would that were true!
"In contrast, Guatemala is becoming more corrupt and messy, yet the Trump White House is ignoring the deteriorating conditions." One of the great virtues of a strong border is that a nation can "ignore deteriorating conditions" in other nations outside that border.
"a modern version of Persian King Xerxes lashing the sea for damaging his bridge " Xerxes was a conqueror who wanted to control what happened in other countries. Trump ran on--and has partly fulfilled--promises to do the opposite.
I have visited many Central American countries, I have lived there for months and have family there. Overwhelmingly the folks there do not want to leave their beloved homes/families and countries, they want opportunity. We have the opportunity to create opportunity on our doorstep, to stop the migration by moving our business to these countries. Get out of China, and move to our southern border and help these countries create economies, using their economic advantages. Shipping lumber to China to be milled and returned to the United States is catastrophic on so many levels. Lets realize America that while our sons and daughers are fighting wars in the Far East and Middle, there is a war to our south that we do not hear about. Create jobs there and they will stay.
119
@matt
Those nations are overpopulated, with some of the world's highest birth rates in the world. That - the macho Catholic religion and the last century sex slavery of young reproductive age females is their core issue for 50 years. That scenario forever leads to poverty, illiteracy, misery and violence wherever it is found...as has been the case with immigration both legal and illegal from all 3rd world countries into all 1st world countries.
12
@matt. Imagine the power and draw of a Disneyland of Las Vegas south of the border. Some creative solution-seeking in addressing our immigration troubles could go a long way.
6
@matt how can I verify your statement that the US is shipping lumber to China to be milled? I've read that chickens will be sent there to be cleaned, then returned to the US. Not good, either...food safety standards, but lumber, too?
6
I am part of a group that has provided scholarships to Salvadoran youth to help them stay in school. Ten years ago we were helping them go beyond 6th grade. Now we are helping some of them complete university. This has given the children of this village hope and very few of them have emigrated to the US. Instead they celebrate each graduation and count the number of professionals in the village.
212
Guatemalans actually really like Guatemala. I'm American, born and "white-bread", but I do too. There is much to admire about the country and the culture. Migration to the US requires deep concerns about the current state of Guatemala and a sincere desire to seek a better life and more opportunities for their children. Trust me, if things were okay in Guatemala, they wouldn't be hiring coyotes to come here.
222
@Sun
There are so many of them who are choosing to leave. Is there not a way that they could stay and help force change in their country with some support from the neighboring countries including the US and Mexico?
10
@Blanche White
Now that you've got you're thinking cap on and have constructively joined the conversation get your people to talk up a solution and legislate it.
9
@Blanche White The ones who are coming now are the poorest, the least educated and are members of ethnic groups that have been nearly decimated by the colonialists and their successors. They have no power or voice to 'force change' and that needs to be recognized. The US could force change with humane policies and pulling support for the oppressors. We have had robust aid programs in the past and have many people in rural development who know how to improve conditions that would allow them to stay. But this administration is not interested in humane efforts. Our State Department has been hollowed out of experts and professionals.
16
It should be obvious: people make long, dangerous journeys because they need to. Famine, violence, plagues - the Malthus trifecta - are at the root of masses of people moving.
Many of my people migrated because the potato crop failed and the British government was too slow, or too stupid, or too unconcerned about those Irish to provide relief. On the Polish side, being cannon fodder for the Russian Army - Poland wasn't Poland at the time, it was annexed by Russia - didn't strike them as a good way to thrive.
Trump likes three-bullet charts, not policy, solutions. He likes splash and dash, and showing his base of voters that he is on top of things. He doesn't actually care to solve the problem. If he did, he'd can the wall, increase fines on employers such as himself to very painful levels, and send aid.
People stay when they can. Resources are best deployed to help people invest in staying by reducing violence and death and increasing opportunity. Isn't that what our own citizens want in their economically depressed towns?
59
@Cathy, if you haven't already, please run for office.
11
"...the most effective approach seems to be not a higher wall or meaner policies, but smart aid offered with a dose of humanity."
Yes, but Trump and his base seem to like walls and meanness. When Trump brings up migrants at a rally and someone shouts, "Shoot them!" the president smiles, the mob cheers. When Trump envisions his wall, he asks for magic paint to make the slats so hot they burn the hands of the brown people trying to scale them; he asks for spikes so sharp they impale the stalwarts strong enough to make it to the top.
This is not a president the least interested in bettering the lives of potential migrants. His stated policy is to accept only those migrants who will benefit us. His America is not a land of opportunity for migrants; migrants are an opportunity for America.
You advice does not merely fall on deaf ears. There is an accompanying sneer on the lips, and a profound indifference to the fate of Cano Gomez. Their only interest in her is to keep her out...by any means necessary.
3
despondence and hoplessness, the near certainty the future holds nothing, is a powerful driver of many of our current social ills, from mass migrations of refugees, to the opioid crisis on America, to the global rise of the nationalistic right, to an inability to confront serious challenges like climate change, and to widespread social pathologies that boil down to fearful tribalism. President Trump exploits this situation but basically gets nowhere because he is unwilling or unable to confront the underlying issue. this reminds me of a study I read several years ago linking a higher than average rate of smoking among young people in dangerous neighborhoods who were unconcerned with the longterm health risks because they believed they would probably not live more than a year or two anyway. it is not possible to address problems you can't or won't recognize, but it is possible to get some political mileage out of them, which is the Trump way. are we really this stupid?
Besides the changes that aid has helped in this country and others in Central America, we can't use lose track of the facts that 30% of all those living there in Guatemala marry by the age of 18, and 20% of all females give birth by the age of 18, so there is a high rate of children per female in a very poor country. Unfortunately, this is a politically incorrect topic. Also, countries are reluctant to touch on the subject of free birth control, as that touches the essence of religion. Africa is the fastest growing continent on earth, one of the poorest, all because of not limiting their child bearing to only 2 children. The world can't afford both in costs, and in climate change, females bearing lots of children. Private groups, and individuals with unlimited money should be at the forefront to deliver birth control to all places around the world. When my husband was Dean of Students over 40 years ago in our small school, he became very aware of the fact that once females were pregnant, the Hispanic girls in our school, and community were required to enter the marriage track because of their Catholicism indoctrination. This article interested me for the very fact that learning gardening as a child, I have had a big one for 48 years. It was part of my mother's Swiss background, and I believe it is in all of our DNA.
7
It's not one things - it's many things. It's a Bracero program, a limited short term work visa bringing in laborers for the growing season: 6 month working in the US, 6 month in their home countries building those communities. They build a middle class lifestyle and bring stability to the region, and the predictable visa becomes a thing to cherish, and we significantly reduce dangerous illegal northward migration.
It's a Marshall Plan for the Americas - Canada and US helping to bring in the infrastructure (roads) and the kind of trade that helps both countries, to improve the prosperity of our Hemisphere.
It's honorable, trustworthy, long-term partnerships with our neighbors to the south. It's respect for those cultures here at home. It's helping the Dreamers become legal, because these children belong here.
It's not spending billions of dollars on a symbolic wall that as we can readily see won't work but drains the resources that could have gone to making a difference.
It's investing in a stable future for our hemisphere. It's building reciprocal trade and then nurturing those trade arrangements, fixing what needs to be fixed, but seeing the future as a long term prospect and not saber-rattling and throwing out agreements on a whim.
We have examples in our history; we need to use those examples. We need to become honorable.
8
Have you ever noticed that nothing, absolutely nothing from this administration is based on a POSITIVE idea.
Everything is done as a negative.
Why not pursue positive actions, helping these people find new ways to farm. Simplistic, I know but experts could probably do a lot to help them and we would learn things too!
Whatever trump does is a downward reaching rather than upward thinking.
(NO surprise there however!)
8
When we traveled to Guatemala some years ago the frequent and often random violence in the society was a high concern. Taking a van from Guatemala City to the Lake Atilan area, the driver stopped at a fork in the road to ask which direction we preferred, the longer route or one more frequented by bandits. Wow. How to choose? When a police motorcycle approached the van on the way back, all of the local residents were concerned that he might be coming to rob us. All of this was deadly serious.
The problem is not only opportunity or economic survival, but a culture based on decades of civil war in which people have learned the way you get something is to take it or shoot anyone who refuses to turn it over. Not long after we left there were reports of shootings at airline crews on the way to the airport because of a labor dispute.
How long would you stay in your house if gangs were coming around threatening to kill you if you didn't pay them or if your son did not join the gang and you had no police protection? The U.S. cannot cure that problem but there are likely ways we could assist in finding a solution. To work cooperatively we have to be willing to do so and open to leadership from those who face this directly in Central America.
There are reports of radio commercials airing in these nations saying that now is the time to go because who knows what will be possible in the future. The current approach is clearly making it worse and something different is required.
8
Progress can be made. Medellin, Columbia, was once one of the most violent places in the world. Young men were shooting each other and bodies lying in the streets. Houses were shot up and no one cared who got hit with the bullets. It has completely turned around and is now enjoying a booming economy and even a boom in the sale of condo apartments. The violence has ebbed down to an ordinary level.
4
@Doug Terry
How was this done? This is the question. You are raising the other half of the equation which complements the opinion piece--economic opportunities with violence reduction. Or does economic opportunity lead to violence reduction? Please enlighten us a bit more.
4
The decision to leave your country is multifaceted, but it starts with overpopulation - Mayans commonly have 8 to 10 children, and since many start having children as adolescents, there are only a few years between generations. The population has outgrown the amount of natural resources that their land can provide.
In Guatemala, family farms have been subdivided for each generation, such that they are now too small to raise a surplus to store or sell. Plus, Guatemala has always gone through occasional droughts which make it even harder than usual to raise enough food. A Guatemalan on a 3/8/11 PBS Newshour segment titled "In Guatemala, Family Planning Clashes with Religion, Tradition” said, "Nearly half the population of Guatemala suffers from chronic malnutrition.” " ... 46% of the children are stunted."
Despite this, Guatemalan traditions and the Church have discouraged couples from using birth control.
Guatemala has been in one of its occasional droughts for the last few years. Coyotes publicize how easy it is to get into the U.S. with a child, and they arrange for Mexican bus companies to transport entire busloads of migrants to the U.S. border.
We need to make the initial asylum interview harder to pass, and to offer Guatemalans both family planning and farming aid.
11
@ann,
You do understand this administration will not allow any discussion of birth control, distribution of birth control, or consultation with a real family planning expert? This administration has bowed over to an evangelical religious minority which is trying to end access to birth control in the USA and needs a subservient lower class to do all the work the wealthy elites (who do have access to birth control) do not want, at wages set by that same elite to produce an abject level of poverty.
4
@SWLibrarian
Neither the GOP nor the Democrats seem to be willing to talk to the Church and other religious groups about eliminating their bans on artificial means of contraception. Central Americans have been persuaded by the Church and their traditions to have large families.
Central and South American migrants continue to have many children after moving to the United States. They do not seem to realize that the planet’s natural resources are limited. A web page on fertility in the United States titled "Fertility and Birth Rates" on the site Child Trends said, "In 2017, fertility rates were highest among Hispanic women (67.6 per 1,000), followed by rates for non-Hispanic black (63.1 per 1,000), Asian or Pacific Islander (59.3 per 1,000), non-Hispanic white (57.2 per 1,000), and American Indian or Alaska Native women (40.8 per 1,000).”
"Among Hispanic women in 2015 (the latest data available by country of origin), Central and South American women had the highest fertility rate, at 93.7 births per 1,000.”
Central America is exporting its problem of overpopulation to our country.
4
@ann
Thank you for explaining this so well. I have seen the stats and you are accurate.
As you state, my concern, too, is that they continue to have many children after arriving in the US. Anyone who is concerned about the environment is not for the kind of immigration we have coming from Central America. ...But there is no justification for demonizing them as this administration is doing.
I would very much like to see a reduction in the US population and around the World. As far as needing labor in the US, it is unbelievable to me that, having a population of 330 million, we still have to import labor. Something is wrong there and I suspect it is the absence of a livable wage and poor working conditions - things desperate people do not object to.
5
This article sums up what I've told people for years. Most folks would like to sty in their own countries. First world countries with the economic resources should help them to do just that, especially the US, which has been the cause of so many problems.
6
Kristof is trying to help us learn why so many want to leave. If we can somehow make life a little better for Lesly Cano Gómez and other people like her, their lives would be easier and we will not have a "migration problem". This is the way our nation once approached the problems of others, although we did whine about the expense.
It is beyond ironic that we are sitting on an enormous surplus of soybeans and corn that we don't know what to do with, and we are paying tens of billons to keep farmers who harvested them from going broke. As I write this, farmers are planting this year's crops in fields all around me.
Maybe as a short-term solution we could simply give our unwanted bounty to would-be migrants where they live, while we work on a permanent plan?
6
@Charles Tiege,
Instead of giving away deliberate surplus, why not expect our farmers to compete without subsidies in a global economy?
1
"When you only have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail." That, in a nutshell, sums up the Trump presidency.
9
I remember, not too terribly long ago, there was a push for a Department of Peace to challenge the Department of War. Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich and Marianne Williamson were a big part of the movement.
Maybe if we had followed through with this initiative, we would not have brought down Iraq, nor would we be fighting in the Middle East, and with Iran, and China.
Diplomatic solutions do not cost as much in human sacrifice and destruction of property as war does.
Who are we to go to war against other countries to change their leadership and government. We have never done a good job at it.
Begin with starting back the Department of Peace with its Peace Corps. Make it a mandatory service to your country by either volunteering in the Peace Corps or the Military.
Living with other people, not from your neighborhood, with different cultures, different religions, different colors, from different regions, would be a big start in seeing other people in our and other countries as human beings just like us. Thus it would possibly decrease the hate in this country. The incentive would be paid college or vocational school for everyone with job "guarantees" included.
3
In high school I had a pen-pal in Honduras who was rather transparent about her miserable living conditions. Needless to say it became very clear to this clue-less teenager that her plan was to come north as soon as she could with or without my assistance.
I guess not has changed much in forty years!
8
I suspect part of the issue for this teenager is that she lives in the final section of Guatemala along the Pan American Highway before one enters Mexico.
She is too far from Guatemala City for her to be able to reach that population center as a market.
5
@Jean The city of Huehuetenango is only a 4.5 hour drive to Guatemala City. Distance is not the problem. The utter corruption and racism of Guatemala's ruling elites is the problem.
5
It is ironic that the same Trump supporters who want to cut all taxes and social spending complain that we can't taken in immigrants because "we don't take of our own poor." The reason we don't take care of our own poor is because of the policies and politicians you have always voted for.
16
Guatemalans are going hungry and she is prospering by growing food to export.
In addition to climate change, I've read that many peasants in Mexico are being forced off their land, which is then used to grow crops for export. I suspect the same is true of Guatemala.
I'm glad it helps Ms. Gomez, but I'm not so sure it will help the immigration problem unless it can somehow keep her neighbors on their land. Perhaps they can also learn how to adapt to climate change and grow some food for themselves.
If they can grow enough food, stay off the oligarchs' radar, and stay on good terms with the local gangs, they might be able to stay and live comfortable lives where they are.
4
The Trump administration need to have a steady flow of Central American immigrants coming towards the border because:
- By raising fears of their coming, he can keep his base active
- He can then push Mexico to concede on business matters by threatening tariffs for not stemming the flow of immigrants
- His buddies can continue to make money through immigrant detention centers paid for by the U.S. taxpayer
- They can then argue for cutting entitlement programs because those pesky immigrant detention centers are costing us too much (as opposed to the decreased revenue from the tax cut to the rich)
-other reasons of which I can’t think at the moment.
10
We should not forget that the reason we do not have immigration reform is because powerful interests in the US want cheap labor with no recourse when abused or injured. Trump's gold courses employed plenty of people without work permits. Instead of spending billions on a wall that can be evaded easily, why not make the penalty for employing someone without a work permit 1 year in jail? (I ask this rhetorically, I am not advocating this)
9
@Richard
Excellent typo: "gold courses" instead of "golf courses." Freudian?
1
In 1955, the population of Guatemala was 3.6 million. Today, it's 17.5 million.
So, the population of Guatemala has increased five times since the end of the decade following the end of WW2.
Yet once again, we have yet another well-meaning NYT article that studiously refuses to mention the effects of runaway population explosions in poor countries, the lack of family planning, the lack of effective birth control, the competition for access to scant resources such as good quality land, and a peasant culture steeped in the medievalism of organised religion, dominated, ruled and enslaved by the backward and inward looking mores of the Church of Rome.
38
The problem is that aid to countries that mistreat and oppress their own citizens is blackmail.
Don't get me wrong. I am not opposed to immigration. Immigrants have made the USA what it was before Trump stole the highest seat of power. I come from a long line of immigrants, and since I am a DAR I know my ancestor were not guiltless in stealing land and resources from the people who were here before we, as a group of immigrants, annihilated most of them.
As far as we have been able to understand, a firm education coupled by an honest freedom of the press, allows those individuals to be able to determine when their human rights are being violated and to legal recourse to alter that violation. Unfortunately, under many of these errant countries see nothing wrong in killing off anyone who dissents mistreatment. But it is not up to another country to change that and especially not the current USA. If the citizens don't like their government, then they must change it and revolutions are bloody.
We have seen ample proof that the USA is swiftly head in the same direction that other errant nations are arrived at. The USA is not the resource I would choose at this time to do any nation building.
Unregulated Capitalism cannot go on forever because at some the only point of Capitalism runs into greed of power and it will destroy the class systems that a Democracy built upon a Republic enables legal rights upon its citizens. The citizens must decide what is tolerated under any govt.
7
Humanity and compassion was wept away with the rest of the campaign debris after Clinton's concession speech. Now we have bullies and the braindead wrecking the place, using our economy as a weapon, hurting millions of people in the process. We don't have leadership. We have a vanity project, and all our government's resources from here to election day will be used to re-elect the fraud in the Oval Office. Whether it's D Day political attacks, or turning the 4th of July on the Mall into MAGA rally, the office of the President has been turned into the sales room at trump inc. where our tax dollars buy trump votes.
5
@Zeke27
Another excellent typo today: "compassion was wept away" instead of "swept away." This one is poetry.
2
No reasonable person would argue that we can give refuge to all of the world's poor and desperate people, but Americans used to admire the type of people with the courage and tenacity to risk everything to try to come here and make a better life. That's exactly the type of people most of our ancestors were.
8
" Defenders of Saudi Arabia keep saying that we should give the crown prince a chance". That is what a lot of people said about Trump. Look were that got us.
I am wondering where Americans heart has gone. Many do not care about the children being kept in cages and now they are taking away their play and education time.
I am not proud of American at this time.
7
Sadly, I can't share this with my young Guatemalan friend in NYC who has been here illegally for five years and works steadily in construction. He speaks one of the 25 Guatemalan dialects that are quite different from Spanish. He speaks little English. His world is insular, living with relatives in Queens and sending money home to his mother in Guatemala, paying for her protection. He is hard working and smart but there are so many traps and roadblocks. Trump is just another obstacle for him.
9
I wish there had been a paragraph or two more about her farming, and how to to where she manages to export.
5
Good luck Ms. Gomez !
You are a true patriot of Guatemala. Rather than flee your country YOU decide to stay and make it a better place for all. Others should follow your example.
And the USA should be sending dollars to support this and other programs to the patriots of Guatemala.
The NYT should publish information and how to donate to support this and many other causes that need funds.
4
@D. Arnold
Please re-read the article. We all HAVE been donating through our taxes, until Trump pulled the plug on the Central American aid funding that enabled Ms. Gomez's progress.
6
"Corrupt and messy"?
As ever, Nicholas Kristof is so determined to play the virtuous citizen of the world, he ignores U.S. culpability in the utter devolution of Guatemala, under both Democratic and Republican administration (it's called the "Washington Consensus") on which he was silent for years.
The U.S. attack on this region of the world has been going on for centuries, with disastrous consequences, and this page, when it's not actively promoting such policies, is telling stories about teenagers.
3
@jrd
Yes. It's hard to tell whether the hypocrisy of the bleeding heart establishment is better or worse than unapologetic, conservative establishment behavior.
1
"Do you want to know why Lesly Cano Gómez tossed out her written plans to migrate to the U.S.? Because of an aid project....Mercy Corps has a program to support young farmers, and Cano Gómez joined it at 16."
I wish President Trump took the time and trouble to read Nicholas Kristof's columns--he might learn something.
But it's far easier to use the issue as a wedge than to figure out how complex both the problems and the solutions are.
So, this young woman decided to stay because of an aid project, aid that Donald Trump halted a few months ago.
How fitting--the man who knows everything would do well to learn he doesn't. Thanks, Nicholas, for keeping us up to date with yet another installment of "things the president will never do because he refuses to admit he can be wrong."
9
People of Central America talk about immigration the way we do about the weather, incessantly. It was that way 10 years ago when I was there and has not changed. Blaming Trump for advertising the coyotes is just plain silly.
My concern is that we are overdue for a recession in this country. With unfriendly business polices being promoted by front-runners the downturn could be severe. The new government will likely make a weaken agreement with China. Such a crisis will not only throw millions of Americans out of work but immigrants as well.
7
Change the asylum laws and you reduce the problem dramatically......deny entry unless and until asylum is granted. The fact that their country is poor and corrupt is no basis for admission into the United States.
12
@Truthbeknown
Check the Constitution. The right to enter and seek asylum has been enshrined there since 1793, not by legislative action.
5
@Truthbeknown How about the fact that the US has contributed to the social and economic problems in Guatemala for years including overthrowing a democratically elected president?
2
@Pam The whole world does not have the right to call themselves refugees and move here.
We are not going to do anything to help central American countries while unindicted Donald is running the show. He has started another fire and wants to show how tough he is by trying to control it. Our country can learn from our mistakes and Trump is one of the biggest ones we've made. This article helps show us the way to help our neighbors and ourselves. I bet it is a lot cheaper to help these countries fight poverty and criminal gangs than it is to put children in cages. At the same time we can help make the world a better place. One young woman like Cano Gómez can open our eyes and our hearts and be an inspiration to us all.
4
How has climate change made it impossible to grow tomatoes? And what did she learn to solve that problem? Just curious.
3
@Never Trumper
Changing heat and humidity patterns can promote fungal and insect infestations; droughts and floods can kill roots. Resistant varieties and adaptive growing methods may mitigate the problems for a time.
As reported by NYT on May 23 (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/23/climate/plant-hardiness-zones-shifting.html), U.S. hardiness zones have similarly changed since 2000. Plants - desirable and otherwise - and animals - including pests - are moving northward and establishing themselves where winter used to limit their survival.
3
For decades the U. S. Department of Agriculture discriminated against black farmers into the 2nd Buah Administration.
Denying them aid and loans that led to a class action lawsuit by black farmers that included Shirkey Sherrod who worked for the Department and was slurred and smeared for allegedly discriminating against white farmers.
The Ancient Maya were among the most innovative and successful farmers ever. Guatemala was a center of Maya civilization. The heirs of the Maya still live in Guatemala.
Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq and Israel are the top recipients of American foreign aid aka arms. The total annual American foreign aid budget is about 1% of the federal budget.
Foreign aid is a much better option to protect, preserve and defend American interests and values than are arms.
9
@Blackmamba
Scholars generally disagree over which factors led to the collapse of the great Mayan civilization, but most agree that overpopulation was an overriding one. Guatemala is again overpopulated. In 1955, it had 3,625,300 people. Today it has 17,577,824.
On 3/8/11, the PBS Newshour carried a conversation between Ray Suarez and several Guatemalans on an episode called "In Guatemala, Family Planning Clashes with Religion, Tradition”. Here are some quotes from the show:
"Stories about the dangers of birth control are often linked to religion …”
"Here, populations are overwhelmingly Mayan and overwhelmingly religious. Women typically have eight, nine, 10 children.”
"Years ago, more children meant more hands to work the land. But generation after generation, farms are divided into smaller and smaller plots. There's less food to harvest. And with big families comes more mouths to feed. Nearly half the population of Guatemala suffers from chronic malnutrition.”
"Malnourished children have 12 points less of I.Q. than a normal child. We will have a great majority of the population with diminished mental capacities.”
I think we need to talk with the Church (and all religious groups that encourage couples to have many children) about lifting their ban on artificial means of birth control. We could also provide Guatemalans with temporary food aid, help their farmers, and so on.
5
@Blackmamba American corporations make no money from humanitarian aid. They make billions selling arms.
3
If someone had a decent income and was safe in Guatemala why would they want to leave? Beautiful, tropical place, much nicer than picking produce in the Sacramento valley.
A tiny percentage of our defense budget would go a long way in keeping people in their own countries and the good will it would create would be immense.
Trump only has two brain cells and when they collide it just makes him meaner.
9
@Paulie the problem is: the funds end up with politically corrupt persons. It rarely goes where it was designated.
The US should be supporting planned pregnancy and population control in its domestic and foreign policies. This is the first step in a more balanced world.
11
Where is the gang violence? We always hear that it is the reason people leave.
6
I don’t think most Americans care about the cause or details in South America, we just want a coherent immigration policy and the end of our borders being overrun by foreigners.
I don’t have time to figure out other people’s lives, but we can and should apply the laws on our books.
9
@There
Actually a lot of people care about the causes, partly because we recognize that we might have been born in a less advantaged country but for the grace of God, and partly because we have compassion for others, and partly because doing something about the causes of migration will reduce migration. Which really, everyone actually wants.
The U.S. and European countries have tried to "apply the laws on our books" with increased securitization. This is madness, as it takes money out of investment for economic and social development and puts it into fear-based waste of resources. Securitization is NEVER a solution, it always seeks to increase its portion of taxes through fear. And then security businesses build and become ensconced in in local economies to the detriment of productive enterprises that feed people and the well-being of communities.
Maybe you don't have time to figure out other people's lives...so figure out your own. it is YOUR tax dollars and mine that are being flushed down the toilet for no productive end.
2
@There The fact that Americans don't understand or care about these issues is a hindrance to solving them. More law enforcement will not stop this migration. Has the War on Drugs decreased drug use? Giving people a means to make a living in their home countries will decrease migration. Also, by not caring you ignore the failures of American foreign policy in the region for the better part of two centuries. Your apathy is depressing.
Living on the edge, every day. I can't imagine what that would be like. Crop failure just around the corner, collapsing produce prices, not to mention thieves, criminals, vandals, etc.
3
America carries the untruthful representation of a Christian and caring and moral country. We were, or tried to be, under President Obama. Now, under Donald Trump, we are what, for too many decades we were: selfish and neglectful of other struggling democracies.
What we did, in many cases, was help ourselves to their priceless natural resources and corrupted their political infrastructure, lacing it with cronies and toadies who would bend the knee to American big business and the military industrial complex. We ran Mossadegh out of Persia in 1953. Consider what Iran is now. But I digress.
When we want to roll up our sleeves and actually demonstrated hemispheric leadership, we can teach, or at least show, others how to help themselves. That is how a democracy is supposed to work. Lesly Cano Gómez no longer has a reason to pull up from her native land. Help has come and she stays to help herself, her family, her neighbors and her country. What better export from America than "Let me/us help you?"
Tolkien put these wise words into one of his characters: "The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out." We need bridges, not barriers. When you help others, you help yourself.
3
@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18
The United States is not a "Christian" country, nor was it intended to be by either the Founders or President Obama.
Invoking a creator makes a compelling rhetorical device in the Declaration of Independence, but the U.S. Constitution - our national operating manual - makes zero mention of "God" or any other divinity. To make the point clear, the First Amendment guarantees protection from the establishment of any religion, including yours.
4
Mia Armstrong: Two women are not just divided by opportunity by happenstance of geography and birth, they are also divided by values shifts. Here is a NYT piece on how opportunity has changed for the worse in the US. President Trump is merely the canary in the societal coal mine, reflecting the rage of the working class folks who can no longer see a way up and are being savaged by rapid change.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/03/upshot/to-understand-rising-inequality-consider-the-janitors-at-two-top-companies-then-and-now.html?searchResultPosition=5
2
Every nation has immigration laws and Illegal immigration is prosecuted in every nation. Why has the U.S. since the 1960s not enforced its own laws that address the illegals, the employers, the smugglers, the churches and the organizations that break the law? That always has been the problem.
11
@Maggie
Why do you suppose that churches "break the law?"
And which law are you talking about?
Do you think there are spiritual laws in operation, like, do unto others as you would have them do unto you? Or, that we are supposed to love one another?
Or...is it only the recent securitization-based laws that you are talking about?
1
@Maggie
Well Maggie, this looks like the end of your political career. You can’t run as a Dem, because they passionately protect every illegal alien. And Repub donors will fight you if you threaten their supply of cheap, illegal labor.
Rule of law? Pshaw.
2
If we want Mexico to stop migrants at their southern border it seems to me we should send our military too. They could learn counter insurgency tactics and help the migrants. We could also vet migrants and some might get asylum in the U.S.
2
@cris elstro
No, and for a good reason. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 prohibits the use of the U.S. military for law enforcement. Without it, we risk martial law for political agendas - for instance, if DT doesn't like the 2020 election results.
4
@Pam
“As I said in 2016, the primaries were rigged against me and the general election was rigged. Now I, President Donald J. Trump, see that the 2020 elections are also rigged and I have directed the FBI and our armed forces to enforce the indefinite delay of these phony elections.”
1
@cris elstro Allowing the US military to operate in Mexico would be political suicide for any Mexican government. None of the various interventions in Mexico have benefited the nation, and some were disastrous.
1
I am willing to give them a lot of help, but not citizenship. That requires the support of the American people. We can educate them. We can employ them. But in the long run they must return to their home countries and rebuild them. If that homeland is too dangerous to return to, then there are the marines to clear a path.
Edward Abbey once suggested that we train an army of Hispanic recruits and send them back home to take back their countries. He was a man ahead of his time.
7
@Caveman 007 We already spend tax dollars training the militaries in Latin countries to keep the control of those countries from the people. The US has done so since before Abbey's time.
1
@Caveman 007
"An army of Hispanic recruits...to take back their countries"?
Starting with the genocide of Native Americans, nation-building by the military has never been the U.S.'s strong suit.
Read what happened to Abbey's "ahead of his time" idea in "School of the Dictators," a 1996 NYT article (https://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/28/opinion/school-of-the-dictators.html) about the School of the Americas. Founded in 1946 (Abbey was 19) that U.S.-led military training program claimed "the ostensible aim of improving ties with Latin American militaries and educating them in the virtues of democratic civilian control over the armed forces." In the 1980s, its Reagan-era curriculum included "a training manual that the Central Intelligence Agency distributed to the Nicaraguan contras...that recommended kidnappings, assassinations, blackmail and the hiring of professional criminals." The program "produced several of Latin America's most notorious strongmen... including Panama's drug-dealing dictator, Manuel Noriega, and Roberto D'Aubuisson, who organized many of El Salvador's death squads."
Careful what you wish for, Caveman.
4
Andrew Sullivan just wrote a piece which he advises Democrats to follow the formula of recent election wins in Denmark and New Zealand by progressive prime ministers:
1) Go big on Green issues
2) Go big on social welfare programs, (healthcare, etc)
AND...
3) Have a humane PLAN for immigration as an alternative to trump's. Because moral outrage isn't enough.
4
@Eric John I'm sure Sullivan will give himself a pat on the back once he notices that Dems have traveled back in time and retroactively implemented his suggestions years ago...
2
@Bobn
Snark aside, he mentioned Obama's program of helping Central American economies wit aid to twart migration. (And it worked).
But there's been no Democratic candidate with a plan (from what I've seen). So I think he's right.
2
“Then there’s Trump’s cutoff of financial assistance in March.”
True to Trump’s racist policies toward Latin America, he cut aid to countries in the Northern Triangle, blaming Mexico instead of his own stupidity for the rising desperation for migration.
Americans often confuse foreign aid with welfare; a giveaway. The facts are as Kristof points out, migration fell some 56% when President Obama trusted his diplomats in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to properly distribute assistance.
This kind of diplomacy promotes American interests, often precludes military action and stabilizes the region.
What a great story about this young woman finding a way to stake out a good life in her country. We need to encourage more people like her to do the same.
5
It is true that helping poor countries would lessen immigration but it would not stop it. Peter Johnson below is spot on, as is Susan of Avon, Colorado. Further, if we changed our laws so that landing on our soil did not create a legal morass but instead they were prevented from staying (Australia put illegals on an island and Canada does not allow Illegals to stay), it would sharply reduce immigration.
Furthermore, a distinct shift of values has occurred, starting in about 1975. Up to that time, productivity increases were shared more equitably with Labor and we had a thriving middle class. Then came "Greed is Good".
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stan-sorscher/inequality---x-marks-the_b_7881768.html?imm_mid=0f5cef&cmp=em-business-na-na-newsltr_econ_20170901
As a result, we have had a disintegration of the family structure as males abandoned their roles because they could not support the family
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/01/single-motherhood-increases-census-report_n_3195455.html
http://www.wakingtimes.com/2016/06/18/the-fatherless-epidemic-in-america-why-dont-have-daddy/
http://www.fathers.com/statistics-and-research/the-consequences-of-fatherlessness/
https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/report/the-real-root-causes-violent-crime-the-breakdown-marriage-family-and
Then came "Maximize Shareholder Value". The 737Max debacle is a consequence of that maxim. Without a values change and spiritual (not religious) renewal, I fear for our country.
Why are there so many migrants from Central America and fewer from Mexico? One reason is all the business and work inside Mexico, making and farming for US. My company has 10,000 people employed. That is 10,000 less immigrating to US. Give people a chance to make a living - they stay home.
3
The bottom line in this story seems to be:
A subsistence and local only agricultural system is no longer sufficient for these small remote Guatemalan villages (where the people are usually 100% Mayan in ancestry).
Rather, one needs to be able to reach a global market if one is to economically survive.
2
That's right. people leave their homes out of desperation. Why did Trump's grandpa leave Germany to migrate to America? Is Trump a second generation immigrant on his dad's side, and a first generation (born here) on his mom's side?
The appalling way he addressed the issue of immigration, calling it the infestation coming from his sordid mouth, is the most vicious egregious thing to my ears, being the refugee myself, coming from the former USSR, escaping from KGB.
If it would be his will only white people would be allowed to the country. I do understand that we have many problems here and in dire need to address them, but if people escaping murderous regimes around the world that should be our main priority to save the families from death and horrific rules of government.
First and foremost we're a land of immigrants, in order to preserve it, the reforms and common sense should be implemented in our immigration reform.
Empathy and real understanding of the plight of families fleeing from persecution should be reflected in reforming this whole system.
Unfortunately, with this cesspool dominating in a WH I have no expectation of any worthwhile changes.
He and his lackeys will continue with the same loathsome
rhetoric that would definitely please his base.
1
May be Trump should read this - or Steve Miller who is running the immigration curbing bid should?
"The result? The torrent keeps getting bigger, with twice as many migrants seized at the border in each of the last few months as a year earlier."
The state of the US economy has as much to do with legal and illegal immigration as any other factor.
Remember the stock answer you had for those who said we had to stop the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico? It's been the lowest in years since the great recession provided no pull.
Sorry, you don't get to caravan-mob the southern border of the US. Stop your rationalization for accepting it.
2
"That is a broader problem with Trump. He inclines toward the dramatic, visual and simplistic...."
I believe the restraint and understatement that Mr. Kristof exercises here is deference and respect that Mr. Trump is not entitled to. President Trump is a simpleton, and anyone clearly assessing his behavior can see that. He also has no regard for his fellow human beings if they can't stroke his ego or feed his bank account.
2
No good.
The more prosperous the citizens of Central America become, the more they will be shaken down by the gangs.
98% of the wealth in Central America is held by 2% of the population. The 2% control everything, the government, army, everything.
You need a ruthless, iron fisted ruler to purge all the corruption.
You need blood in the streets.
1
Thanks for reminding us of the Xerxes story, an appropriate image for much of what passes as Republican politics.
3
Wouldn't birth control be part of the answer? But religious extremists stand in the way.
5
This works for me:
Build the wall.
Apprehend, Detain, and Deport ALL illegal border crossers.
Arrest Sanctuary State, Sanctuary County, and Sanctuary City elected officials.
Support ICE.
3
@Caterina Sforza Meanwhile continue to support policies in those countries that destabilize communities forcing desperate people to leave for places where they can survive. The wall and numerous ICE agents will not stop that simplistic and naïve approach.
2
To what end? What works for you actually does not work.
1
@Caterina Sforza
The migrants are crossing the border and presenting themselves to request asylum. Far from being illegal, that action is protected by our Constitution. For all the repetition it seems to require, it's really not a difficult concept.
And Caterina, by whom and on what grounds would those elected officials be arrested? Details, please. Name specific laws. Show your work.
4
The elephant in the room that no one in a position of authority has the guts to call out: irresponsible birthrates and overpopulation.
These people insist upon having multiple offspring that they can’t provide for yet brazenly expect the citizens of wealthier countries to foot the bill.
7
They don't expect handouts. They work hard for their money.
2
@Michal
"Insist"? "Brazenly"? "These people"?
What a gift to know the minds, hearts, and intentions of thousands.
And thus you, in turn, can insist on brazenly overlooking religious indoctrination prohibiting contraception and promoting a wife's obedience to her husband, low educational attainment and virtually no access to contraception if desired.
Pretty brazen of you, my friend.
2
@Benjo No not really. The vast majority use at least some form of welfare. Have a few babies here and it's the gravy train. It's time for them to work hard at home.
Best way to stop migration from central America
1 help the goverment from those countries to control crimes
2 investe and open a lot of business in those countries in priority manufacturing with out making it hard for people with low education to get hire in those jobs;
Pay them fair
Jobs that can provide them with health care some type of paid vacations
Build more public schools so people can study for the future and keep creating jobs in those countries for people with degrees
And with out
3 establish a monitoring control on the goverment by ONU
To make sure the goverment use all the money produced by their own country correctly and others money coming from other countries as a gift
Because some of those countries have been getting help for thousands of years from other wealthy countries millions and millions
But the poor people has never get any help from that money
The money has always end it up in the wrong hands
4 people working for the law need to get better salaries so they don't get into wrong doings with street gangs and drugs smuggler
The reasons why this countries are living so poor is because the governments are so corrupt and they just want to take all the money they can when they get in power
5 built thousand and thousands of building appartments and houses
1
There are weaknesses in this piece. First, Lesly Cano Gomez, if 1 were to scrutinize her c.v. and social origins, would find that she comes from an upper class family, benefitted from a good formal education, and thus, is not your typical migrant:poor, illiterate in idiom of Cervantes due to lack of opportunity to attend school,and would be the first to apply for generous welfare payments--who could blame her?--once she crossed the border into the US.Second, why does it seem to Alexander Harrison that author always appears to choose wasps as scholarship winners to accompany him on his foreign travels?Would be not be more astute, philanthropic to choose a local citizen, in need of a helping hand, to be the "personne interposee"between him and the local populace, and then sponsor that volunteer's family for visas to the US?Finally, Trump is not "flailing about" when it comes to persuading Mexico to cooperate in stopping migrants at the border, but allowing them to apply for visas to remain Mexico to work. Sounds like much sought after cooperation is now a fait accompli!
1
Mr. Kristoff makes far too much sense to put his ideas into practice.
I saw an item on the television about the plight of a Guatemalan small holder. The climate had become quite erratic, which was failing his crops, and I noticed that he was doing hand tillage. Very sad really. Even from afar I could see his problems were not insurmountable. He needed a rotary hoe at least, and field drainage to stop the rain washing his soil away, and country wide they need detention dams for irrigation during dry years. Rather than the US spending billions on a border wall, an agricultural bank to provide grants and seasonal finance for Central American farmers would be a better idea. And for their negligent governments, a boot in the backside.
1
If they do not eat we will not sleep.
2
I would suggest you read up on Central American aid under President Obama. When it was reported that Trump cut aid to Central America, who do you think established it in the first place? The left has been awake for longer than you think.
1
Congress needs to do the right thing and provide appropriate and desperately needed foreign aid. If necessary, override a President Trump veto.
Ask Republicans, WWJD?
These people mean nothing to Trump. Most people NOT named Trump mean nothing to him. Every single “ relationship “ is entirely based upon how HE may benefit. He’s a profoundly stupid man, but he’s cunning. In a street smart, lifelong Con artist way. Born and bred for fraud, larceny and corruption.
Trump For Prison- 2020.
2
"Aid project," phooey.
The Administration's policy is one thing: making people of color suffer.
We don't care if they are in the US or not. If they are legal or not. We don't even really care if they are US citizens or not. like the thousands of people this Administration basically killed in Puerto Rico, sure as pulling the trigger but not nearly as quick and a lot more painful.
A happy outcome like this one keeps one more migrant off the road. But it does not meet the Administration's goal. Maybe it ought to fund and 'train' bands of mercenaries to rid Guatemala of enemies, and declare her a socialist.
A Muslim, liberal socialist. Yeah, that's the ticket.
1
We can easily absorb these people. Our support of the Central American killer squads (Oliver North, etc) caused this fleeing from C America. I still wince when I think of FDR sending a shipload of Jewish women and children back to Hitlers ovens in 1939.
2
When climate change really hits, making it essentially impossible for Lesly and others like her to adapt and produce ANY food, climate refugees will desperately migrate North in uncontrollable numbers that walls or even bullets cannot deter.
Beware northern parts of the world, especially permafrost-free places like Iceland!
3
Partly, opportunities for young Guatemalans are scarce because there are so many of them. The Total Fertility Rate in Guatemala, 2.9 births per woman, is the highest of any country in Latin America and the Caribbean. In Mexico and Nicaragua the rate is 2.2; it is 1.7 in Brazil. We have learned that there are two essential components for reducing fertility rates. First, women must have opportunities for gainful employment outside the home. This is what Mr. Kristof's column points out. The second necessary ingredient is access to reliable, affordable contraception. During a visit to Guatemala in 2005 I saw banners, in every town and village, put up by the Catholic church campaigning against contraception. Everywhere I traveled, I saw very young girls, children really, pregnant. I visited again in 2017 and still saw many very young pregnant girls, but not as many banners against contraception. Perhaps the influence of the church has diminished in the wake of the world-wide reach of the sex abuse scandals involving priests.
18
The reason just this past month hundreds of thousands Central Americans illegally crossed into the US and were granted entry along with work permits was not because they think they cannot make a life in their villages, as Kristoff puts it.
Instead what is driving Central Americans to cross into the US by the hundreds of thousands is that they have all come to see how easy it is to fraudulently claim asylum and get to be granted entry into the US along with a work permit based on that claim and a promise to show up for a court hearing, a hearing they have no intention of showing up to. According to the DHS only 12% of those claiming asylum show up for their hearings and of those who do less than 5% make a valid claim for asylum.
So the basis of the crisis at the border is that people are lying and committing immigration fraud on a massive scale because they are getting away with it. And the way to stop people from getting away with fraud should not require resolving the economic problems that are the reason they commit their fraud, it is to make it harder to commit their fraud.
A first step would be that asylum seekers from countries where the government is not persecuting people, such as Guatemala, must establish a much more credible claim so that is not rejected on the spot. And because the hundreds of thousands of the past few months will turn into many millions in just the next few years we must build a wall to stop the US being the free for all that it has become.
4
Murder rates, generally drug based, in the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador remain among the world’s highest. However, Guatemala also suffers climate extremes - with 2.2 million farm families relying on what they grow themselves grow for subsistence, having lost crops in 2018, UN World Food Program. The UN program currently seeks $100/person to sustain the most at risk 700,000.
No wonder such families seek to find a better life elsewhere. Aiding farmers and communities to sustain themselves where they are is probably better for the world than incarceration on our side of the border.
5
The first order Trump singed as president was to block foreign aid organizations from supporting family planning in places like Guatemala. That drives migration too.
We have to discuss over population and how it is driving migration and climate change.
19
@Deirdre - Yes, for my entire life the USA has turned its back on birth control and the benefits of smaller families and fewer children.
Even writing a comment such as mine is a total waste of time. America has a fixation on religion, just like guns.
4
@Deirdre - "We have to discuss over population and how it is driving migration and climate change."
We in the "developed world" have relatively low reproduction rates, however we have enormous over-consumption rates. It's convenient for us to point fingers at the "over-populaters" and avoid discussing our own over-consumption. Yet, they're two sides of the same coin, with both resulting in environmental destruction, migration and climate change.
The US contains 4.5% of global population, yet consumes 25-30% of global resources. Our 330 Million peeps represent a Consumption Equivalent of 1.65 - 1.98 Billion! (Yikes). If the rest of the world consumed the way we do (and they want to live just like us), we'd have a global Consumption Population of 38-46 Billion people (double Yikes!).
And even worse, we WASTE half of the food and energy we produce - we fritter it away, carelessly and mindlessly.
Rather than fret about population growth in sub-Saharan Africa and India (which is a huge problem, of course), we'd be well-served to slash our own wasteful Over-Consumption.
3
"There are no easy solutions to migration ..."
But there are a whole lot of ineffective actions being taken by Trump to reduce illegal immigration. Just look at what the 'illegal employer in-chief' has done. 1st there was the useless border wall, then there was the phony threat to close the southern border and now the phony threat of tariffs on Mexican imports has come and gone. All talk, no effective action.
All this time effective measures like mandatory E-Verify and prosecution of illegal employers are conveniently kept off the agenda by the power elite while Putin's Puppet trots out one phony measure after another. Illegal immigration is too effective as a political football for either political party to do anything effective.
7
Are there reputable charities that support these efforts? Why does the government have to be the primary financier?
1
Whenever people are in life-threatening situations, people will move. Sometimes, an entire country is life-threatening. Once the desperation to survive is greater than the difficulties wrought in the trek to the U.S., they will come. The only things the U.S. can do if our goals is to reduce border apprehension is try to decrease their desperation via aid, or make it more difficult to get into the U.S.
Maybe a surge in border arrivals is a healthy reminder that countries could use our help. The time when we can ignore other countries' problems is over, as their problems now turn into our "first world" problems.
8
Small, piecemeal solutions to something as complex as the problems of Central America are not the answer. The situation demands a sweeping, bolder plan; that is, encourage the combination of these 3 countries into a viable entity of 35 million citizens with supportive aid and external relations.
There is a reason to believe these countries would be receptive to this idea.
In 1823 the independent Republic of Central America was declared consisting of the states of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. This and many subsequent attempts until 1921 at union of various Central American countries all floundered on ideological and parochial economic and religious grounds.
Sentiment still exists in the weakest of these countries for union and the past internal forces of opposition have largely dissipated. Local opposition today largely would be from criminal elements who would be threatened.
The critical difference today that makes federation a realistic objective is huge external support that should be able to be marshalled for the idea. Major financial aid, public and private institutional support and favorable trade agreements would be in the interests of all the Americas.
This project would be in the clear interest of the US, especially if shared with other countries. Have Canada take the lead, a credible actor that knows something about federations. This would disarm criticism that it was just another case of US self-serving nation-building.
7
@Leonard Miller I agree your call for a comprehensive bolder strategy to improve the political and socio-economic malaise and disfunction that are driving people to leave out of a mix of desperation and hope. Still it is a mistake to say "Small, piecemeal solutions to something as complex as the problems of Central America are not the answer" they are an important part of the answer, but they require the type of larger strategy you suggest to have meaningful impact. What I find interesting is how little attention those who campaign for immigration out of humanitarian concerns pay to improving conditions back home. The only time it became a story was when Trump cut aid as punishment. Suddenly the left woke up to the idea that more needs to be done to improve conditions in Central America. That US policy has played a role in the problems there is more reason that we as a nation should work to make things better. Consider, for every immigrant that makes it here for a "better life" many many many more are left back home. And yet, by my estimation, 95+ % of the protests and media coverage is only about those that seek to leave.
2
@E
Many peacocks of virtue express an obligation of developed countries to accept people fleeing economic privation in their home countries. They argue that the unskilled, uneducated immigrants can provide a benefit to an economy by doing the underclass work that natives will not.
A reluctance to control economic immigration is naïve. First, there are simply too many people facing privation around the world for developed countries to handle. Many are dying in pursuing the false hope that they can make it. With a flood of unskilled and uneducated, their assimilation can be elusive and supporting them can be a net economic drain. The push back gives rise to ugly nationalism in the destination countries.
Championing unfettered immigration is not as moral as it sounds. Such immigration can be viewed as harvesting the most motivated inhabitants from desperate places to provide host countries with low-cost docile service laborers.
What is overlooked is that encouraging the most motivated migrants has the effect of gutting the countries they leave. It leaves places like El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala as wretched places.
The most compassionate answer would be to discourage economic migrants into the US from Central America and, instead, for the US to organize a bold multi-national effort to provide the aid it would take to turn all of Central America into viable countries as is, say, Costa Rica. The mindset should be fixing the problems at their source.
DT
4
@EDT
The media does seem more like an arm of the power politics rather than a public information.
The agenda of the world may be that a local economy exists but the assets of a country are owned by outside/western global conglomerates. This may be what is driving the relentless collapsing of Venezuela. Recall that the WB loans were to improve the water systems, the failure to repay the loans would have allowed the globalist to own the water systems. Own the water, own the power, own the country.
2
"The torrent keeps getting bigger, with twice as many migrants seized at the border in each of the last few months as a year earlier. Trump’s strategy so far seems counterproductive."
Actually, it's not counterproductive. Illegal immigration at our southern border is the Republican Party's biggest issue. Every time a group of asylum seekers arrives at the border, their voting base goes up. If they were to actually solve the problem, Republicans would have nothing else to run on. Tax cuts for the rich and for giant corporations? "Clean" coal? More pollution? Control over women's bodies? Only the last issue gets them any votes at all, and it's not enough to win elections in most of the country.
No, trump's response to the southern border is a scam like everything else he does. Make a lot of noise, rant and rave so it looks like he is trying to do something, and then implement policies that actually increase immigration pressure. It's the only way he can win elections.
37
Helping people help themselves/has always been the way/to give them hope and confidence/so that at home they'll stay/Bullying of refugees/brings shame to all involved/and all fellow feeling/ tends to hastily dissolve.
4
The problem is economic conditions are pushing these Central Americans into illegal immigration. Asylum laws in the USA don't allow people to stay here for this reason, and over 90% of these applicants are denied permission to stay. Why do we have to perpetuate this revolving door is beyond me. We need to take care of our own poor, not import new ones, particularly, because it is paid for with borrowed money. This a road to perdition.
5
Our own poor? Poor people around the world are ours. We are one human species and one civilization.
2
Projects like the one described certainly help lifting people, regions and countries out of poverty. But we also have to acknowledge the evidence that proves migrants right: the best way to foster prosperity in poor countries is migration into rich countries. It helps the people who migrate obviously but also enriches the guest communities in many ways and over the long run the counties of origin who now receive billions of dollars transferred by the people who left.
Migration by far beats international aide programs: it’s more efficient and more effective. It lets people decide what’s best for them and isn’t this what conservatives tout over and over again? Yes migration is the best solution to share and raise our immense prosperity and wealth.
4
This article speaks volumes as it points to one thing that may help curve the desire to migrate. Entrepreneurship and the feeling of having some self worth. We just cant absorb all of these 2nd and third world country migrants. We have tried aid, but that doesn't give anyone self worth. Jobs and opportunities do. The key would be to offer that, but not at the expense of our own American workers or we will be looking at more aide at home. Maybe reward entrepreneurship with citizenship. Or direct aide to firms or groups that promote entrepreneurship.
4
@Daphne Sanitz
4 people working for the law need to get better salaries so they don't get into wrong doings with street gangs and drugs smuggler
The reasons why this countries are living so poor is because the governments are so corrupt and they just want to take all the money they can when they get in power
5 built thousand and thousands of building appartments and houses
And give people very very low payments so people with a degree and the ones with out can afford to rent this places and live there
6 teach people how to open their own business and provide monetary help to start their own business and pay back in the long terms.
We need to stablish a system that really works like the ones in china .
The situation in Guatemala is heartbreaking to be sure, as are so many other third world countries today. However, the US cannot solve all of the world's problems. There are so many within our own borders who need help; they must be cared for first and foremost. As long as there are American people begging on the streets, homeless, hungry and in need, we cannot ignore our own. And we should not.
18
@Imma
You are aware of the U.S. role in the pauperization of Guatemala?
And our long history of subverting democratic rule there?
No debts?
3
@Imma That would be a much more compelling argument if the problems in so many of these Latin-American countries were not the result of American imperialist foreign policy over the last 100 years.
3
While American citizens struggle to provide for our own families...while our own country’s infrastructure is deteriorating...while we have millions of homeless, veterans, and elders needing assistance...now we’re expected to prop up and support the millions of impoverished citizens of other countries?
23
@Michal Our choice is to allow them in and stop complaining about undocumented crossing our borders, or help them stay where they are by giving them aid. That is what a great and exceptional country would do. That is being a leader.
And that we can't assist our own, well, that is just where we choose to allow our resources to go, not that the money is not there. We can help our own, too.
50
We are wealthy enough to fix our own problems and share a little of our wealth with the rest of the world.
46
@Michal-It's not an either or choice. Trump has done nothing for infrastructure, the veterans, the homeless or elders. He is taking away medical insurance for millions of people with no plan to replace it.
15
Nick, thanks for this spotlight. I visited this area to profile a UN development finance project focused on coffee and hydroponic agriculture. What I saw and heard from beneficiary testimonials is that aid is essential to stem migration. The challenges in this region are enormous, but educational support for girls is the key as well as for farmer cooperatives. Please stay on this story.
40
Leadership (and common sense) 101:
Invest in changing the underlying culture creating the conditions that prompt people to do the thing you would rather them not do and build the culture that will enable more desirable choices.
24
@JBC: No country should have to babysit another country. The US’ past attempts to ‘help’ third world countries have only enabled more corruption.Guatemalans need to step up to the plate and fix their country rather than flee it. That country has immense natural resources waiting to be utilized.
3
Examining Trump's reasons for walls over workable solutions must include the appeal to his base of keeping brown people poor and far away. Logic and real solutions are not in play.
18
@rich
This has more to do with failed violent macho cultures and governments + the pope(s) since the 1960s than 2 years of Donald Trump.
3
We've been led to believe that the vast majority of the migrants that are being apprehended are asylum seekers because of violence, murder, and rape, and not those seeking improved economic opportunities.
Wouldn't a large aid package targeted at providing law enforcement and wiping out drug cartels and cleaning up opportunities for corruption in Guatemala give the residents more reasons to stay in their country than growing tomatoes?
9
@Mimi
U.S. taxpayers have been handing $tens of billions per year to all those latino countries for DECADES. The U.S. taxpayer has funded numerous federal programs that provide bottomless services to those Central American nations for DECADES. The U.S. taxpayer has assisted in private/public partnerships to those people, their churches and relief organizations. It has not made one bit of difference.
3
@Mimi it seemed to me the author was implying both forms of aid would help stem migration.
1
Trump doesn't solve problems, he makes them. They get him attention. No hope for better real outcomes with him. Solving problems is what actually made America great.
28
Trump's dumping of the migration problem into Mexico's lap is a direct admission of his administration's failure to stem the tide. Yes, it is time for another solution and well designed aid programs have proven they are a big part of that. The article makes no mention of gang violence as a causative and, I believe, rightly so. I've come to the conclusion that 'gang violence' is more an excuse than a reality, a reason to seek asylum here in the US that is fueling the crisis both ways: Migrants use it to get in. Trump uses it to keep them out. Sorta the old 'catch-22.'
6
We are not the world’s policemen or safety valve or economic crutch. It seems many of these countries will benefit from having a 1st and 2nd amendment. Freedom to speak their mind about the atrocities in their countries, and guns to do something meaningful about it.
I would rather stand and fight for a better country where I live instead of running away first chance I get.
13
I’m not advocating for this idea, only noting that if cannabis became legal in the US at the federal level, it could be legally imported. It would immediately become a huge cash crop in Guatemala. Problem solved.
5
@Richard Barry--Just like coffee, huh?
@Richard Barry
Like, wow, this got me to thinking. Not that I’m advocating anything, but I wonder, would Guatemala’s climate support poppies?
What is the rate of immigration to other countries?
How much land is needed to support each Guatemalan?
What is the birth rate? How does it compare with other countries?
What percentage of land is owned by American interests?
In 1954, we installed a government to benefit one company, United Fruit. What happened to those interests?
11
Unfortunately Ms. Cano Gomez can't share her foresight and habit of planning with the subjects of most of Mr. Kristof's columns on Central America because most people, whether there, here, or anywhere else, don't look ahead, weigh the different possibilities, and take concrete steps to ensure their futures.
Ms. Cano Gomez didn't become pregnant at 15. She doesn't have 3 children by age 20. She can support herself. She is completely unlike the young migrant women we meet in all the other articles about this issue.
The most important aid we could supply to Central America would be family planning training and tools.
29
@Green Tea
Americans already do that.
Past time for Vatican Inc. men to get the gold and bedazzled boot off the neck of all females in Central America, in all of the 3rd world and in the U.S.
4
@Maggie:
The Vatican didn’t get these women pregnant. At some point folks have to stop claiming victimization and take control of their *own* livelihoods, families and countries.
3
Maggie wrote "get the gold and bedazzled boot off the neck of all females in Central America".
That's just more fake victimization. What's preventing theses women from making their *own* reasoned choices about family planning? It doesn't take exceptional intelligence to see that in most situations a very large family does not equate with economic prosperity.
3
Imagine if we treated North America (which includes all of Central America) as something like Europe. We could work together to raise living standards to a common level. We could have two way migration. America would have better trading partners. It is possible if we worked together for a generation. I doubt it will be in my life, but with the strong connections that the migrants bring when they travel north, it could be a reality in this century.
27
The reason just this past month hundreds of thousands Central Americans illegally crossed into the US and were granted entry along with work permits was not because they think they cannot make a life in their villages, as Kristoff puts it.
Instead what is driving Central Americans to cross into the US by the hundreds of thousands is that they have all come to see how easy it is to fraudulently claim asylum and get to be granted entry into the US along with a work permit based on that claim and a promise to show up for a court hearing, a hearing they have no intention of showing up to. According to the DHS only 12% of those claiming asylum show up for their hearings and of those who do less than 5% make a valid claim for asylum.
So the basis of the crisis at the border is that people are lying and committing immigration fraud because they are getting away with it. And the way to stop people from getting away with fraud should not require resolving the economic problems that are the reason they commit their fraud, it is to make it harder to commit their fraud.
A simple step to take would be that asylum seekers from countries where the government is not persecuting people at all, such as Guatemala, must establish a much more credible claim so that is not rejected on the spot.
The problem we are dealing with is not that hundreds of thousands of people have a reason to settle in the US, but that they are falsely claiming asylum to gain entry.
36
@Michael Stavsen
And not following laws and protocol to claim that asylum in the first nation they cross into: Mexico, because it does not offer welfare benefits. Ditto, none of the nations in South America that are Spanish speaking, the same culture and Catholic.
2
@Michael Stavsen
Who says "that they are falsely claiming asylum to gain entry"? Just you and the president, Michael? So american immigration officials are so incompetent that most of them believe every story they are told? Who hires these gullible children?
I believe the point of the article, is that by assisting the people in the in central america where most of the illegal and legal immigrants come from they will stay home. What a good idea. Cheaper than the wall, great foreign policy (acting in positive way,) improved relations with neighbors like Mexico, and if you really don't want the cheap labour that holds down american wages for farm workers and in construction, then a great outcome all round.
Although the president does seem to enjoy getting into a flight, rather than identifying problems and seeking solutions that aren't zero sum.
2
@Michael Stavsen
There are not hundreds of thousands per month, there are tens of thousands. You are off by X 10. Far fewer illegals are getting into the US than two decades ago, while alt-right disinformation about it has grown X 10.
The US could be much more effective in stopping illegal immigration, but fear campaigns stoked by fake statistics is not a way to start addressing it.
3
Trump, himself, led the charge to hold down U.S. rates which can help keep capital out in periphery countries such as Guatemala; in addition, he's not pushed a military option of "regime change" in Venezuela; that may help stabilize that region. With Mexico, he's convinced them to help with illegal immigration and extended trade deals to build-up their economy. But everything has changed; even as U.S. labor markets have seen massive disruption and supply chains and manufacturing plants have moved across borders, prosperity is a bit more widespread. Even within the U.S., citizens often move from highly-taxed, poorly-managed regions to better managed, less corrupt areas. Still, the U.S. has many problems of its own and already accepts more immigrants than any other country in the world. That is why it emphasizes would-be immigrants to at least follow the rules and get in line instead of cheating all the legal migrants. It is heart-warming to know this woman feels able to live well in a local area; most people feel that way, but sometimes one has to move, nonetheless. The NYT and its columnists mislabel America and Americans as xenophobic when that is far from the case. Under President Obama, fewer illegal immigrants entered the U.S. because the jobs picture was so bad they knew they couldn't get work!
7
Kristof notes that Guatemala is in "a tough neighborhood, slammed by climate change and crop failures." It makes little sense to focus on climate change instead of population growth. In 2000 (when Cano Gómez was born), Guatemala's population was about 11.5 million. Today it's at 17.5 million. The stress that sort of population growth places on the environment is great, probably greater than the as-yet-experienced impacts of climate change. Twenty years ago, a negative climate shock could usually be absorbed. Today, it can't.
Guatemala's future will look different if the population continues to grow fast or slow. This seems to be a pretty important determinant of future welfare. The security situation is also aggravated by rapid population growth, and migration flows are also affected (I assume). In the long term, I think we'd be wise to focus on population growth.
61
@Ayala Wineman
Check the population growth of the US.
Also, poor people consume far less, and invariably have a very small impact in the environment.
2
@Ayala Wineman: It’s a fact that the population growth of most of South and Central America and Africa is 40% higher than that of the rest of the world. Many of the problems that these countries experience could be mitigated by correcting this problem.
5
@Ayala Wineman
America does not get a pass on the population issue, either. And we are consumption piggies.
No matter how hard this woman works at farming, she is never going to be able to make the kind of money she would make as a chamber maid in California. Therein lies the problem. Until we start fining or putting the people who employ illegal immigrants in jail and make e-verify mandatory, the US magnet will continue to draw people. People in poor countries now have access to phones and the internet, they want what we have. And US business make big money off the backs of people who work for slave wages.
45
@thewriterstuff
“Until we start fining or putting the people who employ illegal immigrants in jail”
The people who employ illegal immigrants (which as I’m sure you know includes our president) have enough wealth and political power to insure that will never happen.
2
@thewriterstuff
Does everyone want what we have? This is the last place I recommend emulating.
The irony is you are right about making money off people willing to work hard for meagre pay but I suspect those making a tidy profit off detaining, housing, and tracking of these immigrants don't want their gravy train to end, either. We are as shafted as those poor wanderers are.
1
This column provides an extremely rosy scenario but has no realism. Stopping immigration by improving living conditions in Guatemala, Honduras, and other poor countries would take 100 to 200 years, against the strong headwinds of booming populations there. By the time the task was completed, the USA would be entirely transformed by nonstop immigration from very poor countries with fast-growing populations.
21
@Peter Johnson The birth rate is not booming. The total fertility rate in Guatemala is at 2.77. This is above replacement but hardly booming. In Honduras it is at 2.4. This is still above replacement, but just barely. El Salvador and Nicaragua are well below replacement in fertility rates. Yes the population is still increasing in these countries from inertia in the past, but not for long.
Mr. Johnson's counter-factual states are a symptom of what is wrong with the thinking in the United States. Most people here completely ill-informed about what is actually going on in these countries. This is true for both liberals and conservatives.
20
@Tony Mendoza
Once you get past the tragic and unsustainable 40-50% birth rate throughout all of Africa, almost all of Central America and South America are next on that tragic and unsustainable global birth rate list. This is what has driven Mexican legal and illegal immigration and this is what has driven Central American and African and SE Asian immigration for 50 years.
These are all highly repressive religious nations where females have few rights, certainly not to an education, to guide their own life, to enjoy any measure of personal safety and reproduction.
The U.S. is not the world's dumping ground.
https://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=25
4
@Tony Mendoza
The population of Guatemala has quadrupled (4.21 to 16.91) in the last sixty years; the same pattern holds for Honduras . It is even worse in Africa where there has not been a slow-down in this pattern, and African immigration through Mexico is just starting to take off. Kristoff's proposal is well-meaning but wildly unrealistic as a solution IMHO.
3
I agree wholeheartedly with the writer of this article. Another way to lessen the migration would be to enforce the laws that authorize significant penalties on employers of illegal aliens. These are the very individuals that benefit the most and have done the most to cause lower employment among blue collar individuals born in the United States. Those attempting to enter the US are, for the most part, seeking to escape terrible living conditions caused by US policies. The complicity (and hypocrisy) of our law makers and enforcers is to blame. Not those seeking asylum.
22
I agree with usa999 and Gary Valan, who know their history. We owe some assistance and humanity to these countries for all we have done to them.
12
@Barbara Bellagio
“We” have not done anything to them, those in power (and planned and executed )at the time have contributed to these issues.
Name names and trash their legacies.
This is a great article. I’m very happy for Lesly Cano Gomez. Thanks for writing and publishing this!
7
Why the US? Is all of central and south america a disaster?
The venezuelans don't think so, they are going to Colombia yes?
I am highly skeptical of the argument that all these migrants are asylum seekers who have nowhere else to go. Seems to me they are simply trying to force themselves into the place they think is the most attractive.
I do not see why we can't implement the policy that people have to seek asylum at the first country they enter.
33
@Audaz
The migrants are taking advantage of trump's chaos at the border. Until we get a working Congress, there woll be no policy to implement other than whims based on a gut full of big macs.
1
@Audaz
If you read the other article that Nicholas wrote several days ago you would find out why the u.s. it was titled food doesn't grow here anymore. it is the largest section of Guatemala called the northwest highlands which is currently under a horrible drought. that means they cant grow corn. stopping aid to central America is the worst thing u.s. can do.
so, you are skeptical of migrants seeing asylum such as women who are getting beat up, children being sold in sex slavery or girls getting repeatedly raped? do you know sexual abuse or assault was stopped by jeff sessions as a reason not to be approved for asylum? or those in Honduras that try to stop ganag violence. consider if you had to endure that in this country? would you consider moving somewhere else?
also, sessions really never had to stop the u.s. from allowing asylum based on rape it isn't an actual approved reason for asylum in this country from any country. it has to be for religious reasons or for political asylum. yeah religious persecution but not if you are an atheist.
2
I agree theoretically that the solution to any sort of migration problem is to fix all of the world's problems where they lie. But that might not really be feasible in all instances.
It might just be that Guetemala's economy will continue to significantly lag behind the U.S., in which case black market jobs in the U.S. will continue to be significantly more attractive.
While it wouldn't hurt to export American investment capital, aid and technology to the rest of the Americas, it might just be that we need true border security as well. Like I know the author thinks "there are no easy solutions" but I'm pretty sure other countries have non-porous borders and deportation regimes that don't have an illegal immigrant deportation rate of 1.2%.
15
@Mmm
the border security we need are border agents. and we need to stop border agents from sexually assaulting children as well. plus, the drought in Guatemala isn't helping. but then this administration doesn't believe in science.
1
@Mmm The US has done enough to disrupt their political & economic systems. See @usa999 comments below.
Unfortunately the Kristof/Armstrong pieces, while offering positive perspectives and alternatives to the wrenching and dangerous trip north, overlook episodes in U.S.-Guatemalan relations that set American lamentations about "illegal" migration in a different context. They do not mention American involvement in overthrowing the Arbenz government in 1954, protecting the interests of the United Fruit Company. An agrarian reform that could have altered the distribution of resources and power was stifled by American intervention. Subsequently the United States supported violent repression of Guatemala's indigenous population, with thousands killed and communities destroyed. The point is American ignorance of the history of our relationship with Guatemala permits an unmerited self-righteousness regarding immigration when in fact it is a consequence of repeated intervention short-circuiting desired change. American support of right-wing extremism in El Salvador led to civil war and butchery of innocents, including 4 American nuns. One consequence was thousands of young El Salvadoran refugees in Los Angeles learned to form street gangs including the MS-13 that so upsets President Trump. Rather than playing golf in Florida Donald Trump would benefit from a tour of American failures in managing its relations with Central America. This is not a criticism of these essays, merely a recognition that contemporary migration is imbedded in a context we created and must own, not condemn.
133
@usa999
Superb.
Thank you
8
@Concerned Citizen try doing some research instead just blatantly denying history. It’s all out there for you to read: https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/05/19/what-guilt-does-the-us-bear-in-guatemala/guatemala-suffered-for-us-foreign-policy
5
@usa999
Thanks.
I welcome a history lesson.
Now remind us why Rome fell?
Bernie understands history and overthrowing governments.
Bernie/Liz 2020
1
What a great report! I always suspected something like this but to actually see an accounting is wonderful. Who really wants to leave their known home and family to go to an alien country, facing all the terrible problems along the way.
If we only spent half the money securing our border on aid to organizations like Mercy Corps we could help the northern triangle countries keep their citizens productive and happy.
I think Trump's White House knows this but to have an immigration "crisis" is his shtick for the 2020 election. It keeps his base whipped into a frenzy. If he wins I am willing to take a bet this will recede into the background. if he loses and is "persuaded" to leave the White House, he'll go back to his version of a "sybaritic" lifestyle of burgers, chocolate cake, ice cream and golf...
15
investing in the economies of the world or buying more bombs, it's not really that hard a choice, and yet it seems impossible
23
Kristof is completely correct here. Providing these kinds of resources helps mitigate the horrors that exist in the countries south of Mexico--Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. This kind of program and providing aid to make these countries more safe from those who cause violence is not only a great thing to do for the people living there but probably cheaper than locking people up who are seeking asylum.
But the Donald is incapable of understanding this. Trump the Donald!!!
9
Basically the thesis is we improve the conditions of Guatemala to a level where it doesn’t makes sense to emigrate.
Somehow this feels very much like what the Romans did - pay off the Goths not to sack Rome. Worked for a while, until it didn’t.
18
If Trump used the tariffs generated from China for economic development in Guatemala and elsewhere in Latin America, we'll have a "win win" on trade and migration.
2
@RSSF - sorry but the tariffs are needed to pay American businesses hurt by the trade war, i.e. $28 billion in farm subsidies because the trade war has killed so much of our farm exports that we are unlikely to ever get back.
5
@Y
we don't get the money (u.s. I mean)from tariffs. they are passed down to the consumers. it is a tax. and some businesses not even affected by the taxes are raising their prices just because they can.
also, iowa , neb and most of the Midwest it doesn't matter about taxes because they are all underwater right now.
3
"In contrast, Guatemala is becoming more corrupt and messy, yet the Trump White House is ignoring the deteriorating conditions. Pushing for credible elections and effective, clean governance would do more to reduce emigration than a wall, and would be far cheaper, but Trump doesn’t think like that."
C'mon now Kristof. We can't interfere in the internal affairs of the sovereign nation of Guatemala. We aren't the policeman of the world.
14
@Jp - No we can’t... unless it’s Kushner asking the Saudis to blockade Qatar to pressure Qatar to take a 99 yr lease on a piece of trash property Kushner’s family way overpaid for and was about to lose. No. We shouldn’t police the world... we should only use our power to grift and threaten other countries for personal and political gain.
2
There is not a shred of doubt that the US has interfered in the politics of sovereign nations numerous times in the last 60-70 years under the pretext of fighting communism..
2
While I applaud Ms. Cano Gomez's spunk and Mr. Kristof's reportage thereof, the media are largely ignoring the root causes of the massive migration from Central America to the US.
1) Of the 30-40 million residents of Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, many/(most?) would prefer to migrate to the US, whether illegally or under asylum provisions, but little attention is paid to the many decades of US support for corrupt militaristic regimes in those countries that have fostered a culture of violence and terrorism. Successive US ambassadors to these countries since the 1950's have much to answer for. It is naive to think that any amount of new US foreign aid will soon reverse that culture.
2) Under the threat of violence throughout these countries, many of their citizens regularly risk the dangerous migration to the US by paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to coyotes and other local facilitators along the way. And some of these payments trickle into the hands of corrupt local, regional and national officials, who look the other way as they profit from this dreadful migration industry, and therefore have strong vested interests in continuing to accommodate migration to the US.
3) The US cannot absorb the many millions of Central Americans who would prefer to migrate. The shame is the legacy of many decades of US active support and tolerance for corrupt Central American governments, mostly with the tacit approval of successive Mexican governments.
20
Thank you for this another feature article on Guatemala's plight. Your interest and sympathy are greatly appreciated.
We hope that there can be promise of change, but the people are very discouraged.
No other people in the world are as long-suffering and as content with what little they have.
If there is a way forward please let it be known soon. The people there remain hopeful but doubtful. "Enriching people" is not something that actually occurs through aid from international assistance projects except for the Guatemalan intermediaries who skim and pocket signicant differences. They have no intent on leaving at all.
NGO fraud and money laundering is ubiquitous and pernacious. Unfortunantly "aid projects" have become a scam mode for too many malefactors.
Endemic moral turpitude is Guatemala's chronic malaise. A sea change is long overdue and nowhere on the horizon.
Until Guatemala can recognize and self-cure its "maldad" it will continue to flounder and fail.
10
@Discernie
“Endemic moral turpitude” is what we now have in this country. Guatemalans will just be exposed to the same problem here.
1
@Jean
Think of moral turpitude like pancreatic cancer. Guatemala has a stage 4 diagnosis while our dear old USA has a stage 1 Dx.
Means we have a chance of cure whereas Guate has a high risk of death---about two years, Sorry to say.
1
I think there are a lot of hurting places in the world that could be improved by more knowledge of agricultural possibilities. Nigeria imports onions, I read. Onions! Even I can grow onions.
12
@Liz
Excellent proposal. Perhaps we could start by dismantling the sugar tariffs in the US that keep lower cost foreign sugar out....create a domestic sugar price that is twice the world level....subsidize US manufacturers who can not export using US sugar costs in their ingredients....force US candy manufacturers to establish production outside of the US as their main ingredient has become non competitively priced in the US....all to protect a (very) few politically powerful sugar growers in a swing state in the US. That's only one of many agricultural products that could be produced more competitively internationally, where, by protecting globally uncompetitive US producers, we have taken away the opportunity for local producers around the world. We can't take away people's livelihood by forcing production to shift to the US (through subsidies and protection....not because we do it better or at a lower cost) and then not expect people to do the right thing for their families by searching for better opportunities for work and education.
8
I appreciate how Kristoff talks to people on the ground and personalizes his writing. He has become one of my favorites for that reason.
16
@Steve:"I appreciate how Kristoff talks to people on the ground and personalizes his writing. He has become one of my favorites for that reason."
He should talk to some of my friends about the results of "racial justice" schemes in the past. He won't like what he'll hear. He could ask them about their experiences with public school desegregation. And while he's at it he can ask about how firearms have saved lives and properties.
But I'm guessing a brilliant person like Kristof would have nothing to do with any of that.
5
@Jp Geez. He could also talk about those kids that grew up educated in a school where the toilets flushed. Only three Students??? Sure did open up the reality of Plessy v. Ferguson. Only it was separate but unequal. And gosh almighty the statistics you have given are daunting. Scaring off threats by gun shot? Tell us the stats on convictions for perpetrators of 'stand your ground' events?
1
@Jp
Wow. Conflating “racial justice” and desegregation with terrified migrants seeking safe harbor from a dysfunctional daangerous country, largely destabilized by prior US intervention is a very long stretch. Creative. But wrong
1
You make very interesting points and have a good narrative. The president of Mexico is correct. We need a Marshall Plan for the Northern Triangle, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Also, the president did not cut off aid to Central America. He cut off aid to the Northern Triangle countries. Panamá is one of the US' oldest and strongest allies in Latin America. Trump was kicked out of his hotel franchise here by the majority owners of the 71 story building which bore his name from 2011 to 2017. It is affront to Panama, and other countries like Costa Rica, when journalists and politicians use "Central America" as a proxy for the Nortern Triangle. I know of nobody in Panamá who wants to emigrate to the US so they can live in a country whose president is Trump.
30
As another poster already commented, I am also glad the Mr. Kristof provides a little sunshine in an otherwise gloomy situation. Our border policy is rather simplistic, in that even if it succeeds in temporarily blocking migration, as Nick has mentioned on more than occasion, it does nothing to help these people. Our administration has a king sized security and trade problem with China that everyone knows that Trump would like to be able to win and take credit for, A lot of what is produced there could be just as easily be produced in Central or South America with the proper investment and tax incentives to shift supply chains there. The cost would be a lot cheaper than whatever replica of the Maginot line is being considered, and we could have the satisfaction of actually helped people under a variety of threats. As long as those inflows came with strings to make sure governments getting that sort of new investment from us did their job to clean up corruption and gang activities, I can't imagine why it wouldn't be in our political and economic interests to start cutting the cord with any foreign producer that is a security threat and move sourcing closer to our backyard.
13
Thanks for the ray of sunshine.
It is perplexing, this asymmetry.
When the purpose is to loot and pillage, we tend to destroy the place as intended (please see several hundred years of successful colonialism by those who could). Yet, when our purpose is to do good, we don't always produce results we intend. Because the amount of money and intellect that has gone into helping people (by Americans for others) has produced mixed results across the world over time.
I wonder whether the triggering of goodwill was in equal parts countered with hate because Americans intended good not harm. No, they did not greet us as liberators.
I am sure smart people know the reasons. "Know" as in know without empirical evidence based on sagacious knowledge of anecdotes and interesting stories.
A smart businessman once told me that if someone enters your space, you have no choice but to enter their space. We can, we should, enter the troubled countries and help people live and breathe free to the extent we can. Whether we caused the problems or not, doesn't matter.
One Cano at a time, it is worth the effort. Thanks for the report Mr. Kristof.
3
@KalidanL:"We can, we should, enter the troubled countries and help people live and breathe free to the extent we can."
Some of the most forward thinking leaders in the world tried that in Libya. How'd that work out?
An increase in migration out of Libya.
"When the purpose is to loot and pillage, we tend to destroy the place as intended (please see several hundred years of successful colonialism by those who could). "
And yet folks from all over the world come here and demand their piece of the ill-gotten pie while spouting rhetoric about the evils of the privileged power structure in the US. One can't have it both ways: Calling out the US (which hasn't been around for several hundred years) for it's imperialism and colonialism and then show up on these shores demanding a piece of it. They're just the next generation in a long line of pillagers.
No?
7
Mr. Kristof, as always, I look forward to your annual "win-a-trip" essays, and before I read yours, I read that of the winning student, Mia Armstrong. I want to compliment her on the essay she wrote called "Two Women - Divided by Opportunity". It was spot on, very well written, and displays a talent beyond her young years for expressing empathy for her subject, in this case, a Guatemalan woman she compared herself to in her story. Great choice, Mr. Kristof; you picked a wonderful student to accompany you.
And yes, I wholeheartedly agree that our tax dollars (those of us who actually pay our taxes) would be better spent on programs like "Mercy Corps" that would educate and support people in the desperately poor, crime ridden areas from which people can only see escape as the answer to a better life. Give the people hope and a reason to stay, and they will. Ignoring them, hoping that they'll go away, and building walls to try to keep them out is not only foolish, but NOT a deterrent to rising migration.
16
Mr Kristof,
I just read the companion piece to yours written by Ms Armstrong, your traveling partner. What strikes me about Olga, the Guatemalan woman she profiles, and Lesly, the woman you write about is that they seem to have more in common with the ancestors of those in our country, particularly in the mid west and Appalachian mountains, who today are the most virulent against immigration.
It was the great grandfather of the Trump supporting coal miner who struck out from Europe against all odds to try something dangerous and new and risky, in order to make a better life for his family. That is the spirit that made America great, and it is repeated each time a southeast Asian comes here on a boat, or an African arrives here with nothing more than hope and a few bucks, or a Central American with children in tow trudges 2000 miles through desert to reach our border.
The women profiled in these stories, whether they attempt to migrate to the US or remain in their country, represent the same spirit that once was a founding principle of our nation but now seems to have become too much the target of derision and hate.
17
@Evan:"That is the spirit that made America great,"
Spot on Evan.
Folks from all over the world and of all races came here to tame and settle the lands that would become the United States.
The Spanish and Portuguese led the way but others followed.
We expanded from coast to coast driven by the same spirit. Fully agree with you.
2
Kristof's focus on women and children brings a different light to so many stories. He looks around the corner to try to understand what is actually happening.
Much appreciated by this reader and many others.
Thanks.
34
All well and good, but the trick is making sure the aid ends up in the right hands and stays out of the wrong ones. The devil is always in the details. Sigh!
16
By all means send aid to people in Central America. But remember that with Global Warming there are going to be a lot of refugees coming north in the coming decades. The response to Global Warming is yet another short coming of the Trump administration.
28
The best way to reduce migration is to provide basic skills ( english, math, science, civics) to central americans. In the short term we may also have to take in the people we provide these skills to, as they may fail to survive or produce the change we desire, but it least it gives us the option of getting people who can be productive in America and cuts out the business of these cayotes. In the long term, we also get a brain trust we can use to encourage reverse migration/trade/tourism from US to some of these beautiful places.
10
Peace Corps produces more positive impact than any other program, because it is people to people. Volunteers bring back situational awareness to the US and become givers and leaders here re other countries.
Ask people on the ground what they need. Listen. Respond. This is how the world changes for the better.
Been there, done that.
Hope Nick Kristoff keeps on doing what he does better than any other journalist: bringing understanding of what lives actually experience in places not our own. People are just people and their challenges define them.
44
For Trump to actually invest in aid programs to the countries whose people are migrating north would go against the meanness of his very nature. In Trump's entire time in office, I've not heard or read of a single humane policy he has implemented, or even of a single humane act he has performed.
304
@Vesuviano We have never seen a President with hate in his heart. It is appalling.
15
@Vesuviano He lacks the basic intelligence to think about the root causes of emigration. The Obama approach was working in El Salvador. There are no advisors helping Trump understand the problem.
8
@Vesuviano
"In Trump's entire time in office, I've not heard or read of a single humane policy he has implemented, or even of a single humane act he has performed."
Does getting Melania's parents U.S. citizenship through "chain migration" count?
Maybe Trump could go to Guatemala and toss rolls of paper towels out into a crowd? You know, something that's clearly right from the heart.
Seriously, though, this is a great debate topic for Fall 2020. The Democratic nominee should ask Trump just this question and let the nation watch in disgust as he tries to lie his way through it.
18
Great article! Immigration is a hot topic and I feel like the conversation is typically do you care about these people and want to let them in or do you hate them and want to keep them out.
This article discusses a third route which is a way to have empathy and respect for our fellow humans by helping them to have a better life in their home country (which means they do not have to go through the pain and danger of trying to come to the US and we do not have to figure out how to accommodate this influx of people who will be struggling to make ends meet once they get here).
22
Yes. Stable governments, which are responsible for controlling both their armies and criminal elements are an important factor. The other factor is people's need to adequately support themselves and their families. Trump stopped aid in the misguided belief that he could punish governments into controlling their people's movements. That will only worsen conditions. Targeted economic aid through reliable programs is an important step. The other need is a carrot and stick approach to national governments to help stabilize them and help them fight violence. These steps are much more likely to get the results Trump wants than are walls, threats, and inhumane treatment of those who do approach our borders seeking asylum.
People on the move often (maybe usually) would rather stay in their own countries with their extended families, native tongues etc., but feel driven to leave because they cannot see a way to survive, much less thrive, under current conditions.
34
We need a national discussion and effort to deal with the immigration problem. Should not be in Trump's hands. The House should propose a plan, then work with the Senate for a bill.
23
@stuart itter The House has proposed nothing.
@stuart itter The GOP-contolled Senate won't co-operate. They and Trump NEED maasive waves of asylum seekers to keep their base ginned up, terrified, and voting GOP. Trump's cutting aid to the Northern Triangle and, as the article says, ranting about immigration keeps the caravans coming,which suits the GOP just fine.
2
Nicholas, we need to develop a new approach to Central America, one that incorporates a more effective set of carrots and sticks.
Climate change is absolutely going to impact Central America, and we need to help those nations prepare for it, and successfully adapt to the degree that they can.
Beyond climate change, we need to do a complete accounting of every activity that we are currently involved in that is exacerbating problems in the region. For instance, President Obama made a decision to deport thousands of MS-13 gang members back to their countries, and in hindsight that decision has led to a humanitarian catastrophe (and greater inflows of migrants to the US).
Our ongoing war on drugs has made trafficking the most lucrative business for poorly educated men and women in Central America - and thus made it that much more difficult for the forces of law and humane order to take and keep control in their countries. Given that narcotics remain widely available on the streets of America despite this ruinous war, I fail to see why we should continue it - and our destabilization of the region. Better to simply admit defeat, and adopt a harm-reduction approach.
Finally, where corrupt government is a primary driver of suffering and migration, we need to effectively deploy soft power in an effort to influence the behavior of the bad actors in the region. To be at all effective in this effort, we will, of course, need the good will and cooperation of Mexico.
28
Trump could learn much from Ms. Gomez and others who are really in the know about immigration. But that would mean that Trump would have to be looking for solutions and that he were willing to consider these people as full human beings, not just stereotypes and boogeymen, neither of which he’s interested in.
48
Supporting most of South and Central America is not the answer. What those places need is lower birth rates, better policing and judiciary and change in taxation and wealth distribution.
Until that happens what we need is a big beautiful wall
17
@Marika Nothing is simple, but I'd prefer to listen to Mr. Kristof's thoughts on this topic than to be told once again "what those places need." Maybe asking what we, as the wealthiest nation on earth and as a nation responsible for so much of the political and economic disorder in "those places" could do to help would be a place to start.
Regarding changes in taxation and wealth distribution, who need them more than the USA of today?
30
@Marika Poverty is often a major factor as to why families have higher birth rates. In developing countries children are often needed to help earn money in the labour force and to provide care for their parents in old age. Often lower-income people can't afford or don't have access to birth control. There's also evidence to suggest that high infant mortality a factor. People have lots of children because they don't expect all of them to survive.
Finally I would suggest the folks from the US (and Canada) have nothing to brag about when it comes to fair taxation & the distribution of wealth. Seriously!
24
@Marika Yeah, a big beautiful wall to keep US Evangelicals out of South and Central America, because those are the ones causing a lot of problems. I know, because I do a lot of work in Guatemala. The Guatemalan Government has programs to make birth control available to women, even in poverty stricken areas in the mountains. And then you have these US Evangelicals building churches all over Guatemala and teaching women that God does not want them to use birth control, that every child is a gift of God, etc.
These Evangelicals are also bad for tourism because they insist on starting services early in the morning, every morning. And they are not happy with the sermons and singing being confined to the inside of their churches; they use amplifiers to make sure that everybody in the neighborhood and countryside is getting an earful. In May we stayed at Lake Atitlan, and were rudely awakened at about 6am every single morning due to those services. A long of the long-time tourists have been talking about looking for other places to visit as it is just getting too loud.
47
Trump has always been a”zero-sum” guy. He does not believe in win-win.
The idea that providing aid to Northern Triangle countries would help the US is anathema to him. Even the example of the young woman exporting tomatoes would displease him as he sees her as competing with American tomato growers.
When Trump says America First, he means everyone else must be economically conquered and rendered impoverished. That’s winning for him. However, he cannot understand or accept that if everyone else is impoverished, to whom will America sell its goods?
It’s a variant of the dead end consequence of US domestic wealth and capital concentration. Eventually, those with the wealth run out of customers with enough money to purchase goods. No demand kills businesses, and capital then evaporates.
If we invest in these countries so their people have money, they will have purchasing power to spend on improving themselves more, and some of that spending will benefit the US economy.
Win-win works. It creates wealth.
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Thank you so much Nick for writing about these young people that my organization, Mercy Corps, is serving in Guatemala. If only the White House can understand that USG investments in the region provides smart opportunities for vulnerable communities facing poverty, violence and climate change and provides stabilization to address forced migration. Keep up the great work!
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Smart ideas do have a chance of working, as described here. Two of the major blows to befall the US this century--9/11 and flooding social media with false posts in 2016--were performed by very few people and not a lot of money. True, giving aid smartly may not always work. But let's remember that throwing billions of dollars at a country (Afghanistan) or at a concept (socialized national defense) hasn't made us more secure, either.
Preventive medical care offers a good analogy. Hi-tech surgery certainly saves lives, but low tech hand washing, sanitation, water purification, cooking food appropriately, and vaccination has saved far more, and more importantly, improved the quality of those lives. We need science and thinking, not shooting from the hip and simplistic solutions.
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Thank you for your two moving, important columns on the reality of life in Guatemala. As well, the two powerful pieces by your student trip winner Mia Armstrong. My question is, why are we so reluctant to write about and critique the elephant standing in the room—the social-economic system we live under. Capitalism, whether in private neoliberal form, or in state-capitalist authoritarian form allows no room for authentic human develop for the mass of humanity that lives under it. Instead are labor is reduced to a commodity to enrich a private capitalist or the state. The land, the rivers, the forest, etc. are not valued as the beauty of the earth that sustains us, but commodities to enrich a few. Despoliation dominates. Climate change is a product on of humanity in the abstract, but of a social system whose only goal is production and more production. Production for the sake of production.
In Central America, including Guatemala, there are social movements organized from below, which are confronting this reality, not alone in the need for humanitarian aid, but in the need for uprooting social transformation. I hope you can report on such movements in the future.
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@Eugene Gogol Because too many have been convinced that capitalism and the invisible hand of the free market is the only option. (An invisible hand...as though this man-made [yes, MAN-made) economic system were actually a being with appendages.)
And too many people believe that if they play according to the rules, they too can join the 1%. Or at least the top 10%.
I include the many Unions & their members who bargained away pay increases, health & pension benefits, and even aspects of their working conditions in return for Shares in the company. They subjugated their own interests to the interests of the company and the many other shareholders who couldn't care less about employee's pay or working conditions.
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@Eugene Gogol It isn't capitalism that is the problem. Indeed, capitalism is responsible for the unbelievable wealth that we--every one of us--has in this country. The problem is "laissez faire" or "unrestricted/unregulated" capitalism. It's capitalism run amuck. It's Trump/McConnell giving tax cuts to the richest among us. Capitalism is perhaps the best system ever devised for making people wealthy.... and Henry Ford understood that, when he raised the wages of his employees so that they could afford to buy a Ford.
Bring back the "trust busters"! Let's have a new deal! and get rid of McConnell/Trump.
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Eugene Gogol: Humm...are you by any chance arguing that Guatemala and other Central American countries ought to go the way of Cuba, or Venezuela? It’s been tried. It doesn’t work. But hey, if you prefer a country with no freedom of speech, assembly, and where the government controls all the media, there’s Cuba for you.
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If the 1st world spent but a fraction of what they spent on things like the military. and then spent it helping prop up programs and true Democracies in the 3rd world, then migration would be cut down to almost nothing.
The one caveat is to truly develop and implement an all of the above strategy to combat the drug epidemic, which has led to many a narco-state. (which fuels the corruption, violence and migration from said countries)
We can spend money over/down there, or think that somehow a higher wall will keep out the problems. It won't.
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@FunkyIrishman But if migration were cut down to almost nothing, who would the GOP use as a bogeyman to giun up their base and win votes?
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@Maureen Hawkins They'll always have Hilary and Obama.
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@FunkyIrishman Remind me again who buys all the drugs that create so many problems in Mexico/Central/South America? Where do all the dollars come from that create so many problems there? Who should we blame?
O yeah. I remember now.
Maybe a wall is a good idea after all.... if it would work.... (I doubt it!)
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Would that we had someone like Mr. Kristof as leader of our Country. How much more effective it would be if the billions we spend on border security were spent on helping these countries to stabilize and to create a safe, healthy place for their people.
Thank "goodness" that there was this help for the dear girl to stay where she wanted.
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@Blanche White
We had such a leader only three years ago. President Obama passed the Affordable Health Act.
Next we will have another Obama like leader in the White House and the moral weakling will be soon be forgotten.
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@Blanche White
Pete Buttigieg is the only Democrat I have heard express the idea that it would be better to spend all that "wall money" on stemming the corruption that the US largely caused in Central America in the first place.
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I rarely miss an article written by Nicholas Kristof, because he gives the reader much to consider and take action. This time he has given us the "secret" of a teenager who has embraced efforts fo slowing Guatemalan migration. Most people would prefer not to escape the horrors of the country they call "home" for a country about which they know so little, yet from whom they expect safety and security and a future worth living. The aid project this teenager joined is called Mercy Corps which gave her and other young farmers support and an opportunity for survival. Our government 's encouragement and resources can be made in similar situations, and there would be no incentive to build walls. Instead we could help build "bridges".
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