I held out as long as I could, but then listened to that recording of the children. They call out for their papá, respond to questions about where they're from. El Salvador. Guatemala. And they keep crying out for their fathers. #CentAmStudies
I have written about families torn apart in other ways, mostly as a result of US foreign policy (military and economic intervention). Being unable to reside together for many years is soul-crushing for many who live that experience
In the cases I wrote about, though, in transnational families when parents had some very limited agency to make the decision to leave, the children at least usually stayed with a loved one.
Now, when parents feel they have no choice but to expose themselves and their children to the dangers of the migrant route, it is just horrific to think that they are then separated from their children without knowing who will care for them
These are people who are fleeing for their lives. The US plays a role in all this. Ppl are fleeing the violent consequences of a failed drug war and vast corruption supported by the only kind of funding the US has provided for years: securitization
I am absolutely sick to my stomach with all the headlines and "debates" about what rights these people have to enter this country "illegally." Understand that the US establishes and benefits from the policies that are expelling these ppl from their homes
The US has a long and uneven history of "aid" in the region. Mostly invested in "counterinsurgency" in the 1980s to destabilize, then retracted when the region needed reconstruction
The isthmus is still living the very real consequences of that military intervention, but now we also see the ways that CAFTA and CARSI leave folks no option but to turn to violence for subsistence; turn to migration for survival
I am so deeply angered and hurt by what is happening in this latest chapter of US dehumanization of Central Americans. Take responsibility for what you've done and are doing to my people!!!!
And just to be clear: things feel especially violent at the moment. They are. But this is not entirely new. I wrote about similarly painful actions under Obama here: huffingtonpost.com/leisy-j-abrego…
Colleagues and I also wrote here: huffingtonpost.com/entry/presiden…
And we wrote here: huffingtonpost.com/entry/instead-…
It's all connected: nacla.org/news/2017/11/1…
From summer 2014: stanfordpress.typepad.com/blog/2014/08/m…
