Trump: Anti-Immigrant Terrorism

Published in La Jornada
(Mexico) on 9 June 2018
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Jessica Fernandez Rhodes. Edited by Laurence Bouvard.
The escalation of anti-immigration action that has marked Donald Trump's administration has reached unprecedented levels in U.S. history. Actions include the massive separation of families trying to cross the border without required documentation. Between October 2016 and February of this year, the figure increased to 1,800 separated families, but in just 13 days, from May 6 to May 19, 658 children, some of them just 2 years old, were removed from their parents during border stops. As usually happens with the current U.S. government, the measure was adopted without estimating its effects or taking the consequences into consideration; thus, the situation is on its way to becoming a humanitarian catastrophe due to the lack of space in the reception centers for children.

It must be made clear that there are no guidelines prescribing the separation of minors by border officials. It is a collateral effect of the zero tolerance policy enforced in May, which, for the first time, reclassified crossing the border without documentation from being a minor administrative misdemeanor to classification as a felony. This has resulted in the criminal prosecution of adults who are detained and then separated from the children who were traveling with them. Needless to say, the fact that the impact on the children is secondary to the detention of adults in no way reduces how inhumane and brutal it is, as highlighted by human rights organization, the United Nations and even Federal Judge Dana Sabraw, who described the separation of families as unconstitutional and cruel.

As shown by the figures of the U.S. agencies themselves, the cruelty of these measures has not achieved the goal of dissuading those who seek to enter U.S. territory. This can be explained by the fact that the current wave of immigrants does not comprise people looking for better working conditions, but rather people fleeing regions in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico where their lives are increasingly at risk due to the presence of criminal groups. Considering that it is impossible to convince a father or a mother not to do everything in their power to save their children's lives, Trump's policy is nothing but a sadistic exercise against human beings trapped in the dilemma of staying in their communities and being murdered, or suffering an arbitrary suspension of their human rights.

The current crisis also exposes the moral collapse of the Republican Party, the self-appointed champion of family values against any progress for women's rights or the sexual diversity community. As Rep. Luis Gutierrez stated, when they support the practice of separating immigrant children from their families, Republicans can no longer talk about family values. If we add to this the fact that a large part of the social breakdown the aforementioned Central American nations are currently suffering is an effect of the military or authoritarian regimes imposed by the United States in the last century, it is clear that the current xenophobic policies represent an ethical bankruptcy not only for the president, but also for the party that selected him and keeps him in power.

Since the administration is showing a clear lack of willingness to reconsider its actions, it is imperative that the international community – especially governments with citizens who are victims of this atrocious policy – wields all diplomatic and legal pressure on the leader in the White House to put an end to a chapter in which the physical and emotional well-being of minors is being expressly used as blackmail against adults who, on the other hand, are only exercising their human right to escape potentially lethal situations.


La escalada de acciones antimigrantes en que se ha convertido la administración de Donald Trump alcanzó niveles sin precedente en la historia estadunidense con la masiva separación de familias que intentan cruzar la frontera sin los documentos requeridos: mientras entre octubre de 2016 y febrero de este año esa cifra ascendió a mil 800 familias separadas, sólo en 13 días, entre el 6 y el 19 de mayo, 658 niños (algunos hasta de dos años) fueron alejados de sus padres en el contexto de las detenciones fronterizas. Como suele suceder en el actual gobierno estadunidense, la medida se adoptó sin calcular sus efectos ni reparar en consecuencias, por lo que se encuentra en curso una catástrofe humanitaria debido a la falta de espacio en los centros de acogida para los infantes.
Es necesario aclarar que no existe ninguna directriz que prescriba la separación de los menores por parte de los agentes fronterizos. Se trata de un efecto colateral de la política de cero tolerancia puesta en vigor en mayo, a raíz de la cual cruzar por primera vez la frontera sin documentos se reclasificó de falta administrativa a delito, llevando a que los adultos detenidos sean procesados penalmente y, por tanto, separados de los niños con quienes viajaban. No es necesario decir que este carácter indirecto de la afectación de ninguna manera reduce su naturaleza inhumana y brutal, algo señalado por organismos defensores de derechos humanos, la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU), e incluso por el juez federal Dana Sabraw, quien calificó la separación de familias de inconstitucional y cruel.
Como muestran las cifras de las propias agencias estadunidenses, la crueldad de estas medidas no ha cumplido su presunto propósito de disuadir a quienes buscan ingresar a su territorio, lo cual se explica porque la actual oleada de migrantes no está conformada por buscadores de mejores condiciones laborales, sino por personas que huyen de zonas de El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras y México, donde sus vidas corren riesgo creciente debido a la presencia de grupos criminales. En la medida en que resulta imposible convencer a un padre o una madre de que haga cualquier cosa a su alcance para poner a salvo la vida de sus hijos, la política de Trump no es sino un ejercicio de sadismo contra seres humanos atrapados en la disyuntiva entre quedarse en sus comunidades y ser asesinadas o migrar y sufrir una detención violatoria de sus derechos humanos.
La actual crisis desnuda también el colapso moral del Partido Republicano, autonombrado defensor de los valores familiares ante cualquier avance en los derechos de las mujeres o la comunidad de la diversidad sexual. Como declaró el congresista Luis Gutiérrez al apoyar la práctica de separar a los niños migrantes de sus familias, los republicanos han agotado su tiempo para hablar de valores familiares. Si a esto se suma que buena parte de la descomposición social que actualmente atraviesan las naciones centroamericanas referidas es efecto de los regímenes militares o autoritarios impuestos ahí por Estados Unidos durante el siglo pasado, queda claro que la política xenófoba en curso constituye una bancarrota ética no sólo para el presidente, sino para el partido que lo colocó y lo mantiene en el poder.
Ante la manifiesta falta de voluntad de la administración estadunidense para reconsiderar sus actos, resulta imperativo que la comunidad internacional, y en particular los gobiernos con ciudadanos víctimas de esta atroz política, ejerzan toda la presión diplomática y legal sobre el inquilino de la Casa Blanca para poner fin a un episodio en el que el bienestar físico y emocional de menores de edad es explícitamente usado como chantaje contra los adultos que, por otra parte, no hacen sino ejercer su derecho humano a escapar de situaciones potencialmente letales.
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