Deportations Are Intended To Create Chaos

Published in La jornada
(Mexico) on 15 December 2024
by Ana María Aragonés (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Tom Walker. Edited by Michelle Bisson.
Donald Trump, the U.S. president-elect, has said that he will use the military to the fullest extent of the law to support his decisions on mass deportations, to expel and repatriate an unprecedented number of immigrants over the four years of his term. It is worthwhile to ask, in the first place, why those people are undocumented and, in the second place, what is the real reason for the deportations.

As to why they are undocumented, there are several answers. But the most important is that the duress to which the people are subjected makes it necessary for them to leave their countries of origin, whether because of natural disasters, armed conflicts, deterioration of law and order, financial difficulties or one or all of them at once, which prevent them from achieving a life of dignity.

They are trying to reach those countries where, in the collective imagination, they can mitigate the deficiencies in their lives. One of those countries is the U.S., as are the EU and the Global South on the other side of the Atlantic.

Of course, being undocumented is an administrative offense because they are not in compliance with the requirements of the country’s jurisdiction. Remember that, with the signing of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the groundwork was laid for the concept of national sovereignty and for the system of modern states, which we certainly should be discussing in the 21st century. Separated by borders, it was said that “you have the right to leave, but not to enter, unless I, the state, permit it.”

And even though the countries have signed international agreements promising to grant refuge and asylum to those whose lives are in danger, the reality is that they do not do so. They maintain that the majority do not demonstrate eligibility because they are “economic immigrants,” and they close the door on them.

However, the developed countries, the destination of most immigrants for obvious reasons, need the immigrants’ contributions, above all because of the demographic problems in the destination countries. But it has become highly lucrative for them to keep the immigrants in an irregular situation and in a deplorable state of legal limbo, because it frees businesses from any obligation under the labor laws.

This is clear in moments of economic crisis, which are cyclical and necessary in the capitalist system, when businesses can simply dump their immigrant workers, who have been paying their taxes religiously and producing wealth for the destination country, no matter how many years they have worked for them. In this way, the immigrants balance the U.S. labor markets and sustain its benefits. And when the recovery comes, the flows resume, again with the same immigration of undocumented workers.

Is there any reason to deport millions of Mexican immigrants if, to their credit, they have no criminal record, they are working and they have children born in the U.S.? The authorities could turn things around, impose a fine on all the undocumented immigrants and issue them papers. By doing so, on the one hand they would punish the offense and at the same time recover the alleged administrative budget expenses, but they have not done this.

From my point of view, the real reason for the deportation order, proposed by the right and supported even more by the extreme right, is to create chaos in order to subjugate the Latin American countries, particularly Mexico. The intent is to force Mexico to backtrack in its implementation of an independent and sovereign policy which has been seeking a change of regime since the beginning of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s term in office.

This policy, paradoxically, has as one of its corollaries the reversal of forced undocumented immigration. It is important to note that the next U.S. ambassador to Mexico is Ronald Johnson, who served most of his career in the U.S. Southern Command. He retired from the Army in 1998 and is now in the CIA.

And just as we should not underestimate what is happening in the Middle East (where, as economist Jeffrey Sachs has noted, the U.S., at Israel’s behest, has left the region bankrupt and in ruins), it is very important to remember that Latin America is strategic for Washington, as much for geopolitical reasons as for economic, social, environmental and national security reasons, and above all for its strategic resources.

Because of this, we also should not forget that the U.S. will continue “to encourage regional fragmentation in order to impede any initiative for political coordination and cooperation that tends toward integration. Divide and Conquer is the other face of the Monroe Doctrine.” (Leandro Morgenfeld).


Crear caos, la intención con deportaciones

Donald Trump, futuro presidente de Estados Unidos, declaró que usará al ejército con todo el rigor de la ley para apoyar sus decisiones de deportación masiva y con ello expulsar a un número nunca visto de migrantes, y retornar a todos los extranjeros sin documentos a lo largo de sus cuatro años de mandato. Vale la pena preguntarse, en primer lugar, por qué las personas son indocumentadas, y en segundo lugar, cuál es la verdadera razón para la deportación.

En cuanto a la indocumentación, hay varias respuestas, pero la más importante es porque las urgencias a que las personas se ven sometidas las obliga a salir de sus países de origen, ya sea por desastres naturales, por conflictos armados, por inseguridad, por dificultades económicas, o por una o todas ellas al mismo tiempo, que les impide alcanzar una vida digna.

Intentan llegar a aquellos países que en el imaginario colectivo pueden paliar sus carencias, y uno de ellos es Estados Unidos, como sucede del otro lado del Atlántico con la Unión Europea y las naciones del sur.

Por supuesto que ser indocumentado es una falta administrativa, porque no cumplieron con los requisitos que la soberanía del país implanta. Recordar que con la firma de la Paz de Westfalia, en 1648, se sentaron las bases del concepto de soberanía nacional y del sistema de Estados modernos, lo que sin ninguna duda deberíamos discutir en pleno siglo XXI. Separados por fronteras, se dice “tienes derecho a salir, pero no a entrar, a menos a que yo, Estado, lo permita”.

Y si bien los países han firmado acuerdos internacionales comprometiéndose a otorgar refugio y asilo a aquellos cuya vida corre peligro, la realidad es que los esquivan sosteniendo que la mayoría no lo demuestra porque son “migrantes económicos”, y les cierran la puerta.

Sin embargo, las naciones desarrolladas, destino de la mayoría de migrantes por razones obvias, necesitan su aporte sobre todo por sus dificultades demográficas, pero les ha resultado enormemente lucrativo mantenerlos en situación irregular y en un lamentable limbo jurídico, porque libera a los empresarios de cualquier obligación derivada de las leyes laborales.

Esto es claro en momentos de crisis económicas que son cíclicas y necesarias en el sistema capitalista, cuando pueden simplemente deshacerse de ellos deportándolos sin importar los años que trabajaron, que hayan pagado sus impuestos en forma religiosa y generado riqueza para el país receptor. De esta forma equilibran sus mercados laborales, mantienen sus beneficios y cuando viene la recuperación los flujos se renuevan, bajo la misma figura de indocumentados.

¿Hay alguna razón para deportar a millones de migrantes mexicanos si en su haber no hay ningún delito, están trabajando y tienen hijos nacidos en el país receptor? Podrían las autoridades revertir la situación y aplicar a todos los indocumentados una multa para obtener los papeles y con ello, por un lado, castigar la falta y al mismo tiempo resarcir el supuesto daño administrativo, pero tampoco lo aceptan.

Desde mi punto de vista, la verdadera razón de la orden de deportaciones, propuesta por la derecha, y más aún por la ultraderecha, es la de crear caos para doblegar a los países latinoamericanos, particularmente a México, y obligarlo a retroceder en la puesta en marcha de una política independiente y soberana, que busca un cambio de régimen desde la llegada de Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Política que, paradójicamente, tiene como uno de sus corolarios la reversión de la migración indocumentada forzada. No es un hecho menor que el próximo embajador de Estados Unidos en México, Ronald Johnson, quien realizó la mayor parte de su carrera militar en el Comando Sur de Estados Unidos, se retiró del ejército en 1998 y ahora es parte de la CIA.

Y así como no se puede desestimar lo que está pasando en Medio Oriente (que como señala el economista Jeffrey Sachs, Estados Unidos, a instancias de Israel ha dejado esa región en bancarrota y en ruinas), es muy importante recordar que América Latina es estratégica para Washington, tanto por razones geopolíticas como económicas, sociales, ambientales, de seguridad nacional y, sobre todo, por sus recursos estratégicos.

Por lo que tampoco debe olvidarse que Estados Unidos seguirá “alentando la fragmentación regional para obstaculizar cualquier iniciativa de coordinación y cooperación política que tienda hacia la integración. Divide y reinarás es la otra cara de la Doctrina Monroe (Morgenfeld, Leandro).

This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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