Pushing the Problem Back

The stream of thousands of unaccompanied children illegally crossing the border into the United States from Central America last summer caused much unrest. Under pressure from America, Mexico hastily reacted by launching the “Plan Frontera Sur” [Southern Border Plan], meant to intercept migrants at the border with Guatemala. Washington has pushed the problem away, aggravating it in the process.

More than 46,000 unaccompanied young people, coming mainly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, clandestinely entered the United States last year, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security — while in 2011 there were no more than 6,000. The vast majority were adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17, although according to a study done by the Pew Research Center, the proportion of children aged 12 years or younger has been growing significantly.

The appearance of this especially troubling reality — that of children left to themselves — was what it took to bring about the United States’ decision to put pressure on Mexico to reinforce police control on its eastern border.

This led to the Southern Border Plan, announced in July 2014 by the Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto. The plan involved the deployment of 5,000 members of the federal police — who are not exactly known for their professional integrity — to the state of Chiapas. The new plan instantly bore fruit: In all age categories, the number of undocumented immigrants intercepted at the Mexico-Guatemala border (almost 100,000 from October 2014 to April 2015) was such that it is expected that illegal crossings at the Mexico-United States border will fall to the lowest in 40 years in 2015.

Except this statistical success masks a worsening situation with regard to the safety of people along a porous border, where gang violence vies with the corruption of the authorities. Even if Washington appreciates that Mexico has turned off the faucet upstream and is assuming responsibility, nongovernmental organizations are noting that the flow of migrants who try to enter the United States from the poor countries of Central America has by no means dried up.

Increasing the number of border control postings along roads, multiplying the number of raids in shelters where undocumented immigrants take refuge, more thorough surveillance on freight trains going north: Human rights organizations have noted that, in fact and as one would expect, the intensification of police control has been accompanied by a deepening climate of violence and rampant insecurity in the southern part of the country. Pushing migrants to make themselves more invisible is making them still more vulnerable to smugglers and drug traffickers.

We have yet to take into account that the haste with which Mexico sets to deporting undocumented immigrants raises concerning questions regarding human rights. The majority of the immigrants are deported, and it seems as though most of them are subjected to this despite their right to demand asylum and protection.

It would certainly take a lot of voluntary blindness on the part of the American government — and a large share of public opinion — to get rid of the problem by entrusting it to a country that is hardly maintaining rule of law. One does not have to be particularly well informed to know that Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are countries rotted by high levels of poverty and homicide rates among the most elevated in the world. Their distress is currently being exacerbated by an interminable drought that we aren’t hearing very much about, although in these three countries, it is plunging 2.5 million people into food insecurity.

Do we really have any idea of the depth of the difficulties that these populations must go through if their children, in the tens of thousands, end up trying to enter the United States alone?

A ray of hope, despite it all, through these desperate dynamics: Since April, a wind of collective anger against violence and corruption has been blowing over Guatemala and Honduras — a disgust, also rarely spoken of here, which is being expressed with a determination that has not been seen in decades. If only this wind could open the way to profound changes.