Posts
Apparently, word gets around. The New York Times is
reporting today about a significant decline of illegal immigration from Central
America. People in places like Honduras and el Salvador have learned that the Trump
administration is serious about stopping illegal immigration. More and more of
them are staying home.
Could it be that attitude matters? Could it be that the
Obama administration open-arms attitude encouraged a flood of refugees from
south of the border? Could it be that Angela Merkel's attitude was decisive in setting off the tide of refugees invading Europe?
Here, from the Times:
CHOLOMA,
Honduras — His bags were packed, and the smuggler was ready. If all went well,
Eswin Josué Fuentes figured he and his 10-year-old daughter would slip into the
United States within days.
Then,
the night before he planned to leave, he had a phone conversation with a
Honduran friend living illegally in New York. Under President Trump, the friend
warned, the United States was no longer a place for undocumented migrants.
Shaken,
Mr. Fuentes abruptly ditched his plans in May and decided to stay here in Honduras, despite its
unrelenting violence and poverty. He even passed up the $12,000 in smuggler
fees that his sister in the United States had lined up for the journey.
“I got
scared of what’s happening there,” Mr. Fuentes said.
While
some of Mr. Trump’s most ambitious plans to tighten the border are still a
long way off, particularly his campaign pledge to build a massive wall, his
hard-line approach to immigration already seems to have led to sharp declines
in the flow of migrants from Central America bound for the United States.
From
February through May, the number of undocumented immigrants stopped or caught
along the southwest border of the United States fell 60 percent
from the same period last year, according to United States Customs and
Border Protection — evidence that far fewer migrants are heading
north, officials on both sides of the border say.
An interesting story, reported well.
5 comments:
Apparently, Señor Fuentes was perhaps not so fearful of the "unrelenting violence and poverty" in his home country as many would like to think. Faced with the terrifying possibility of being arrested, detained, and given a free air ticket home, he opted for the unrelenting violence and poverty.
Hopefully, Señor Fuentes can now focus his energetic desires for peace and prosperity on working to make life better in Honduras.
Times: He even passed up the $12,000 in smuggler fees that his sister in the United States had lined up for the journey.
It's certainly shocking anyone would pay such money to get into the United States when airfare is so much cheaper.
"Could it be that attitude matters? Could it be that the Obama administration open-arms attitude encouraged a flood of refugees from south of the border? Could it be that Angela Merkel's attitude was decisive in setting off the tide of refugees invading Europe?" Oh, no! Surely not! How can you even THINK such a thing?
Also: The HORROR!! The horror... (Am saving some sarcasm for later.)
AO,
Yeah, it's cheaper than air fare, but that doesn't cover evading ICE. $12,000 for what he was going to get was pretty cheap. Down here in Texas, $12,000 a year or so ago would only get you across the border to a pickup point and a ride to San Antonio, Austin, or Corpus. It was payable up front before crossing the border and there are no guarantees for anything.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNjbasba-Qw
Post a Comment