Big hearts toward Central America's child migrants

The surge of child migrants over the US border may only continue if Americans don't open their hearts to the countries of origin – Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

|
Reuters
Maria, 18, who is an undocumented migrant from Central America, looks out of a window in Los Angeles, California, July 22.

The United States, which is already home to a fifth of the world’s illegal migrants, is in a political crisis over a surge of unaccompanied children from Central America. More than 57,000 have crossed the border since last year. The issue of what to do with them is difficult enough for a divided Washington. But the Obama administration projects another 150,000 might try to enter the US over the next year.

Most of the recent migrants are from Honduras, followed by El Salvador and Guatemala. Many were sent by their parents, who had gotten false information from human smugglers that the US would be lenient. Others fled threats of violence. Either way, the deeper issue is not border security or US immigration policy. Rather, Americans must decide how neighborly they want to be toward Central America and whether they should help stabilize these three countries so more children don’t flee.

Twice in recent decades, the US has generously worked with two Latin American countries in need of help. Since 1994, the US has aided Mexico with the NAFTA trade pact, a bailout from its peso crisis, and massive assistance to fight drug gangs. Since 1999, the US has spent billions to help Colombia suppress leftist rebels and drug cartels that threatened to split the country. Much of that aid was to boost the economy.

Since then, Mexico has greatly reformed itself, and sends far fewer illegal migrants across the border. Colombia is thriving and enjoys far more freedom from violence.

Is it now Central America’s turn for massive US aid? And can the US even help the region solve the root causes that drive people to take the risky journey to the US?

Much of the current aid is focused on counterterrorist and counternarcotics operations under a program known as the Central American Regional Security Initiative. The US also helped bring about the Central America Free Trade Agreement a decade ago, although few of the countries have done much with it.

With the surge of child migrants, Honduras has called for a mini-Marshall Plan for the region, modeled on the post-World War II aid initiative to Europe. Honduras itself is a corrupt, gang-ridden, and poor nation. It has the highest per capita rate of murders in the world, followed by El Salvador at No. 2.

Of the $3.7 billion that President Obama seeks from Congress to deal with the child-migrant surge, only $300 million is designed to uplift the three countries. This hardly seems enough to deal with root causes. And it may not reflect the bipartisan support on Capitol Hill to stem illegal migration at its source. Most of all, the amount does not represent past US generosity toward its closest neighbors.

The US may be rightly worried that more aid to Central America would be misspent by an apathetic and corrupt political elite. But Mr. Obama could show more leadership by bringing the leaders of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala together in an effort to match new US aid with responsible reforms. Republicans might join him in that project, perhaps helping to break the political logjam over immigration reform.

Big hearts have a way of melting hard hearts.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Big hearts toward Central America's child migrants
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2014/0723/Big-hearts-toward-Central-America-s-child-migrants
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe