Hi everyone!
In the past week, we have seen not one, but two mass migrations into the United States. Each of these is proving to be an extremely contentious issue, with debates raging as to the best response.
Here’s what we know:
The Southern Border
For years now, how best to deal with our Southern border has been one of the most difficult issues for American politics. Every year, thousands of migrants enter the United States through the south, usually coming from Mexico or Central America.
The issue?
These migrants frequently do not have the correct documentation, and resort to crossing the Rio Grande and the southern border without Visas. Often, this immigration stems from desperation – these people are fleeing economic and political hardship in their home countries, and seek a second chance at life with their more prosperous neighbor. This exodus has been steadily growing in the past decade, and now, over ten million people reside in the United States without proper documents. How to respond to this, America cannot agree. The sides are frequently drawn by party lines: Republicans take a harder stance on the issue, intending to eject most of these asylum-seekers, while Democrats act more openly. Questions about national security and how undocumented noncitizens affect this are still unanswered.
These unanswered questions have been brought to the forefront of the media once again, with thousands of migrants flooding border towns in the past month alone. Most recently, nearly 1,000 people arrived at El Paso to seek protection. They know that, more likely than not, they will be ejected from America and sent to their homeland. Still, they try. The journey here is a long and hard one, especially for these newcomers, who hail from Nicaragua. They have to travel across Mexico, face gangs who treat migrants brutally, and then make it into America without being captured by border agents. Many people have sympathy for the struggles these undocumented noncitizens have endured, but others hold that they take “American” jobs in a time of economic decline for the United States. How to best address this, no one can truly answer.
Cuba
America has always had trouble with Cuba. Ever since the US-backed dictator Batista was overthrown 60 years ago, and a Communist government was installed, the two nations have had extremely frosty relations. The United States frequently issues sanctions, which is their current policy – put in place by Donald Trump, in an attempt to appeal to voters, thereby eliminating Obama’s efforts at friendlier diplomacy. The sanctions have achieved their goals, and decimated Cuba’s economy as a result. In the past two years, sanctions have eliminated at least $4 billion in revenue for the island nation. Cuba is now in one of the worst economic crises in history, brought on not only by US economic restrictions (Cuban-Americans can only send a limited amount of money per month to Cuban relatives, for instance), but also the COVID-19 pandemic. Cuba’s tourism sector, once bringing people to see the brights streets of Havana, are all but gone thanks to the pandemic. In 2020 alone, the economy declined by 10.9%. This year, the only sign of recovery is a paltry 2% economic boost. In response to the widespread issues, many Cubans are resorting to migration, en masse.
And so began the largest Cuban exodus in history, dwarfing the 1980 Mariel boat-lift and the 1994 Cuban rafter crisis, the two former largest migrations, combined.
Since America is only 90 miles (144.84 km) away from Cuba, it isn’t a surprise that the goal of many of these migrants is the United States. To get here quickly (thereby bypassing the notoriously inefficient official methods, which often take years) Cubans have resorted to flying to Nicaragua, then making the dangerous land journey to the northern Mexican border. So far, the number of migrants is 220,908, not accounting for migrants who haven’t reached the US or chose a different country instead. Considering Cuba’s approximate population of 11.32 million, and that’s about 1 in 50 people fleeing the country in the past few months.
America and Cuba need to find a solution to their problems – otherwise, Cuba’s economic stagnation will continue.
Great article 🙂