What can be done with this migration crisis?

The migration issue is back on the political burner with images of a caravan of migrants fleeing desperation in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Although caravans similar to this have occurred over the years to help the migrants resist violence and abuse along their journey this one is being met with a flurry of rhetoric intended to fire up mid-term votes in the United States.

I met a man Tuesday from Cameroon, a country in central Africa which is in the middle of a crisis of its government pitting an English-speaking minority against the ruling majority French speakers.  We talked about his trip from Africa through Panama and all the way to the United States seeking asylum.  After crossing the border at a legal crossing, he was detained and found to have a credible case for asylum.  While waiting to be heard by an immigration judge he won’t be able to have a social security card or a driver’s license.  Without these he won’t be eligible for a good job even though he impressed me as being very able.   His search for a better life took him away from his home, landing him among the many people struggling to provide for themselves in the marginal shadow economy.  He is not among the migrants that we normally think of when discussing our immigration problem, but around the world crisis situations are driving people from their homes in search of peace and security.

In Central America poverty, gangs, and government corruption are causing thousands of migrants to flee north to the U.S. Instead of arming the border or taking away aid to countries I believe that we should do the following:

First, we should join with the global community to lift up the countries where corruption, violence, and poverty are driving people from the homes. Our Federal Aid to Central America and Mexico is largely aimed at improving the conditions that are at the root of the migration problem. We have budgeted 260 million dollars in 2019 for these countries, money that is now being threatened to be cut off because people are still fleeing the conditions it is supposed to be addressing. Instead, we talk of spending up to $24 billion on a border wall. That would be nearly 100 times what we have allocated to assist the countries.

Does the wall help solve the drug cartels or gangs or poverty of our neighboring countries? No. Migrants will be forced to travel around the wall by boat as they have from Cuba and the Caribbean. I have read that 40 percent of our undocumented population were here legally until their visas or green cards expired. The wall won’t solve this.

Second, the young people who were brought to the U.S. as children and have only known this as their home (DACA Dreamers) should be registered as Permanent Residents. They should then be able to seek naturalized citizenship in the same way as others who have migrated to our country.

Third, allow the 11 million undocumented immigrants already working and raising families here to attain some form of legal status in a way that ensures that they pay taxes and have protection as workers.

Let us resolve to make this continent one in which all people can live in dignity, without fear of gangs or violence, where no one is forced to leave their home to be able to provide food and shelter for themselves and their families.