Best piece I've read to date on
what to do about the building humanitarian crisis on our border.
Temporary protected status, allowing the newest immigrants, or rather,
"war refugees" into our country is a solution, indeed.
Copyright © , Austin
American-Statesman, All rights reserved.
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR 
by JENNIFER HARBURY
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Copyright © , Austin
American-Statesman, All rights reserved.
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR
When we look at migrants,
we see our nation’s history
by JENNIFER HARBURY
Although we Texans are a diverse
lot, we have all been moved by the plight of the desperate young mothers and
vulnerable teenagers arriving our border in recent weeks. Public comments,
however, reflect a worrisome lack of information.
First, we must understand that
these new immigrants are not criminals. They are war refugees fleeing the
brutal drug wars in their homelands. The cartels of Central America and Mexico
have long targeted local adolescents to work for them, and resistance results
in death. If we read the statistics, a 15-year-old boy in Honduras would in
fact be safer in Syria. Worse yet, the kind of femicide we saw in Juarez,
Mexico, is now the norm for women in Central America as well. Parents are
sending their children north on the nightmarish train ride because there is no
alternative.
We are prohibited by
international law from returning people to a country where they face
persecution or torture. This is not a knee-jerk nicety. After all, sending the
refugee boat back to Nazi Germany is not one of our more shining moments. There
are, however, reasonable solutions. One immediate and time-tested approach
would be to grant Temporary Protected Status to persons in danger of harm by
the narco-cartels. This would allow the refugees to work to support themselves
and remain safe for a few years, when their situation can be re-evaluated. We
have done this successfully before. Likewise we should not be shy about calling
in the United Nations or the Red Cross to assist us.
We must also get over the idea
that “outsiders” are a bad thing for our country. It’s a pretty silly position
for anyone except Native Americans. The Puritans were religious refugees, and
most colonists were fleeing either persecution or poverty. Devastating wars and
natural disasters brought continuing waves of newcomers, including my father,
who was then 11. They survived, thrived, and contributed. This is our national
heritage. People who were safe, wealthy and happy in the Old World had no
motive to mosey over here.
Last, many people urge that we
increase financial aid to these countries and help establish a more democratic
society with a stronger economy. That won’t work. We Americans are the drug
consumers, and we spend a pretty penny on these ugly habits. There will always
be drug lords as long as we are paying.
Importantly, we must remember our
own disturbing historical role. The people of Central America worked valiantly
for basic labor rights, racial equality and educational programs. They were
brutally put down by military dictatorships backed by the United States.
Declassified documents indicate that in Guatemala, the CIA helped to carry out
a bloody military coup in 1954 to oust just such a reformist president. We then
continued to fund an army that carried out a well-documented campaign of
genocide against its own citizenry.
Some of the bloodiest military
officers became involved in the drug trade early on. The Zetas who now
terrorize us on the border were armed and trained by Guatemalan Kaibiles, who
were in turn armed and trained by, well, us. My husband, a Mayan resistance
leader, was tortured to death in Guatemala in the 1990s. One of his torturers,
Col. Julio Roberto Alpirez, appears on the DEA’s corrupt officer list, but was
long permitted to reside in the U.S. After all, as public records indicate, he
also worked as a paid informant for the CIA. Apparently that puts him and
others off limits.
HARBURY IS A FORMERAUSTINITE, WHO
IS NOW AN ATTORNEY IN WESLACO.
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