Why Caravan?
The caravan has turned a collective protection strategy into a political crisis. This show of immigrant power is incredibly important.
* Published on Conversation X: http://www.conversationx.com/2018/11/28/why-caravan/
Nearly 5000 humans — children, parents, young and old, and mostly people from Central America — are currently stuck in limbo in a hastily built refugee camp on the United States’ southern border in Tijuana, Mexico. They have “chosen” to journey to the U.S. and to do so through a collective caravan for a combination of personal and political reasons that can only be understood through the context of the U.S. immigration and economic systems. They are largely people escaping violence or poverty back home. Some are coming to rejoin families already established in the United States, and some are coming for better opportunities — a choice many more privileged immigrants like myself are welcomed to make every year. This idea of “choice” (be it about the choice to come or the choice on how to come) must therefore be measured against the reality of the journey — a thousand mile walk carrying all one’s belongings and children only to face a choice between months in detention centers or harrowing travel through the Sonoran desert.
People have been making this particular dangerous journey across the the continent and the globe for decades. However, U.S. policies over the last two decades have heightened the necessity for the journey and the need for group protection as the journey has become more dangerous. These policies include restricting who can gain legal temporary and permanent status in the United States — forcing people escaping generalized violence and poverty into extra-legal methods of migration. The extra-legal migration becomes more dangerous as the border has become militarized, forcing migrants into extremely dangerous desert or river crossings. The International Organization for Migration reports that 412 individuals’ remains were found along the U.S./Mexico border in 2017, and fears that many more have died making this journey amidst the perils of climate and crime in the desert regions.
These policies include immigration enforcement and deportation policies that fail to consider individuals’ ties in the U.S. in deportation decisions, separating parents from their children and violently displacing individuals who’ve only known the U.S. as their home. These policies include U.S. trade and foreign affairs policies that economically exploit Mexico and Central America and have destabilized democratically elected governments in favor of often corrupt and repressive pro-American governments. These policies have been developed by both Republicans and Democrats and have been at the center of immigrant-led resistance to the inhumanity of the U.S. immigration system.
These policies provide a context for why immigrants are now “choosing” to journey in caravan instead of alone. But considering the political response, many have questioned the “strategy” of caravanning. However, framing the caravan as a choice or a freely chosen political strategy is problematic considering the dangers of the journey that have forced many into this collective strategy. For, it will always be objectively safer to travel in a group of hundreds or thousands when traveling through hostile or unstable conditions where attacks on immigrants are pervasive.
However equally importantly, the caravan is a demonstration of immigrant-power. This form of collective migration has raised incredible awareness from immigrants themselves about the harrowing nature of the journey to the U.S., as well as the continuing harrowing conditions many immigrants face once they cross the border as they are forced into new camps and jails awaiting decisions on whether they will have a right to remain in the U.S. Collective migration has led to protection along the path and in these detention centers as immigrants have remain organized and called to be released from detention and for better conditions in the detention centers. And despite the costs to individuals currently stuck in limbo in the Tijuana refugee camps, the caravans are forcing the American populace to confront the inhumanity of the current U.S. immigration system.
But like all acts of collective resistance and empowerment, the caravan has been met with heightened opposition. For decades the U.S. has responded to individuals journeying from Central America and Mexico with racist and often violent practices — wholesale denying asylum applications, detaining individuals for months as they await near certain denials of legal status, and subjecting individuals to exploitative work conditions while on precarious and employer-tied visas. It is also not the first time that the U.S. government has illegally closed a point of entry to refugees. In fact, this is what prompted the first of the caravans in 2017. The current decision to send the military to the border, to indefinitely detain entire families as applications for refugee status are pending, and even threats to close the entire U.S.-Mexico border are a politically motivated response to a show of power from immigrants on both sides of the border.
Ultimately, we must view the caravans as acts of collective political resistance that at their core are protection strategies for thousands of individuals making journeys where they are constantly forced to choose between bad alternatives. The president’s current response is both politically motivated but also a response to a fear of real collective power demonstrated by immigrants.
To support, you can donate to Al Otro Lado, an organization providing legal support, or http://bitly.com/helprefugeecaravan/ to donate directly to the Caravaneros.
* Published on Conversation X: http://www.conversationx.com/2018/11/28/why-caravan/
Nearly 5000 humans — children, parents, young and old, and mostly people from Central America — are currently stuck in limbo in a hastily built refugee camp on the United States’ southern border in Tijuana, Mexico. They have “chosen” to journey to the U.S. and to do so through a collective caravan for a combination of personal and political reasons that can only be understood through the context of the U.S. immigration and economic systems. They are largely people escaping violence or poverty back home. Some are coming to rejoin families already established in the United States, and some are coming for better opportunities — a choice many more privileged immigrants like myself are welcomed to make every year. This idea of “choice” (be it about the choice to come or the choice on how to come) must therefore be measured against the reality of the journey — a thousand mile walk carrying all one’s belongings and children only to face a choice between months in detention centers or harrowing travel through the Sonoran desert.
People have been making this particular dangerous journey across the the continent and the globe for decades. However, U.S. policies over the last two decades have heightened the necessity for the journey and the need for group protection as the journey has become more dangerous. These policies include restricting who can gain legal temporary and permanent status in the United States — forcing people escaping generalized violence and poverty into extra-legal methods of migration. The extra-legal migration becomes more dangerous as the border has become militarized, forcing migrants into extremely dangerous desert or river crossings. The International Organization for Migration reports that 412 individuals’ remains were found along the U.S./Mexico border in 2017, and fears that many more have died making this journey amidst the perils of climate and crime in the desert regions.
These policies include immigration enforcement and deportation policies that fail to consider individuals’ ties in the U.S. in deportation decisions, separating parents from their children and violently displacing individuals who’ve only known the U.S. as their home. These policies include U.S. trade and foreign affairs policies that economically exploit Mexico and Central America and have destabilized democratically elected governments in favor of often corrupt and repressive pro-American governments. These policies have been developed by both Republicans and Democrats and have been at the center of immigrant-led resistance to the inhumanity of the U.S. immigration system.
These policies provide a context for why immigrants are now “choosing” to journey in caravan instead of alone. But considering the political response, many have questioned the “strategy” of caravanning. However, framing the caravan as a choice or a freely chosen political strategy is problematic considering the dangers of the journey that have forced many into this collective strategy. For, it will always be objectively safer to travel in a group of hundreds or thousands when traveling through hostile or unstable conditions where attacks on immigrants are pervasive.
However equally importantly, the caravan is a demonstration of immigrant-power. This form of collective migration has raised incredible awareness from immigrants themselves about the harrowing nature of the journey to the U.S., as well as the continuing harrowing conditions many immigrants face once they cross the border as they are forced into new camps and jails awaiting decisions on whether they will have a right to remain in the U.S. Collective migration has led to protection along the path and in these detention centers as immigrants have remain organized and called to be released from detention and for better conditions in the detention centers. And despite the costs to individuals currently stuck in limbo in the Tijuana refugee camps, the caravans are forcing the American populace to confront the inhumanity of the current U.S. immigration system.
But like all acts of collective resistance and empowerment, the caravan has been met with heightened opposition. For decades the U.S. has responded to individuals journeying from Central America and Mexico with racist and often violent practices — wholesale denying asylum applications, detaining individuals for months as they await near certain denials of legal status, and subjecting individuals to exploitative work conditions while on precarious and employer-tied visas. It is also not the first time that the U.S. government has illegally closed a point of entry to refugees. In fact, this is what prompted the first of the caravans in 2017. The current decision to send the military to the border, to indefinitely detain entire families as applications for refugee status are pending, and even threats to close the entire U.S.-Mexico border are a politically motivated response to a show of power from immigrants on both sides of the border.
Ultimately, we must view the caravans as acts of collective political resistance that at their core are protection strategies for thousands of individuals making journeys where they are constantly forced to choose between bad alternatives. The president’s current response is both politically motivated but also a response to a fear of real collective power demonstrated by immigrants.
To support, you can donate to Al Otro Lado, an organization providing legal support, or http://bitly.com/helprefugeecaravan/ to donate directly to the Caravaneros.
Comments
Post a Comment