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Driven out of their home countries by unlivable and deadly conditions immigrants make the decision to undertake the dangerous journey north to the U.S.border in hopes of survival for themselves and their families. | Dario Lopez-Mills/AP

Much ink and hot air have been expended over the past several weeks about whether or not there is a crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border, caused by a big spike in the number of migrants and asylum-seekers arriving there since the change in U.S. administrations.

The tone of the Republican versus Democrat argument often takes on a semantic character. In the opinion of this writer, there is indeed a major crisis, but it is not new; rather it is rooted in the way U.S. imperialism has interacted with the nations and peoples of Central America and the Caribbean for well over a century.

It is not so much a crisis for the United States or even for the population of the U.S. side of the border with Mexico. It is, however, an enormous crisis, involving massive poverty, suffering, and death, for millions of people in the countries from which the migrants and refugees, both young and old, are arriving. And the actions of the U.S. ruling class and state over many years are at the root of this crisis.

The root? Lip service is now being paid to this phrase: Weve got to get to the root of the problem which is in the Northern Triangle Central American countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. But the solutions cannot be blocking the arrival of migrants and refugees while subsidizing the governments of those countries in a way that does not improve the economic and personal security of their inhabitants.

Does the Biden administration, and do the Republicans, really understand what is the root of the problem in those countries, and in others such as Haiti, the Dominican Republic, etc.? I suspect they have more than just an inkling, but do not want the U.S. public to understand the historical events that have brought so many people to such a desperate pass that they see no other option than to uproot themselves, often put themselves in the hands of smugglers and make a run to the Mexico-U.S. border where they have to brave more danger and humiliationall with a faint hope of reaching safety on the U.S. side.

The history of U.S. relations with the poorer countries of Central America and the Caribbean has to be studied to get a real understanding of the roots of the present situation.

The Monroe Doctrine, and especially the 1905 Roosevelt Corollary, established the idea that the United States reserves the right to intervene in the internal affairs of the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean when the situation in those countries affects U.S. interests. By U.S. interests is meant, of course, not the interests of ordinary working-class people in the U.S. but of the corporate elites.

Occasionally, people close to U.S. power centers are willing to recognize this publically. In 1935, U.S. Marine Major General Smedley Butler, who had participated in many U.S. overseas military interventions from China to Mexico to Haiti and more, shocked the countrys political, economic, and military leadership with his book War is a Racket. In this book, he scathingly compared the actions of the United States in the poorer countries of the world with those of Al Capone and his gangsters in Chicago. Only, he said, the U.S. military had by far outdone Capone in the multi-continental reach of its buccaneering expeditions which benefited only the wealthy capitalists in this country.

Have not been shy

Successive U.S. administrations have not been shy about intervening to change governments in the Western Hemisphere and beyond to suit U.S. business and geopolitical interests. This has gone on almost nonstop for more than a century. In the first thirty-five years of the twentieth century, U.S. forces were fighting and occupying one Central American country after another, not to mention also Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. U.S. intervention in Haiti, which had a definite racist edge to it, was particularly bloody. In 1919, to crush a Haitian rebellion against U.S. military occupation, U.S. troops treacherously ambushed and murdered Haitian patriot leader Charlemagne Pralte and distributed gruesome photos of his corpse, to send a message that resistance to the United States was futile. Pralte had fought for friendship and unity between the peoples of Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic, another of his sins. The leaders of the United States much preferred people like Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo, who ordered the massacre of Haitian migrant workers in his country.

The U.S. intervened in Guatemala in 1954 to overthrow the moderately left of center government of President Jacobo Arbenz, who was seen as soft on communism and a threat to the profits of the United Fruit Company, which had connections within the Eisenhower administration. This led to many decades of barbaric repression in Guatemala, leading to several hundred thousands of deaths. The efforts to overthrow the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, combat the left in El Salvador, overthrow the government of Haiti in 2004, were only a few examples of U.S. imperialisms overthrow and regime change efforts in Latin America in relatively recent times.

The U.S. connived in the overthrow of the moderately progressive government of Honduras in 2009. The result of that interference was the coming to power of two successive corrupt, right-wing governments, of Porfirio Lobo first and also of the present president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, both of whom have been accused of being up to their necks in corrupt relations with the drug cartels. The combination of corrupt, undemocratic, and repressive governments with the growth of the drug cartels (many of whose customers are in the United States) is a major factor in destabilization and violence in the Central American countries, and thus of the flight of thousands of people.

Working through these compliant, corrupt regimes, the U.S. has foisted on the nations of the area the Central America/Dominican Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) which like all such agreements, favors the wealthy foreign corporations and stunts the economies of the poorer nations.

On top of this, the Central American area has been hard hit by the results of global warming. This has manifested itself in very destructive hurricanes over the past several years, but also in a long term drought situation over wide swaths of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvadora drought which has ruined crops for several seasons in a row, and given the rural population little choice but to uproot themselves and hit the migrant trail. This global warming is also the result of the current capitalist mode of production.

Thus U.S. government policy and the actions of U.S. based transnational capital, in combination with U.S. allied local ruling classes, have created a situation of economic and personal insecurity which is the driving force of the current migration. This is attested to by many, many interviews with migrants by charitable and human rights activists, as well as journalists of several orientations.

This is the real crisis and a dire one it is indeed. Neither the Biden administration nor the Republican opposition seems willing currently to recognize its real roots in the economics and geopolitics of imperialism. If that is the case, the solutions being proposed will not work.

This is revealed by the idea that what needs to be done to get to the root of the problem, in the countries of origin of the migrants and refugees, is to pour more U.S. money into the utterly corrupt and undemocratic regimes of the Northern Tier countries. This seems especially incongruous as the U.S. government is moving toward possible indictment of Honduran President Juan OrlandoHernndez for being a close ally of the same drug cartels who make life a living hell for so many of his own countrymen and women.

In Honduras, Guatemala, and also Haiti there have been frequent, huge grassroots mobilizations against the corrupt governments in power. But the United States so far continues to see the governments against whom the peoples are fighting as its key allies against Venezuela and Cuba.

We in the CPUSA and the peoples movement in the United States have to speak out strongly against this century-old imperialist policy, and demand changes that will include the recognition of the sovereign rights of the peoples and nations of the hemisphere to run their own governments without threats of destabilization and overthrow. Moreover, we need to oppose neoliberal trade policies and greatly step up the fight against global warming, for the good of workers in poor countries and in the United States too.

We must make sure that the citizens and voters in the U.S. are aware of the degree to which our own leaders, political and economic, have created this multinational crisis, and the steps needed to change these policies. Until then, migrants and refugees will continue to come and should be welcomed and supported in every way.

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There is a migrant crisis, but where and why? - People's World

Sanwar Ali: additional reporting and commentsThe so-called US immigration crisis at the southern border with Mexico has apparently sparked a rise in the number of Russian, Iraqi and Syrian nationals heading to the Central American nation to cross into the US. According to a Daily Mail report, the number of people from Russia and the Middle East crossing the Mexico border is increasing at an alarming rate.Epimonia has detailed information on what causes refugeecrises and otherreasons why people may wish to flee their country. Reasons given include persecution, war, hunger, climate change, poverty, etc. Perhaps more needs to be done on an international level to try and preventrefugeecrises.

According to official data, US President Joe Biden is spending approximately $3 million a day to accommodate migrants at a US immigration detention facility in Texas. An official at the facility has claimed that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are being forced to catch and release illegal immigrants without vetting them.

The South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley is currently housing about 1,500 migrants at a cost of approximately $2,000 per person per day, according to The Daily Mail report. The facility is the largest US immigration detention center in America, with a capacity of 2,400. It was originally designed to house mainly women and children.

Its understood that Russian and Middle Eastern migrants at the border are becoming increasingly common, having joined the caravan from Mexico thats crossing into the United States, with Mexicans and people from other Central American nations also heading to the border.

However, the whistleblowing official, who asked to remain anonymous said that the facility in Texas has become nothing more than a catch and release center for illegal immigrant families, including men. Most are being welcomed into the US after three days to await immigration court dates.

The anonymous official said: Its nothing more than catch and release. Before President Biden took over we had about 20 families a day arrive at our facility, now we are seeing more than 150 a day, we are overwhelmed. Before, we never accepted men at our facility, but now we are.

The inside source added that immigrants are arriving from all over the world, saying: We used to get immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, but in the last few months weve had immigrants from Russia, Iraq, Syria, Vietnam, Romania and Haiti.

According to the official, migrant families would often remain at the Texas facility for months at a time while awaiting an outcome on their asylum cases. However, the maximum time they were held amid the so-called border crisis is three days.

This has sparked several national security concerns, with immigration officials unable to properly screen migrants before releasing them.

The unnamed official said: Because the turnaround time is so short, the immigrants aren't being vetted before they are released. Our government doesn't really know who they are releasing into our society. When these immigrant families come in from Russia, Syria and Iraq, some of them could be terrorists.

When men come into our facility with women and children, we have no proof any of them are actually related. Often they dont have documentation so we have to take their word on their name, age, nationality, etc. They could be anyone, child predators, traffickers, terrorists, the official added.

The official went on to add that the US immigration system is completely overwhelmed right now. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is reportedly trying to move people through the system as quickly as possible.

We have more people than we can handle. Its a crisis situation, everyone is overworked, the official said.

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US immigration: Rise in Russian, Iraqi and Syrian immigrants - Workpermit.com

Despite lockdown, this yearthere have been more migrants attempting to cross the Channel by boat than in the same period last year.

Under plans announced by Home Secretary Priti Patel, Border Force officers are to get new Australian-style turn-back powers to stop and redirect boats carrying illegal migrants across the Channel. But the new sovereign bordersbill isn't likely tocome into affect until Autumn.

In the meantime, as the weather improves more peoplewill attempt to make the dangerous crossing.Last summer, Roger Gough, leader of Kent County Councilsaid the numbers of migrant children crossing the Channel was 'unsustainable'and the authority was being 'overwhelmed'. So as the number of migrantscontinues to climb, can the communitiesand services on the front linecope?

This film documents the ongoing struggle between sympathies and frustrations of those living on the Kent coast.

For more videos from the Telegraph, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

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Kent under pressure: Living on the frontline of the migrant crisis - Telegraph.co.uk

Top Border Patrol officials said officers are overwhelmed by the influx of migrants at the US-Mexico border, a spiraling crisis that intensified this week when a gun battle between rival cartel gangs broke out in a Texas town.

A week ago I would not have called this a crisis. Today it meets the definition. We are overwhelmed, Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, told Fox News Wednesday night.

We do not have the resources to stop the cartels from bringing in illegal aliens, from bringing in drugs, therefore we are in fact in a crisis, he added.

On Tuesday, President Biden said he did not have any plans to travel to the southern border at the moment amid a surge in migrants.

Instead, Biden issued a blunt message to migrants thinking about crossing the border, saying Dont come over when asked by ABC News host George Stephanopoulos.

Dont leave your town or city or community, he added.

A senior CBP official told Fox the situation is untenable.

The president understands it is a crisis which is why he told migrants Dont come over,' the official told the network on condition of anonymity.

In undoing former President Donald Trumps border initiatives, Biden unleashed a flood of illegal migrantsat the border, including thousands of unescorted children.

In his first month in office, heended construction of Trumps signature border wall and beganto end the Remain in Mexico policyunder which about 71,000 Central American asylum applicants were awaiting rulings in Mexico.

More than 4,000 migrant children were being held by the Border Patrol as of Sunday, with at least 3,000 of them staying in custody longer than the 72-hour limit set by a court order, a US official told the Associated Press.

On Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas described the border situation as difficult, but stopped short of calling it a crisis, according to Fox News.

The situation at the southwest border is difficult, Mayorkas said. We are working around the clock to manage it and we will continue to do so. That is our job. We are making progress and we are executing on our plan. It will take time and we will not waver in our commitment to succeed.

The CBP officials made their comments as the news outlet reported that a gunfight had erupted near Roma, a Texas community between two rival cartels.

Jaeson Jones, a former captain in theTexasDepartment of Public Safetys intelligence and counter-terror division, said its time for the federal government to focus more on the mountingcartel violence.

Veronica G. Cardenas/Reuters

Paul Ratje/Reuters

Adrees Latif/Reuters

Adrees Latif/Reuters

The Biden administration is not permitting state and local authorities...

Jones toldTucker Carlson Tonightthat he regularly witnesses gun battles in theMexicancity of Miguel Aleman,Tamaulipas, across the Rio Grande from Roma, Fox News reported.

That community has been inbattle between two cartelsfor the last two years:Cartel del Golfo The Gulf Cartel and Cartel del Noreste, known as Los Zetas by many people, Jones said.

The rest is here:
US border officials say the migrant 'crisis' getting worse

It doesnt matter how the Biden administration tries to spin it, there is undeniably a crisis underway at the southwest border. The number of illegal border crossings is up 100 percent over this time last year, and at this rate apprehensions of illegal immigrants will surpass all of 2018, 2019, and 2020 combined. As of this writing, a record number of unaccompanied migrant teens are in federal custody, with hundreds more arriving every day.

The Washington Post reports that more than 8,500 minors are in shelters run by the Department of Health and Human Services, and another 3,500 are in U.S. Border Patrol stations facilities that are basically concrete holding cells, not designed for minors or families, and not intended to house anyone for more than 72 hours. As of now, however, minors are being held for an average of 107 hours, in violation of federal law, because HHS has nowhere to place them.

The largest number of migrants held in these Border Patrol facilities during the Trump administration was 2,600 in June 2019, when President Trump was denounced by Democrats and the corporate press for putting kids in cages. The press is now predictably silent, and Democrats deny there is even a crisis.

But that, of course, has been as predictable as the crisis itself. President Biden came into office and signed a raft of executive orders that ended key Trump-era policies that had helped reduce illegal border-crossing. The effect of that shift has been profound. From the Rio Grande to Tegucigalpa, word has gone out that now is the time to migrate north, that if you can get into the United States, Biden will let you stay.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador acknowledged as much after a virtual meeting with Biden on March 1, saying, They see him as the migrant president, and so many feel theyre going to reach the United States. Mexican officials are now worried that Biden administration policies are creating a boon for organized crime, which increasingly traffics in migrants, charging each one thousands to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Migrants have become a commodity, one Mexican official told Reuters this week.

Cartel-associated smuggling networks are making huge profits charging migrants, most of them from Central America, for passage through Mexico and into the U.S. As in previous migrant surges, smugglers commonly referred to as coyotes are advising people to bring children with them, even offering discounted rates for adults crossing with children.

The reason for the discount is simple: An adult with a child makes a smugglers job easier. Instead of trying to evade Border Patrol, adults with children simply turn themselves in to the nearest Border Patrol agents and claim asylum. In some cases, the adult is not actually the parent of the child he is traveling with, a practice that was well-documented during the 2019 border crisis.

Under the Biden administrations new border policies, which mirror the Obama-eras catch-and-release procedures, most of those claiming asylum will be released into the United States after a short time with instructions to appear before an immigration judge. This creates an enormous incentive for desperate people in Central America seeking a better life, but also enormous incentives for cartels and smuggling networks to profit off the flow of migrants. Indeed, cartels along the border have developed highly-sophisticated systems for tracking migrant payments, with most of their customers remaining in a form of debt bondage even after theyre residing in the states.

But thats just one end of the problem. By the time Central American migrants get to northern Mexico, its very difficult to prevent their crossing into the U.S., given the resources and incentives of the cartels.

The other end of the problem is in the sending countries in Central America, the so-called Northern Triangle of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. The corporate press and lawmakers of both parties most often focus on the poverty and gang violence in Central America but miss a more important aspect, which is the extent of official corruption in the governments of these countries. That corruption is directly tied to drug trafficking and the transnational cartels that are helping drive illegal immigration on the border.

For example, in the scrum of headlines about the royal family and President Joe Bidens dogs this week, you might have missed an important story that bears directly on all of this: The president of Honduras was implicated in a massive drug-trafficking scheme and is allegedly in the pay of transnational drug cartels.

At the opening of a trial for accused Honduran drug trafficker Geovanny Fuentes Ramrez in New York on Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Gutwillig said Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernndez was an integral part of Fuentes Ramrezs trafficking operation. His operations thrived because of his connections, Gutwillig said. Mayors, congressmen, military generals, police chiefs, even the current president of Honduras. The defendant bribed them all.

One of the witnesses who will testify during the trial, added Gutwillig, was present when Hernndez said he wanted to shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos and flood the United States with cocaine.

This isnt the first time Hernndezs name has come up in a high-profile federal trial. During a 2019 trial that led to the conviction of his brother, Juan Antonio Hernndez, the Honduran president was accused of accepting more than $1 million in bribes from the now-imprisoned former head of the Sinaloa Cartel, infamous Mexican drug trafficker Joaqun El Chapo Guzmn.

Hernndez has long denied any involvement in drug trafficking, although a filing by prosecutors in the Fuentes Ramrez case confirmed he is under investigation by U.S. authorities, according to the Associated Press.

The reason all this matters to the migrant crisis underway at the border is that, to put it bluntly, putatively sovereign states like Honduras are in a state of collapse. Ordinary people in these countries, encouraged by the Biden administration, are making a rational and reasonable choice to travel north and get into the United States by any means possible.

As countries like Honduras continue to implode under the weight of corruption and collusion with cartels, people in those countries will keep coming north. Turning them away, as the Trump administration did, is only a partial fix. Allowing them in, as the Biden administration is doing, enriches cartels by providing them a nearly unlimited supply of paying customers (and victims). It also creates a humanitarian crisis in South Texas and other border states, as were now seeing.

In the long run, the United States cant continue its long-standing policy of benign neglect of our southern neighbors. The chaos and corruption that plague those countries will, one way or another, make its way to us eventually. At that point, it will be too late to stop an illegal immigration crisis that wont number in the tens or even hundreds of thousands, but the millions.

Photo U.S. Customs and Border Protection

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The Migrant Crisis Isnt Just At The Border, It Stretches ...