Immigration and the Latin Americanization of US politics

By: Ricardo Israel - 25/05/2023

I am a migrant, and so were my parents who came to the USA as political refugees from Pinochet. My four grandparents also emigrated to Chile, two as a result of the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire at the end of the First World War and the other two, due to the end of the Ottoman Empire.

I am saying this because of my commitment to immigration, in case some want to misunderstand what I am going to say next, since there is no other country with as much experience in this matter as the USA, which for the same reason is an example of what is it can do good and bad, a matter in which the USA continues to be the country that receives the most legal immigrants in the world, over a million and a half of them, each year.

The USA now stands out as a bad example, although what is being witnessed has been experienced other times in its history, and in the immigration debate, Latinos today play the threatening role that others had before, from the Irish to the Chinese.

However, the decision-making process has never been so paralyzed, as much as there is an optimistic atmosphere after that, contrary to what was supposed, the expiration of Title 42 (which allowed the expulsion of illegal immigrants for CV-19 reasons) did not mean a large increase, if not a decrease, including that of Venezuelans. The success is because a path was offered that encouraged more legal transit, through prior registration on the internet and arriving through ports of entry such as airports, with the objective that the entry would be registered.

The foregoing demonstrates once again that in those who risk so much on their journey, there is a rational, cost-opportunity behavior. For the same reason, it occurs only on the southern border, and not on the northern one with Canada.

Today, in immigration, especially in the one that reaches the border of Texas and Arizona, there is a tragedy, but not an imposed one, but a provoked one, rather, a self-induced one, and much of it is due to what I insist on qualify as the Latin Americanization of politics and, therefore, of the decision-making process.

It is so. For quite some time we have witnessed situations that in previous decades were not common in the USA, but are recognizable in many countries from the Rio Grande to the south. That is, confrontation, polarization, lack of agreement in Congress, culture war, non-existence of dialogues to reach agreements, impoverishment of public debate, judicialization of politics, biased media with a predominance of activism over information, etc.

The confusion is such that it confuses regular followers of Washington's swings. Nothing implies that there is no policy, nor does it imply that the chaos is planned, as is assured in the extremes, it is something much more striking, since in a country that is rarely interested in what happens outside its borders, what is notes are UN recommendations for immigration.

This is recognized by specialists who are familiar with this particular UN issue, but the problem is that in the United States there has been no debate about it or modifications to its outdated laws.

In other words, without a treaty, the USA is applying an international proposal, not the usual and harsh instruments of International Law, but what is known as "soft law", including recommendations from UN agendas such as 2030 or recommendations, not even rulings from international courts, such as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (for which jurisdiction is not recognized), but simple advisory opinions.

It all makes sense if you review the web pages of immigration-related agencies or your window to the world, which is the Department of State, where you can see that those who enter without complying with the rules set by US law are no more "illegal" but only "irregular", that is, a profound change, since it would only be an administrative problem and not a legal one.

It is doubly striking that it has not passed through Congress, since the country has traditionally signed few international treaties, including human rights, since in general, it does not sign anything that limits the total power of the Supreme Court, even in international law. family (remember the case of the Cuban rafter). It is perhaps also the reason why the border with Mexico presents very similar problems to the border with Chile and Peru, as has generally occurred in Latin America, in all those countries where immigration has not managed to be an orderly or legal process. .

By the way, I am aware that comparing the USA with Latin America is not and cannot be liked by those political and journalistic media that use the "third world" as an example and synonym of everything that works badly or is inefficient, and, by the way, our region it is part of that diverse universe.

In the case of the USA, it is especially objectionable that there are sectors that blame Mexico for a situation that is totally attributable to the United States, including the orbi et orbi invitation made by President Biden during his campaign and also upon taking office, where Mexico suffers the consequences of to have hundreds of thousands of people on its streets who do not wish to reside there, but rather go further north.

Certainly there are issues that are only internal US policy issues, as is the case of the sanctuary cities and states that, to distance themselves from Trump, offered to receive and help all immigrants, legal or illegal, until now, the numbers of these, the expenses demanded and the protests of those who feel or have been harmed (for example, classes suspended in public schools that serve as shelters), are leading them to change their minds.

As a successful country in the integration of immigrants (unlike Europe), the USA has a history where the cycles of immigration and rejection have alternated, and in the extreme, the virtual prohibition for Chinese and other Orientals lasted from the 19th century until the 60s of the 20th century.

Today, the total lack of communication between Democrats and Republicans is added to the impossibility of modernizing legislation that has not undergone substantial changes since the 1980s. Even more important, and incomprehensible in what is still the world's leading power, is that there is no continuity in its policies, and thus there was a striking change in domestic and international policy from Trump to Obama, and even more notorious, in practically everything from Biden to Trump.

To make matters worse, there are at least eleven million undocumented immigrants, including those who should have received a solution a long time ago, the so-called "dreamers", who arrived as children and do not know another country. And no one in their right mind should think they can be expelled.

To this is added the continuous arrival of immigrants, for a reason, the USA needs them and has work for them, legal or illegal, work that practically awaits them as is the current situation. And the variety is very wide, ranging from agricultural work to cleaning in the hotel industry, but also in computing.

In other words, the line for the sum is that Americans do not want to work in certain places, and immigrants, in general, continue to succeed in their plans, and in fulfilling their vision of the American dream.

Is there a solution for what is lived in the USA today?

One way is to review the most successful examples at an international level, although it is difficult for them to be interested in something that comes from abroad, despite the fact that countries like Canada, Australia or New Zealand are examples of the conception that immigration needs legal processes, orderly and safe. Otherwise everyone is harmed, starting with the immigrants themselves. They are successful nations, also for another reason, very different from what we observe in the United States and Latin America, where in those three countries there is a broad national and political consensus on the importance of immigration, nothing similar to the deep division that is observed Today in the United States there are already protests in the streets of various Latin American countries, with even electoral consequences. They are countries - and it is good to keep this in mind - very tough on illegal immigration,

In the case of the USA, open borders or Open Borders brought with it a humanitarian crisis, rape, abuse, children in danger, future mules for drug trafficking in exchange for passage, that is, power for the cartels, who have ultimately taken partial control. of the southern border, with the question of what happened to the voluminous intelligence or national security community.

Furthermore, if the USA had signed immigration treaties, some of its authorities could be responsible, even if not directly, for the human rights violations that have taken place in transit to its borders, as well as the government could suffer compensation consequences derived of any judicial sentence, be it in courts of the USA or of another country.

Part of the lack of agreement is due to the fact that immigration seems to be a topic of high interest for the Republican base, but for the same reason, of low importance for the Democratic voter, thus ensuring their absence from those primaries, and that It will only have national partisan interest, if it is relevant in one of the few states (no more than 4 or 5) that can decide the presidential election.

The worst thing is that, as in Latin America, the current situation may have its greatest impact on the permanence of an anti-immigrant movement for a long time, as a lasting effect. However, what solution is there when it is almost unfeasible for there to be a bipartisan agreement that is not something as specific as the debt ceiling?

And the truth is that surprising as it may seem, the solution also has to do with Latin America, or rather, with Latinos in the USA, already the first majority in numbers, but still far from acquiring a similar importance in major political decisions, in presence in mass media in English or in Hollywood.

Latinos are part of the problem, but also part of the possible solution. If the Latino organizations and their leaders realize it, it is also an opportunity, one similar to the one that civil rights brought to the African-American community, which they gave in the 60s a visibility that is still maintained, thanks to their contribution to an issue that had not been resolved.

And that is the opportunity that appears for Latinos. USA is paralyzed and needs a solution. The advantage of Latinos is that they have great diversity, which would allow them to represent both Democrats and Republicans, speak in terms of legal, safe and orderly immigration (which is what this partial success in reducing illegal immigration after of the term of Title 42), understanding and care of the interests of the immigrant as well as of the Americans. In addition, the disqualifications would not be successful, since the different sectors are represented within it.

If those who represent the community and speak for it are organized enough to make a proposal that considers the different interests at stake, there could be a before and after for Latinos, by providing the solution to a problem that is not found today. and thus enter through the wide door to common issues for all, and not just a community. And what better opportunity than the current electoral process, something other than Trump versus Biden or Biden versus Trump.

And a corollary.

For the USA, it could mean having modern and up-to-date legislation, for which, in any case, is on the way, the many thousands who very soon will arrive at the border, rightly or wrongly, no longer request political asylum, but argue that they are refugees from “climate change”, also a consequence of the current messages of the USA to the world.

@israelzipper

Lawyer, Ph.D. in Political Science, former Chilean presidential candidate (2013)

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».