December 16th, 2024
With the induction of Donald Trump into America’s office, comes a promise of mass deportation of illegal immigrants in the US to their home countries. No one truly knows if this is fully possible, but it scares every single Latin immigrant within our society- everything they have worked so hard for reversed in such short order. Unauthorized Immigrants make up only roughly 4% of our society, but compared to the size of the countries they must return to, the population is extremely large and difficult to organize. “We just don’t have the capacity” , said officials in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
Trump is going to push every boundary of the law, in attempt to pull this all off, spreading fear to those who have no life left for them in their country. A 69 year-old Honduran mother, Norma, never imagined leaving Honduras. But when death threats to her and her children came from armed men at her doorstep, she knew she had to leave before she ended up with the same fate as her relatives who were killed by the same people. She gathered $10,000 dollars-her entire life savings plus some borrowed, to book a one-way trip to America with her daughter and granddaughter. Her asylum petitions to America were rejected and they were thrown on a deportation flight-right back to the hell they were trying to escape.
This humanitarian issue is going to be a very large operation if followed through. Many lives would be put in danger by sending them back to places riddled with gangs, violence, and poor conditions. Many deportees came to America originally to escape these horrors-to live a better life and give their family a better opportunity then they had. While there is no clear solution-relations with these countries are very important right now. It is unlikely with Trump given his ideals and his history, but the bigger factor is if can he make it all happen. Our relations with these countries have been comlex, so coming to solutions addressing deportation and the causes is very difficult. With immigration being a huge effect on our nation, policies and attitudes towards these migrants changes significantly depending on political climate. Central American countries struggle with issues like poverty, violence, and corruption-which is a big driver of migration. Effective solutions between these countries would involve addressing long standing issues .