So much negative reaction action surrounding the recent migration to the United States by Central & South Americans being thrown about by people who consider the people making the migration to be a threat to the United States as a whole and to them as individuals.
Myself, I try hard to thoroughly examine both sides of the coin on every issue, and this one is no exception.
On the this particular issue I have to keep in mind that I myself am the descendent of migrants - sure, my ancestors made their migration primarily from Europe, and sure, it was over a hundred years ago that the majority of my ancestors made what was a hellish nightmare of a journey across thousands of miles of foreboding terrain and an even more foreboding ocean (my ancestors were steerage class at best...), but still, I am descended from migrants all the same.
I started my look at both sides of the migrant situation coin by considering what factors the Central & South American migrants were having to deal with that could be motivating them to leave their respective homelands.
Starting with the what seems to be the lowest common denominator, which is of course, money.
For your convenience, all monetary denominations are stated in U.S. dollar equivalents.
In the Central America country of Nicaragua (ruled by president Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo - both of whom incidentally, have been banned by the Biden administration from entering the U.S.), minimum wage is job specific (if you are in banking you are going to make a bit more than if you are in mining) at best, general labor pays about $50.00 a week. In some South American countries, like Argentina for example, the best one can hope for is $38.00 a week.
Venezuela has a current weekly minimum wage of $0.91
You read that right, $0.91 a week.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/953880/latin-america-minimum-monthly-wages/
Couple that with rampant inflation, and insanely corrupt/incompetent government, a very high crime rate, high infant mortality...well, you get the picture - it's a hellish place to live.
And all of that in a country with the world's highest known oil reserves.
You read that right, Venezuela has the world's highest known oil reserves.
If you lived in Venezuela and were not part of the ruling party/privileged class, wouldn't you being doing everything to get the hell out? It's a situation very similar to what the average Eastern European commoner had to deal with in the late 19th century - heck, it's what the average Western European commoner had to deal with at the same time, too (esp. the Irish).
So yeah, lack of means for the procuring of adequate goods to meet basic needs, horrible living/working conditions, political repression up the kazoo...those are very, very good reasons to want to get the heck outta Dodge.
Compelling enough reasons that nearly 8 million Venezuelans have left their homeland since 1999 (though the bulk of the diaspora has occurred since 2015).
There are a few other factors, too - safety and security (living in a country that abides by the rule of law is attractive, even if you are prone to believe that justice is not always equitable) and the chance (a chance not even remotely guaranteed, but better than one has in a lot of other countries) of being able to provide for yourself and your family.
Now for the other side of the coin. The lowest common denominator for those opposed to what they prefer to call illegal immigrants appears to be crime/criminals.
There is a belief among a large segment of the U.S. population that a big percentage of the migrant population that has made their way to the United States recently has done so solely to commit crimes/engage in criminal activity.
To be certain, there have been a number of crimes committed by migrants, and those crimes have received an incredible amount of attention by the 24/7/365 news outlets.
Because, as we all know, if it bleeds it leads. Not a lot of coverage for the vast majority of migrants that are not commiting crimes or engaging in criminal activity.
Crime and criminal activity is and has always been part of every single migrant population that ever set foot on U.S. soil. From the 14K Group (Chinese Triad) to the White Hand Gang (Irish Mob) to the Kielbasa Posse (Polish Gangsters) to the Corporation (Cuban Mafia) to the Yiddish Black Hand (Jewish Mob) to the Harlem Racketeers (Black Mafia) to the Brighton Beach Gang (Russian Gangsters) to the...again, you get the picture.
Other than being primarily formed by immigrants or their recent descendents, there is one thing that all of those perpetrators of crime/criminal activity have in common, and that is that each and everyone of them represent an extremely small percentage of their respective populations.
But once the media has decided to blow up the crimes/criminal activities of individuals that are in any way related to a specific group of similar individuals, then the whole guilt-by-association ball starts rolling downhill.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/debunking-myth-migrant-crime-wave#:~:text=Despite%20claims%20from%20conservative%20media%20and%20campaign%20rhetoric,Democratic-run%20cities%20%E2%80%94%20is%20causing%20a%20%E2%80%9Ccrime%20wave.%E2%80%9D
Another of the lowest common denominator factors is the allegation that the recent migrants are stealing jobs from natural born Americans.
Consider what it takes to get a job in this country. First off, one needs Identification and proof that you are eligible to work in the United States. Second, you have to be able to communicate with your employer, and third you must have a reasonable level of ability and desire to perform the job itself.
Any job that a migrant secures in this country is generally something that no natural born American wants to do, will do, or can do. At any price. That's a cold hard fact.
The third lowest common denominator is the repeatedly stated belief that members of a specific political party are encouraging migration to the United States specifically from Central and South American countries because eventually those people will become supporters of that specific political party.
Uhm...that makes no sense based on a couple of factors. First, the vast majority of the recent migrants are coming from leftist controlled countries, and they are coming to the United States to not have to live under the heel of a leftist government.
Reread that a few times and think back to when Daniel Ortega or Castro or Hugo Chavez were (or maybe still are) the darlings of the quasi-intellectual left-wing fringe. Those are the people the migrants are fleeing - think they are going to align themselves with the United States political party that is most closely associated with supporting them and their agendas?
A fourth lowest common denominator factor often cited is the financial burden that has been placed on governments at the local, state, and federal level. Chicago has spent upwards of $400 million over the past two years to house and care for some 47,000 migrants, New York City is claiming over a billion for the same time period (for a reported 100,000 migrants) and Denver, the city with the highest number of migrants per capita (and my area of residence) is claiming $60 million spent dealing with it's migrant situation.
All the numbers are considerable. However, as has been proven in various studies, over time migrants historically have had a net positive economic impact on the United States - read this one from the office of the Secretary for Planning and Evaluation - https://aboutbgov.com/bcK7
Heck, you don't need to read any study to acknowledge that fact - if you are reading this and you are living in the United States, chances are (like a 99.99% level chance) you are descended from migrants, whether they got here 50 years or 250 years ago, the undeniable truth is the United States is a nation built by immigrants - we are indeed US.
So, after considerable thought and analysis of both sides of the coin I have to admit that I personally believe that the debate over recent migration is much ado about nothing. The hubbub is just more clickbait to sell ad space or garner support for politicians once again using fear to further their own ends.
Disclaimer: It may seem as if I am unobjectively leaning towards the migrants here, and I confess I am, because, as previously mentioned, I am descended from migrants myself, and I also have a personal connection with one of these recent migrants. He is a young man from Nicaragua who has an application for political asylum currently pending.
He is bright, speaks, reads and writes English fluently, and works his ass off - in less than three years of working every single job that has come his way he has been able to purchase a home - albeit, it's a mobile home, but it is a home.
He has no desire to "work the system" or do anything that could be remotely considered taking advantage of government largesse (which is a helluva lot more than I can say about a number of my acquaintances who are natural born citizens of this great country).
He paid $10,000 to various coyotes to get him from Nicaragua to the United States. Everything he had earned and saved since the age of 10.
He is determined to become a citizen of the United States and wants to serve in the US Military if at all possible.
Yeah, he's just one example, but he's a good one.
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