A Guy’s View: The perils of immigration and the rights of the child (1)

The apparent rise of anti-immigrant sentiment in several countries around the world is troubling. The recent exposure by the American press of how the Donald Trump administration was treating persons arriving there gives one pause, but harsh treatment of immigrants is not peculiar to America.

There is now a popular view that the election of Donald Trump in America has had an impact much further afield than in his own country. The argument is that his election and racist policies have embolden many persons who privately held negative views to come out of the closet, but not only in America. Although there may be some truth to this, anti-immigrant postures were always evident across Europe, Asia and Africa. And if one wanted to stretch this discussion, one might even argue that the Caribbean region has not been without a touch of this concern.

Poor economic conditions, bad politics and out of control violence have created a wave of immigrants as people pull up stakes and move to places which they regard as either safer or likely to provide them with a better living. In many cases, the decision to move from one’s place of birth is not an easy one.

At least for the purposes of the spreading of information, the world is now, more than ever before, a global village. A person in Barbados can write or speak on issues in America and Europe with a high degree of certainty because of the easy access to very detailed information which is placed on the World Wide Web. The easy access to information about any country makes it well known to persons leaving their places of birth that the social environment awaiting them elsewhere may not be hospitable. Put differently, these people generally know that they are not wanted in the places to which they are moving, but they are willing to live as second class citizens in their adopted countries because that status is still better than what they are running away from.

Ships are leaving North Africa laden with human cargo for Europe. The passengers on these ships risk life and limb, often losing both, in order to have a chance to live in Europe. They are not responding to an invitation or trying to take advantage of a need for labour in Europe. Their only motivation is that they believe that life in Europe will be better than in their country.

Fringe political groups have gained major influence in European nations for the sole reason that they oppose immigrants coming to their countries. Groups that have long been known to be racist or otherwise anti-social have suddenly become mainstream power brokers.

Germany has been one of the more liberal countries in Europe with respect to receiving immigrants. The ruling coalition there is now threatened with the prospect of splitting over the thorny issue of immigration. Chancellor Angela Merkel has been given an ultimatum by the leader of the minor party which joined hers in Government to take a decision on this issue, or else.

Germany, the most powerful country in Europe, has seen the strengthening of the Alternative for Germany, a party which identifies with little else except its anti-immigrant position.

Horst Seehofer, Germany’s Interior Minister and the chairman of the Christian Social Union, a sister party to Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, the coalition partners, recently declared that he will introduce an immigration plan which will require German states to turn away immigrants. This position is contrary to Merkel’s usual stance on immigration, but his coalition with Merkel has not prevented him from asserting this position.

Thousands of people journey from Central and South America in an attempt to enter the United States. Like those leaving North Africa, they too are under no illusion that their North American neighbours love them or want them. But they think that they have no choice but to journey there as they see it as a better alternative to what they are leaving.

The pledge to limit immigration from non-white sources encouraged candidate Trump to promise his supporters that he would build a physical wall to keep out such people. His proposal was to have Mexico pay for the wall that would keep out its citizens and others coming to America via that country.

Women travel with their children of all ages in the hope of providing them with an improved opportunity in life. At the border of the United States, immigration authorities introduced the new strategy of separating children from their parents. Government officials have actually stated that they are willing to use this ploy as a deterrent to others who would consider seeking asylum in America.

Media reports state that children as young as one year old or younger have been taken from their parents and held in metal cages in locations that were unknown to their parents. In some cases, parents have been deported without their children.

Media reports indicate that the snatched children have been scattered across the country in secret locations. To make matters worse, there is apparently no plan for reunification of parents and children. No one knows if some of these children will ever see their parents again.

Of critical importance is the fact that some of these children are so young that they have no ability to communicate and may not yet have formed a strong bond with their parents. Separation at this stage could harm them psychologically for the rest of their lives.

What is especially sickening about this is the fact that there are people, other than Trump, who sought to justify this policy. Beyond sickening, it is frightening that persons could vote to elect men and women who are willing to apply a dastardly policy of this nature and continue to support them in it. Caribbean people should take note.

This American mindset is of major importance to us because some Barbadians, like many others across the region, see America as a land of aspiration. Many in the region have relatives who live there and it is where we like to visit and shop. Whatever takes place there with immigration is of significance to us, especially since their President sees these countries as stool-hole countries.

Separation of children from parents was a deliberate approach to removing all traces of history, culture and self-worth from enslaved persons when they arrived in America, Barbados and the rest of the Americas. Enslavement is not the stated objective of the Trump administration in 2018, but the separation of parent and child for no reason other than immigration policy will never have a positive effect.

To be continued.

Barbados Advocate

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