Jorge García is no “bad hombre.” Before being deported to Mexico in mid-January, he was a hard-working, tax-paying landscaper in Michigan. He’s also a husband and father — although now an absent one.
Many deportees — most, like García, good people — return to countries they no longer know, some of them unable to speak the language. Others are thrust into life-threatening situations. Families and communities fracture; some deportees die.
In 2008, Laura was an undocumented Mexican mother of three living in Texas. Actually, she did have one US “paper” — a protection order issued against her violent ex-husband, who’d subsequently been deported. He said he’d kill her if she returned to Mexico.
The following year, Laura was detained after a traffic stop. She told the police officer, and later a Border Patrol agent, her very reasonable fears. But reportedly she was pressured into signing a “voluntary return.” Her ex kept his word, within days of her deportation back to Mexico.
It’s an ongoing debate: What do US citizens owe undocumented immigrants, if anything? Do DACA “Dreamers” deserve special consideration? Should TPS recipients lose their “temporary protected states” if the conditions in their home countries are still dangerous? What if sending them home would rupture families or disrupt the US economy?
What have immigrants brought to our country — what strengths and gifts, and what liabilities?
We want to add this critical question: How has US foreign policy affected their countries? Refugees walk hot desert miles, ride atop trains, and entrust themselves to smugglers for a chance at a safer, less desperate life. Has our country helped create the extreme conditions these migrants are fleeing?
We believe the US training of Latin American militaries has contributed mightily to this exodus, with the School of the Americas (SOA) being a prime example. The SOA was established in 1946 to train Latin American military personnel. By 2000, it had instructed more than 60,000…