A river of children
from Central America and Mexico is flowing to the US in search of their parents
and a supposedly better future. On
the way, many youth are sexually abused and beaten, or die at the hands of the
gangs, the police or the smugglers. The most "fortunate," after traveling three
thousand miles on the "Beast" (a cargo train) and having paid thousands of
dollars, arrive at the border to fall prey to the hated "Migra" agents.
Many think that when
they arrive in the US they will automatically have legal papers, a rumor that
has been spread primarily in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
Since October 2013,
more than 52,000 unaccompanied children have been arrested crossing the border,
a 90% increase over last year. Estimates are that this number will increase to
90,000 for the year. Over 32,000 mothers with children were arrested in the
same period.
This crisis has been
created by the capitalist system that forces tens of
thousands of workers and their children to leave their homes to flee poverty
and violence that the same capitalists create.
Immigration Crisis Reflects Fight
Among US Bosses Over War Plans
Obama sent his whole
high command to take maximum advantage of this situation. He sent lawyers,
judges, and political asylum officials to Texas to speed up processing the
detainees and send them to their families or prison shelters.
US Vice President
Biden met with the Presidents of Guatemala and El Salvador and representatives
of Honduras and Mexico to address the issue. He promised more aid to those
countries for new projects to stop youth from gang involvement. He also
assured, "We cannot forcefully separate the children from their parents. The
children have their parents in the US, and in our view they should be united
with them there."
However he said,
"Those considering risking their lives to reach the US should …be conscious of
what awaits them, which will not be open arms…any child who came in the last 7
years is not eligible to avail themselves of the process of deferred action, no
immigrant who came after 2011 is eligible for integral immigration reform."
The most powerful
sector of US bosses, which Obama represents, needs to push patriotism massively
to prepare for more wars and World War III. They need the loyalty of millions of
immigrant workers laboring as wage slaves. More important, they need the
children of these workers to willingly join the army and fight their imperialist
wars.
However, many
Republicans are not concerned with building mass patriotism among immigrants
for war, but only in super-exploiting them, pushing anti-immigrant racism. They
blame Obama's lack of border security for the crisis.
Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry is calling for 1000 National Guard troops,
helicopters and drones to stop immigrants. John Boehner, Republican leader of
US House of Representatives, refuses to put Immigration Reform to a vote.
Thomas Donohue, the
President of the US Chamber of Commerce, representing businesses, wants
reform. "Without reform, our broken
immigration system will continue hurting our economy, jobs and undermining our
global competitiveness."
On June 30, Obama
threatened that if the US Congress didn't pass Immigration Reform for the over
11 million undocumented immigrant workers, he would use his executive powers to
provide Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to all those who qualify for the
proposed law that passed the Senate last year. But he warned that the children
who have come recently will be sent back to their
countries of origin.
None of these
politicians have the well-being of the workers and
children in mind, only how to maintain their profits and empire. These rulers
have bombed and massacred millions of workers and their children around the
world. This is what capitalism offers: a race against death and the prize for
the ones who survive is to work as a slave and die in their wars.
For a World Without Borders or
Wage Slavery!
We workers, immigrants
and citizens, should see this crisis as one more reason to fight to destroy
this capitalist system and build a new society based on communist principles.
Borders are a recent invention of the ruling classes to divide and exploit
groups of workers. In a communist world, borders won't exist. Workers and their
children will not have to abandon their places of origin to get a "permit" for
survival. Instead, our survival will depend on us collectively producing and
sharing what we need.
Communism will
eliminate money and exploitation. We will no longer be wage slaves. We will
creatively and collectively build our future. When we fight, it will be for the
international working class.
******
This debate has spilled into the streets. Many
of those who support immigrants are contributing
food and clothing to the recent arrivals,
as they did in a church in Arizona. At
the same time, racists in Murrieta California
protested against 140 immigrants, mainly
mothers and children, being brought to a detention
center there. Immigrants and their
supporters shouldn't be fooled by Obama's
rhetoric, but instead should fight for a
communist world with no borders.
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