Opinion: Rep. Vargas: I asked the girls at the convention center what they wanted most. Here’s what they said.
America has always been a sanctuary for people fleeing persecution, violence and famine. President Joe Biden was following this noble tradition of refuge in overturning the Trump administration’s policy of summarily rejecting unaccompanied children when they presented themselves for asylum at our southern border. Many of these children are fleeing for their lives and have a right under both U.S. and international law to seek asylum and have their cases adjudicated.
As we work on the long-term solutions, we must face the fact that these children are here now, and they desperately need our help. We must also remember that the young girls at our convention center are a vulnerable population and many have suffered severe trauma and great indignities. I was able to talk to some of the girls who arrived last weekend, and I asked what they wanted most, and it was to be reunited with their mothers. I thought “Who wouldn’t?” and that the great majority of these girls have parents and sponsors in the United States who are waiting for their release so their families can reunite.
For decades, we have had migration from Latin American countries, and right around this time of year, before desert heat rises, we usually experience a surge. What we are seeing at the border is not new. In fact, former acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner John Sanders stated that his greatest fear was the death of children in his care after they were detained during these surges. At least five children died in the 2018 – 2019 immigration surge after being detained by federal immigration agents. In order to protect lives we must not repeat past mistakes. What has changed is that we now have a pandemic that has devastated the northern triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
We would be derelict not to examine how climate change has caused hurricanes to grow into destructive power culminating in two Category Five hurricanes in the last year. These natural disasters have destroyed much of the subsistence farming in the northern triangle uprooting communities whose livelihoods depend on agriculture. The consequences of these weather disasters are not unique to Latin America, as we recently heard from World Food Program Director David Beasley. He said 270 million people in the world are “marching toward starvation” because of climate change, the pandemic and wars. Director Beasley also explained that migration patterns are changing dramatically around the world, and it is better and cheaper to address problems of the poor where they live and not after they migrate. We would have done well to heed that advice and direct needed aid to the countries in Central America. Instead, President Donald Trump canceled most aid to these countries, and their situations deteriorated significantly. We need to attack the root causes of why migration from Central America has increased and aid these countries once again if we want to reduce the flow of immigrants to our country.
Fortunately, many groups have stepped forward to help these children in distress, and as a lifelong San Diegan, that is what I expected. Sadly, I also witnessed voices of hate and rage protesting the help that these girls were receiving outside the convention center. I was reminded that in 1855 the Know Nothing movement came together as an anti-immigrant party to protest the arrival of mostly Irish and German immigrants. I could not help but wonder whether these protesters were the descendants of the Know Nothing party or of the immigrants they were protesting. The Know Nothings lived up to their name and became an embarrassing footnote in our American journey. I couldn’t help but see in the faces of these young girls the same expressions of fear, confusion and hope that I saw in the pictures of the young children coming from Europe.
The children from Europe got to experience what Emma Lazarus so beautifully described in her sonnet, “The New Colossus,” the Statue of Liberty, the brazen giant with her lamp beside the golden door. Instead, these girls are gazing upon the iconic sculpted roof of the sails pavilion of our convention center wondering if they, too, can enter through the golden door to a better future. I hope they do, and I hope we continue to be America’s finest city and help them toward their journey to a better life.
By: Juan Vargas
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune