Children Arriving to the U.S. Borders - A Perspective

Children Arriving to the U.S. Borders – A Perspective

 We hear on the news about the scores of children and young adults arriving to the U.S. borders since 2009 and how they are overwhelming the system in our southern states of Texas and Arizona.  One wonders about what is going on and why are these young people coming, what are they looking for that they don’t have in their countries, and if the exodus from the Central American countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras makes it worth to travel through more than 2000 miles, through rough weather conditions, terrain and an uncertain future.

The U.S. and Canada who inherited the Anglo Saxon cultures that arrived in America more than 500 years ago, have had a different development in terms of culture and work ethics, reasons that have created material wealth and a society in which infrastructure sustains the needs of 319 million people.  The other 635 million inhabitants of the Central, South American lands and the Caribbean, many of whom acquired the genetic pool of the Spaniard conquerors, that came to America looking for gold, in the greatest adventure who brought them to discover a new continent.  Spaniards did not have a vision of the Manifest Destiny, or the ideas of self-government and freedom that the Puritan and Protestant Pilgrims brought to the north. 

After more than 5 centuries living in America, we are still struggling with the issues of creating the infrastructure to support the needs of the inhabitants of our beautiful and resourceful continent.  In 1990, President George H. W. Bush created the Initiative of the Americas as a program to boost hemispheric trade to establish a free-trade zone stretching across North and South America, expand investment and provide debt relief for Latin American and Caribbean countries.   Where are we 25 years later?   Unfortunately, with the U.S. debt of trillions and trillions, one thinks that we could all sink together in an ocean of poverty, unless something was done real soon.

As an American continent, composed of 22 countries in the main land and 28 countries in the Caribbean we have the strength of many cultures that bring a richness of perspectives to the table.  As a continent, we will be stronger when we stand together and conquer poverty and create an educated, and connected hemisphere.  We could stand as a strong hemisphere, not just one country.  In order to stop the illegal immigration, countries need to work together, to provide employment, education, infrastructure and develop the resources and communites, so people do not have to migrate, looking for a better life.