The hotly politicized migrant caravan coming from Central American consists of mostly of nationals from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Migrants fleeing political oppression, systemic rape, or genocide deserve consideration for asylum. But those seeking economic refuge should wait at the back of the immigration line like everyone else.
Despite the media’s monolithic portrayal of the caravan, Central America has distinct and diverse countries, all grappling with a variety of sources of instability. While economic distress is indeed distressing, it alone is not grounds for seeking immediate refuge in a foreign country. Countries like Guatemala present a different story.
The aftermath of the Guatemalan genocide, in which the government massacred tens of thousands of ethnic Mayans, still looms large in the country’s social strata. Indigenous activists are still being killed or violently attacked with terrifying frequency, and the Guatemalan government has largely failed to address it. This is quite literally institutionalized racism and a solid rationale for granting someone asylum.
Legally, refugees are people outside of their country of residence, who cannot or will not return due to “persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” There’s a case to be made that mass femicide in Honduras has created a class of all-female refugees, fleeing systemic rapes and murders at the hands of a violent male culture in the country.
But people simply fleeing the natural consequences of centralized economies with poor policies aren’t political refugees and aren’t entitled to asylum. They can apply for a visa to enter the U.S., just like everyone else.
This isn’t to say that all Guatemalans should be admitted in a port or entry or that all men should be denied. But it is worth considering the monolithic media presentation of the caravan, one which shamelessly and cruelly conflates oppressors with the institutionally oppressed.
