Think migrants crossing into the United States via the U.S.-Mexico border are all from Mexico and the Northern Triangle?
Think again.
A higher percentage of migrants encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border are coming from places outside Mexico and Central America’s Northern Triangle. While 52% of people encountered at the border in July 2022 were from those places, 48% were not, according to the Washington Office on Latin America.
It is a new phenomenon. In 2007, the number of migrant encounters with people from these other countries was “negligible,” according to CNN. However, there has been an 11,000% increase in encounters of these migrants at the border in the past 15 years. The most significant uptick came in the past two years. Although the Biden administration’s poor handling of the border is why it’s being overwhelmed, there is another point here. This increase in migrants from outside of Mexico and Northern Triangle countries is a reminder of socialism’s inherent failings.
Migrants from three countries have been trying to enter the U.S. via its southern border at much higher rates than in the past. Those countries are Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Cuba and Venezuela are respectively led by socialist leaders Miguel Diaz-Canel and Nicolas Maduro. Nicaragua is led by Daniel Ortega, an authoritarian left-winger and member of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, a socialist political party.
We all know about Venezuela. Even though it has the largest proven oil reserves on the planet, Maduro and his socialist predecessor Hugo Chavez have turned their nation into an economic basket case. It faced hyperinflation for several years. It’s a country where starving people desperate for food have broken into zoos to eat the animals. The country has also lacked the food to feed its zoo animals, pictures have shown. Then there’s the epidemic of child malnutrition. This is what socialism brings. Meanwhile, perhaps nearly 95% of Venezuelans live in poverty. More than three-quarters of them live in extreme poverty, according to the Wilson Center.
Nicaragua also struggles to feed its people. Nearly 1 in 5 children under 5 years old in Nicaragua suffers from chronic malnutrition, according to the World Food Programme, whereas just 1% of American children suffer from this same problem. About 30% of Nicaragua lived in poverty as of 2020, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. The poverty rate is even higher in rural areas.
Cuba is another terrible place to live. Like other socialist paradises, Cuba jails protesters and independent journalists. The country has even imprisoned people for expressing pro-life views. Plus, the government restricts internet access to prevent its people from learning more about the outside world.
Top line: If socialism were such a great political system, one might expect to see Americans fleeing in droves to live in these three countries. Yet, the opposite is happening. The renewed interest in fleeing these countries for the U.S. shouldn’t surprise anyone. These people are coming from countries governed by an awful ideology.
Tom Joyce ( @TomJoyceSports ) is a political reporter for the New Boston Post in Massachusetts.
