Divide and Terrorize

The United States government is literally tearing families apart. Families are being forced to separate from each other at the US-Mexico border if caught while attempting to cross illegally. These families are traveling to the states to better their lives, whether it be fleeing increasing violence or in search of necessary resources. The resources they should have in their home countries are not there, in part due to U.S. foreign policy like “speak softly and carry a big stick.” U.S. intervention in these countries often meant that land would be taken from families and big companies would use the land for their profit, often supporting dictators and treating workers violently. Today, parents who want to escape the cycle of poverty in their home countries are instead pulled away from their children. These babies are forced to suffer without their parents. Children are being mercilessly dragged away from their parents, feeling lost and abandoned.

I sat down and talked to Rosemary Barbara, a Philly native who has been doing work with human rights issues including immigration since the 1980s. She’s done work in Chile and Bolivia and now currently teaches social work at La Salle University.

Why are children separated? Rosemary explained: “The US developed something called the Zero Tolerance Policy” While this is meant to be a deterrent, now there is an increase in children traveling to the U.S. by themselves. According to the National Review, illegal entry is a misdemeanor, but illegal reentry is a felony.

What does the US do with people who cross the southern border? Expert Rosie Barbera says “ we [United States] arrest the people [the families seeking asylum] and put them in jail.” Some questions to consider with this policy are: How long are they being kept? Why the family separation? The National Review, a conservative source, explains that since the Flores Consent Decree (1997) the government will hold the adult family members longer than their kids, the family can not be held together.

How is the American public responding? Rosemary spoke about the group Rebel Diaz: Rebel Diaz is a political hip hop group comprised of two brothers. This is a song about them being “aliens” : There is outrage on both sides about whether the people migrating to America should receive asylum or be deported. Both sides feel they have been certainly exercising their first amendment right to freedom of speech and assembly .

There are certain students who are affected from the current laws in place. One student I interviewed, Amelie Hernandez, called the Zero Tolerance Policy “big stupid.” While she’s not affected by it directly, she expressed that, “ they are [the families] bonded by blood, those are their children. What makes you think it's a good idea to take those children from their parents?” Though this doesn’t mean anything in most of our immediate lives we still feel it's effect.