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The roads to hell are paved with good intentions and, certainly, the Biden administration’s failed strategy on migration has turned the crossing and the hope of thousands of people into an authentic and direct route to Hades, demonstrating, once again, that the demagogic irresponsibility that characterizes the “woke” movement and its political allies has real consequences and real damage on real people.
Let’s go by parts:
The humanitarian crisis on the southern border with Mexico has reached historic dimensions. Thousands of people–mainly consisting of minors–are overcrowded in detention centers like the one in Donna (Texas) which, as explained by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), can house up to 250 people, and is yet accommodating over 4,000.
The overcrowding implies obvious human and health risks, which are multiplied in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially considering, as Cruz pointed out, that 10% of the people held in these facilities test positive for the disease, which makes these spaces one of the greatest sources of possible contagion in all of America.
The situation becomes even more outrageous when we remember that during the 4 years of the Trump administration, the Democratic Party and its surrogates in the industrialized press kept repeating over and over and over again the accusation that Trump had “children in cages.” Today, things are indisputably worse and the fault lies squarely, clearly and absolutely with Biden and his political ecosystem.
Why?
Because for years they sold to the media the idea that if Trump lost the presidential election, the Democrats would open the borders and allow migrants free access to American territory.
Yes, I understand that this was not exactly what they said, but it is equally clear to me that this is how it was understood in Mexico and Central America: “Trump, the bad guy, closed the doors and put up the wall, but the good Democrats will open the door and tear down the wall.” So went the chant, repeated a thousand times on television, newspapers and social networks, with such insistence that it became the great (and failed) hope of millions of people in Latin America.
Let’s not fool ourselves, it is evident that the Democrats knew their talking points would be interpreted in this way and that they constructed them in this way with the explicit desire to manipulate the Hispanic vote and consolidate their position as the “good guys in the movie” by implying an offer that they simply could not fulfill.
The result is that thousands of people who heard and absorbed that message for years, are on a very dangerous path facing the dangers of the journey, the voracity of the cartels and the greed of the police, only to end up indefinitely in a concentration camp saturated to more than 1,000% of its capacity, with all the risks that this implies, if they manage to reach the border alive.
“Biden told them not to come”
Faced with this chaos, the Democrats’ response consists of using as a pretext that Trump administration officials did not cooperate with them, affecting their ability to have a realistic idea of the potential of the migratory flow. Then, they argue, Biden told migrants “not to come.”
Both pretexts do not hold water:
The claim that outgoing officials were uncooperative is simply absurd. First, because the Trump administration officials themselves have denied this unfounded claim and have clarified that they warned their incoming colleagues of the problem that was coming at the border. Moreover, since it doesn’t require access to privileged information to know that, after the verbose pro-migration tsunami launched by the Democrats, Biden’s arrival would imply a drastic increase in the number of people trying to enter the United States. It was obvious, then.
Second, it is true that on March 16, in an interview with ABC, Biden told migrants not to come, and high officials have expressed the same ever since. However, it is equally true that outside the United States, the vast majority of people did not even hear about that interview and even those who did hear it did not take it literally.
What do I mean?
In the eyes of the migrants, these statements were interpreted in the style of the classic “wink, wink” of Chief Gorgory, when he went to Homer Simpson in search of “Mr. Bribe.” In Mexico and Latin America, people are very accustomed to their governments declaring one thing outwardly, when, in reality, they intend to communicate something else. In the case of migration, Biden’s “don’t come” was interpreted as “yes, come”, but in front of the press the speech changes for good image purposes.
The result is plain to see: thousands of people, to which thousands more will be added, are embracing the border in the hope of benefiting from what they believe will be the imminent support of the Democratic administration in the form of an amnesty (or, at least, an omissive policy), which will allow them to stay in American territory.
Roads to hell, paved with good intentions
This carnival of errors and absurdities has all the appearance of being yet another case of unscrupulous politicians taking advantage of people’s desperation and hope to push partisan agendas. However, even if we take the Biden administration’s good intentions at face value, the crisis is still their responsibility.
The fact is, whether on migration, the economy, the environment or national security, the road to hell is paved with good intentions and demagogic discourse ends up hurting those it is supposedly intended to help.
In this sense, with Trump, migration flows dropped because Donald, with his very peculiar style, made it clear that illegal migration was not welcome. On the other hand, Democrats have been sending contradictory messages for years and playing with the hopes of millions of people, thousands of human beings who are crammed in overcrowded processing cages, or suffering on the violent roads leading to the border, at the mercy of cartels and corrupt people.
Meanwhile, Democrats, architects of deception, quietly enjoy their cappuccino at a Starbucks in Washington, New York or Beverly Hills. May the coffee burn their lips and their conscience burn their remorse of their eventual personal hell. They deserve it.
Gerardo Garibay Camarena, is a doctor of law, writer and political analyst with experience in the public and private sectors. His new book is "How to Play Chess Without Craps: A Guide to Reading Politics and Understanding Politicians" // Gerardo Garibay Camarena es doctor en derecho, escritor y analista político con experiencia en el sector público y privado. Su nuevo libro es “Cómo jugar al ajedrez Sin dados: Una guía para leer la política y entender a los políticos”