Former Clinton Advisor: Unaccompanied Minors are ‘Refugees of Drug War We’ve Created’

[Uncle Joe]

http://fusion.net/justice/story/clinton-advisor-unaccompanied-minors-refugees-drug-war-weve-862762

“Most [unaccompanied minors] are refugees of the drug war we’ve created,” Reich said in a note to his more than 400,000 followers on Facebook.

(snip)

The surge in unaccompanied children is unprecedented; the number has spiked from a previous annual average of 6,000 – 8,000 to a projected 90,000 children this year. The three top municipalities of origin for the immigrant children are all in Honduras.

Many U.S. media reports have traced the situation back to Central American poverty, gang violence and misinformation about how the United States handles unaccompanied children once they get across the border. But very little attention has been given to how U.S. foreign policies —especially the U.S.-led drug war and the government’s handling of the 2009 coup in Honduras— may be to blame for the exodus.

“If U.S. drug policy had been less militaristic and less focused on law enforcement it’s quite likely that we would see significantly less problems now with kids fleeing to the U.S. from places like Honduras,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that promotes alternatives to the war on drugs.

More on link.

[ananda]

1. That and NAFTA.

..

[questionseverything]

2. the war on drugs is what keeps the gangs in power

[Uncle Joe]

3. NAFTA was with Mexico, not Central America and it didn't murder those children's families. n/t

[questionseverything]

4. want you to see this op,cia and drugs

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022291453

i am old enough to remember north admitting it on c span but so many young people do not know how this all escalated

[Uncle Joe]

6. The Reagan Administration's policy of "just say no" while enabling the trafficking of cocaine.

That looks like it could be a good movie.

Thanks for the link, questionseverything.

[countryjake]

12. But CAFTA was & the TPP will further enable the proliferation of poverty...

in Central America.

Just saying that it's not only the war on drugs that's wreaking havoc on most laboring people (and their children) of the Americas.

Fashion Faux Pas? Free Trade and Sweatshop Labor in Guatemala
http://truth-out.org/news/item/22150-fashion-faux-pas-free-trade-and-sweatshop-labor-in-guatemala

"Corporations have rights under free trade agreements, but no responsibilities contingent upon labor, environmental, health and safety standards," Drake said.


Thanks for this thread, Uncle Joe!

K&R!

[Uncle Joe]

14. Thanks for the thanks, countryjake.

Those labor rights do need to be strengthened.

[countryjake]

18. Yes, the drug cartels directly benefitted from those "free" trade agreements...

and continue to take advantage as they diversify into more "legitimate" profit-driven enterprises, enabling them more power than they ever imagined from simple drug smuggling.

Here's an article you may be interested in:

How the Mexican Drug Trade Thrives on Free Trade ~ Christy Thornton and Adam Goodman July 15, 2014
While President Peña Nieto celebrates the Aztec Tiger, Mexico’s cartels reach deeper into the legal economy.
http://www.thenation.com/article/180587/how-mexican-drug-trade-thrives-free-trade


A good report on the problem: Reimagining Drug Policy in the Americas by NACLA
https://nacla.org/edition/10415

And this:
Debunking 8 Myths About Why Central American Children Are Migrating
http://inthesetimes.com/article/16919/8_reasons_u.s._trade_and_immigration_policies_have_caused_migration_from_ce

[TheNutcracker]

5. Thank Reagan, Ollie North, and the rest of the Contra regime...

[deutsey]

7. Not to mention the aftermath of all the brutal right-wing regimes America helped to install

and/or support throughout the region since the end of WWII.

[Uncle Joe]

8. That is true as well, deutsey.

[Uncle Joe]

9. P.S. Here is another dynamic from the article.

http://fusion.net/justice/story/clinton-advisor-unaccompanied-minors-refugees-drug-war-weve-862762

Nadelmann criticizes the U.S. for foisting its drug-war policy on smaller countries. He says the situation in Central America today would be different if more money were spent on public health, rather than pursuing prohibitionist policies.

“Many of these countries criminalized drugs that they had never heard of because of pressure from the United States,” Nadelmann said in a telephone interview Monday.

Nadelmann pointed out the United States has deported large numbers of gang members to Central America, many of whom returned to the countries they were born in to transform the criminal and gang culture. Roughly 40,000 people have been deported for drug-law violations every year since 2008, according to an analysis of federal immigration data conducted by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

[xchrom]

10. Du rec

[Uncle Joe]

11. Du thanks.

[G_j]

13. so true, and most people know it

still, so very few will say it.

[Uncle Joe]

15. I do believe the tide is turning on this issue as more people are speaking out.

I as you, wish the pace would pick up.

Peace to you, G_j.

[conservaphobe]

16. The end of the War on Drugs is long overdue...

It's one of the biggest policy failures in our history.

And is driving too many young, intelligent people into either incarceration or extremist ideologies.

[Uncle Joe]

17. I couldn't agree more, conservaphobe but I believe this is becoming

increasingly self-evident to the American People.

[toby jo]

19. Christ, when you think refugees you usually think families.

It's got to be hard as hell to send off your kids. Alone, to a strange country. Imagine being one of them. These people are desperate.

[kpete]

20. Robert Reich: Children fleeing to the U.S. are ‘refugees of the drug war we created’

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/16/robert-reich-children-fleeing-to-the-u-s-are-refugees-of-the-drug-war-we-created/

[Uncle Joe]

21. Thanks for the kick and additional information link, kpete. This is gold.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/16/robert-reich-children-fleeing-to-the-u-s-are-refugees-of-the-drug-war-we-created/

In a follow-up post, Reich observed that the true division in America was not between Democrats and Republicans, it was “between the haters and the big-hearted.”

The haters direct their venom not just at child refugees seeking asylum from the drug war we created, but also at gays who want to marry, African-Americans who want to vote and exercise their other rights of citizenship, women who seek abortions, or even women in general, Latinos who want their children to be taught in Spanish, immigrants in general, Muslims, Jews, government “bureaucrats,” the poor and needy, anyone who dares suggest a required background check before buying guns, people they call “liberals” or “socialists” or “communists,” even the President of the United States.

He observed that “hate-mongers in the media” had also made the problem worse by encouraging the behavior.

“But the haters are not America,” Reich insisted. “They are a small and vocal minority. Most Americans are generous and welcoming, decent and kind-hearted. We are the silent majority, who have been silent too long.”

In the end, Reich said that it was wrong to “make children pay the price for the intolerable social destruction that Central American elites and militaries, as well as successive US governments, had a hand in creating.”

Peace to you, kpete.

[kpete]

22. Been true most of my life

“the haters are not America,” Reich insisted. “They are a small and vocal minority. Most Americans are generous and welcoming, decent and kind-hearted. We are the silent majority, who have been silent too long.”

peace, Uncle Joe
kp