by Daniel Nardini
A couple of hundred protesters in the California town of Murrieta had successfully turned back a couple of buses loaded with children and their families. The protesters shouted, “U.S.A.!”, and “illegals go home!’. These protesters blocked the highway leading to a federal facility that would have accommodated these children and families from Central America. They were being taken to Murrieta because the federal government is facing a refugee crisis— tens of thousands of children and their families are fleeing El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras because of vicious gangland turf wars that are killing hundreds of people. The gangs coerce young people and even children as young as kindergarteners into their gangland armies. If the families of children refuse the gangs’ demands, the children are raped, slaughtered and so are their entire families.
The police and even the armed forces of these three countries are usually outnumbered and out-gunned by the gangs, so many of these families are fleeing as fast as they can. This refugee crisis started back in February, but the first of these refugees only started reaching the United States by May. These children and their families have traversed 2,000 miles to reach the United States, and have already suffered unbelievable hardships and trauma. For these crazy right wing xenophobic protesters to try and block and threaten buses with women and children is deplorable and despicable. These people on those busloads are not criminals. They did not commit rape, arson or murder. They are trying to escape from a virtually war-torn region. The sad truth is that the U.S. government does not know where to put them all. It will only be a question before most are sent back anyways. The U.S. government has pledged to provide financial aid and programs to help these three Central American countries take back these refugees and help fight the gangs.
So where in lies the threat of these people from Central America to the residents of Murrieta? That the Murrieta city council is urging its residents to basically resist and even break the law to prevent these refugees from being taken to a federal facility for processing is disgusting. The U.S. government does not want to take all of these people to every state on the U.S.-Mexico border until it can figure out what to do with them, but what else can it do? The U.S. government estimates that 50,000 to 60,000 Central American children and their families will cross into the United States by the end of the year. The number might in fact be higher. While the U.S. government knows it cannot let all these people stay, it cannot treat them in an inhumane manner either.
For those Murrieta residents who understand why the U.S. government is doing what it is doing, I have a good word for them. For those who have shown their nativistic, xenophobic hatred against harmless men, women and children because they are “illegals,” in my view they have shamed not only their town and state but the whole of the United States.
Shame on Murrieta!
by Daniel Nardini
A couple of hundred protesters in the California town of Murrieta had successfully turned back a couple of buses loaded with children and their families. The protesters shouted, “U.S.A.!”, and “illegals go home!’. These protesters blocked the highway leading to a federal facility that would have accommodated these children and families from Central America. They were being taken to Murrieta because the federal government is facing a refugee crisis— tens of thousands of children and their families are fleeing El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras because of vicious gangland turf wars that are killing hundreds of people. The gangs coerce young people and even children as young as kindergarteners into their gangland armies. If the families of children refuse the gangs’ demands, the children are raped, slaughtered and so are their entire families.
The police and even the armed forces of these three countries are usually outnumbered and out-gunned by the gangs, so many of these families are fleeing as fast as they can. This refugee crisis started back in February, but the first of these refugees only started reaching the United States by May. These children and their families have traversed 2,000 miles to reach the United States, and have already suffered unbelievable hardships and trauma. For these crazy right wing xenophobic protesters to try and block and threaten buses with women and children is deplorable and despicable. These people on those busloads are not criminals. They did not commit rape, arson or murder. They are trying to escape from a virtually war-torn region. The sad truth is that the U.S. government does not know where to put them all. It will only be a question before most are sent back anyways. The U.S. government has pledged to provide financial aid and programs to help these three Central American countries take back these refugees and help fight the gangs.
So where in lies the threat of these people from Central America to the residents of Murrieta? That the Murrieta city council is urging its residents to basically resist and even break the law to prevent these refugees from being taken to a federal facility for processing is disgusting. The U.S. government does not want to take all of these people to every state on the U.S.-Mexico border until it can figure out what to do with them, but what else can it do? The U.S. government estimates that 50,000 to 60,000 Central American children and their families will cross into the United States by the end of the year. The number might in fact be higher. While the U.S. government knows it cannot let all these people stay, it cannot treat them in an inhumane manner either.
For those Murrieta residents who understand why the U.S. government is doing what it is doing, I have a good word for them. For those who have shown their nativistic, xenophobic hatred against harmless men, women and children because they are “illegals,” in my view they have shamed not only their town and state but the whole of the United States.