{"id":10415,"date":"2021-01-19T18:38:49","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T18:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=151998"},"modified":"2021-01-19T18:38:49","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T18:38:49","slug":"biden-must-go-beyond-simply-ending-trumps-barbaric-border-policies-we-need-deeper-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/19\/biden-must-go-beyond-simply-ending-trumps-barbaric-border-policies-we-need-deeper-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Must Go Beyond Simply Ending Trump’s Barbaric Border Policies\u2014We Need Deeper Change"},"content":{"rendered":"
January 15, 2021<\/p>\n
Dear President-Elect Biden,<\/p>\n
Congratulations on your electoral victory. As you prepare to take office, we wish to share our thoughts and suggestions on an area of foreign policy that you have identified as being a top priority: U.S. policy towards Central America.<\/p>\n
We are a broad coalition of groups that work on Central America. Many of us have close partners in the region that defend human rights and the environment, often at great risk to their lives. We care deeply about the people and future of Central America, and the impact of U.S. policy there.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve been heartened to hear that you are committed to working to improve the quality of life of the peoples of Central America and that your administration plans to turn the page on the bullying and demonization of Central Americans that has taken place under President Trump. We support and will hold you to your commitment to reverse the Trump administration\u2019s draconian immigration policies and respect the human rights of migrants.<\/p>\n
“Under your leadership, the United States has the opportunity to write a new chapter in our hemispheric relations but doing so requires taking a hard look at U.S. policies that have contributed to the current reality in which millions face a daily struggle for survival.”<\/span><\/p>\n It is with great interest that we examined the summary of your \u201cPlan to Build Security and Prosperity in Partnership with the People of Central America.\u201d While we and our partners share the goal of improving security and economic conditions in the region, we are concerned that the Plan doubles down on policies that have contributed to poverty, inequality and violence in Central America.<\/p>\n For far too long, the United States has treated Central America as its \u201cbackyard,\u201d exerting an inappropriate level of interference in the political and economic affairs of the region. Approaching U.S. relations in the region as a partnership, as you promise to do, is a welcome change. But achieving a real partnership will require a fundamentally different approach to U.S. foreign policy that we hope you will consider.<\/p>\n Prior to the Trump administration, the U.S. government used aid toward Central America as both a carrot and a stick, increasing funding for U.S. programming in the region on the condition that governments there meet human rights standards, promote democratic governance and fight corruption. Unfortunately, this approach has failed to accomplish its stated goals. One has only to look to Honduras, where a repressive, corrupt regime linked to drug-trafficking networks remains deeply entrenched and thousands are now on the brink of starvation.<\/p>\n To promote meaningful progress in Central America, the United States must turn away from this approach and instead respect the self-determination of the peoples of Central America and invest in strengthening multilateral institutions that focus on addressing human needs rather than playing politics. Doing so would also demonstrate a significant turn away from the unilateralism that the Trump Administration espoused, inflicting incalculable damage.<\/p>\n In a spirit of constructive criticism, we would like to underscore what we consider to be problematic aspects of past and current U.S. policy towards the governments and peoples of Central America. Drawing from our own observations and experiences, as well as those of our Central American partners, we also wish to offer our recommendations as to how we believe U.S. policy toward the region can be improved.<\/p>\n Protect the Human Rights of Migrants<\/strong><\/p>\n The Trump administration\u2019s treatment of Central American migrants can only be described as barbaric. Migrants have been criminalized and detained in inhumane conditions and many, including children, have died in the custody of Customs and Border Control and ICE. Under Trump\u2019s \u201czero tolerance\u201d policy, thousands of young children were separated from their parents. Through a combination of incentives and threats, the Trump administration has also promoted an assault on migrants\u2019 human rights by Central American and Mexican security forces.<\/p>\n Though the nature of Trump\u2019s attacks on migrants are without precedent in our country\u2019s recent history, some troubling aspects of his policies pre-date his administration. For instance, family separation took place on a large scale under President Obama, with tens of thousands of undocumented migrant parents forcibly separated from their U.S. citizen children and deported. U.S. support for the repression of Central American migration also increased under the previous Democratic administration, through the U.S. government\u2019s support for Plan Frontera Sur, which involved the deployment of Mexican security forces to forcibly prevent Central Americans from traveling to the U.S. border as well as Congress conditioning U.S. assistance on the action of Central American governments to block the movement of their own citizens.<\/p>\n These policies lead to the inhumane and deadly treatment of migrants from across the globe, including with particular impacts to the thousands of African and Black migrants that face anti-Blackness and racism as they transit through the region on their journey to seek refuge and asylum the U.S.<\/p>\n We call on your administration to:<\/p>\n Re-think US Security Policy<\/strong><\/p>\n For many decades, the U.S. has provided support to Central American military and police forces through training, technical assistance and logistical support. During the period of armed conflict in the region \u2013 in the 1980s and early 1990s \u2013 U.S.-backed wars and military and paramilitary forces committed widespread human rights atrocities that left hundreds of thousands dead and fueled a first wave of Central American migration to the U.S. Since then, the U.S. has continued to provide assistance to regional security forces, citing the need to combat drug-trafficking and to \u201cenhance citizen security\u201d as reasons for doing so. While U.S. agencies claim to prioritize the promotion of human rights, police and military forces \u2013 many of which are infiltrated by organized crime groups \u2013 continue to engage in countless abuses, including targeted attacks on activists, violent repression of protests and the forced displacement of communities.<\/p>\n Over the last ten years, hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S. security assistance have been channeled to the region through the Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI). There is little transparency around the end-use of these funds and no conclusive public assessments of the impact of CARSI programs.. In addition, the State Department has systematically certified Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador as having complied with human rights conditions attached to U.S. assistance through an opaque process, despite rampant egregious abuses perpetrated by the security forces of these countries.<\/p>\n We urge you to:<\/p>\n End support for extractive and exploitative development models<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite the region\u2019s enormous human and economic potential, Central America has among the highest levels of poverty in the region, due in large part to extremely unequal wealth distribution. In most Central American countries, the dominant economic actors are national and international corporations focused on natural resource extraction and worker exploitation. They frequently carry out projects that damage the environment and displace or negatively affect indigenous and small farmer communities, while receiving funding support from multilateral development banks (MDBs) as well as from illicit sources, including drug trafficking organizations. While these projects are generally promoted as \u2018economic development,\u2019 in reality they often only benefit local elites while negatively impacting communities, further contributing to inequality and concentration of wealth in the hands of elites and thus further fueling migration. Furthermore, communities and workers that attempt to resist these projects are often subjected to violent attacks, with the complicity or involvement of state actors.<\/p>\n The U.S. government plays a role in perpetuating this predatorial development model by greenlighting multilateral development bank (MDB) funding that ends up in the hands of corporations that fail to meet basic environmental and labor standards and disregard the rights of local communities. Further, the U.S. has supported investment treaties and has promoted private-public partnerships that elevate the interests of corporations above people and the public good. Finally, the U.S. has generally failed to act when governments don\u2019t enforce their own countries labor laws, as required under the Dominican Republic \u2013 Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), signed by the U.S.<\/p>\n We call on your administration to:<\/p>\n Adopt a non-ideological approach<\/strong><\/p>\n Observers have noted that U.S. policy in Latin America, including in Central America, remains influenced by Cold War ideological paradigms that have resulted in inconsistent and counterproductive policies. For instance, while the U.S. has quickly condemned election fraud in countries where it does not agree with the re-election of a president, it blatantly ignored credible allegations of election fraud in Honduras in 2017, quickly recognizing the re-election of Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez despite widespread allegations of fraud. The continued backing and protection of corrupt right-wing actors with questionable democratic credentials has contributed to human rights abuses and inequality in the region. The U.S. should put an end to this ideologically biased approach.<\/p>\n Going forward, your administration should:<\/p>\n The widespread devastation caused by hurricanes Eta and Iota has made abundantly clear how precarious life is for so many people in Central America and how urgent it is for the U.S. government to re-work its regional policies and respect the will of the peoples of Central America moving forward. Central America deserves the opportunity to thrive in its own right; not just in order in order to deter Central Americans from migrating.<\/p>\n Under your leadership, the United States has the opportunity to write a new chapter in our hemispheric relations but doing so requires taking a hard look at U.S. policies that have contributed to the current reality in which millions face a daily struggle for survival. The answer is not to continue doing more of the same but to envision a new direction that respects the political and economic self-determination and dignity of our Central American neighbors.<\/p>\n We would welcome the opportunity to work with your Administration to implement our recommendations and to provide insight and feedback from civil society organizations in the region to ensure that the U.S. government\u2019s methods are helping to further the goals of shared prosperity and a dignified life for all.<\/p>\n Sincerely,<\/p>\n ActionAid USA<\/p>\n Alliance for Global Justice<\/p>\n American Friends Service Committee<\/p>\n Americas Program<\/p>\n Cameroon American Council<\/p>\n Center for Economic and Policy Research<\/p>\n Center for Gender & Refugee Studies<\/p>\n Central American Resource Center, Los Angeles (CARECEN-LA)<\/p>\n Central American Isthmus Graduate Association (CAIGA), UCLA<\/p>\n Chicago Religious Leadership Network<\/p>\n CodePINK<\/p>\n Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES)<\/p>\n Denver Justice and Peace Committee \u2013 DJPC<\/p>\n Fellowship of Reconciliation \u2013 FOR<\/p>\n Franciscan Network on Migration<\/p>\n Friendship Office of the Americas<\/p>\n Global Exchange<\/p>\n Global Health Partners<\/p>\n Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) & United Church of Christ<\/p>\n Guatemala Solidarity Project<\/p>\n Haitian Bridge Alliance<\/p>\n Hispanic Federation<\/p>\n Honduras Solidarity Network<\/p>\n Inter Religious Task Force on Central America and Colombia<\/p>\n International Migrants Alliance \u2013 USA<\/p>\n Just Associates (JASS)<\/p>\n Just Foreign Policy<\/p>\n Justice for Muslims Collective<\/p>\n Leadership Conference of Women Religious<\/p>\n National Day Labor Organizing Network (NDLON)<\/p>\n National Immigrant Justice Center<\/p>\n National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights<\/p>\n National TPS Alliance<\/p>\n Network in Solidarity with Guatemala (NISGUA)<\/p>\n Partnership for Earth Spirituality<\/p>\n Pax Christi USA<\/p>\n Presbyterian Church USA<\/p>\n Project South<\/p>\n Quixote Center<\/p>\n Sanctuary DMV (Washington, DC, MD, VA)<\/p>\n SHARE Foundation<\/p>\n School Sisters of Notre Dame Cooperative Investment Fund<\/p>\n School of the Americas Watch<\/p>\n Sisters of Mercy of the Americas \u2013 Justice Team<\/p>\n Sister Parish, Inc.<\/p>\n St. Louis Inter-Faith Committee on Latin America<\/p>\n United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries<\/p>\n Unitarian Universalist Service Committee<\/p>\n Win Without War<\/p>\n Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective<\/p>\n Witness at the Border<\/p>\n Religious Organizations Carmelite Sisters, VEDRUNA<\/p>\n Chicago chapter, Benedictines for Peace<\/p>\n Community Council, Servants of Mary, US\/Jamaica Community<\/p>\n Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces<\/p>\n Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes<\/p>\n Congregational Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Office \u2013 (Incarnate Word Sisters)<\/p>\n Disciples Refugee & Immigration Ministries<\/p>\n Dominican Sisters of Racine, WI \u2013 Leadership Team<\/p>\n Dominicans Sisters of Sinsinawa Office of Peace and Justice<\/p>\n Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters, USA-JPIC<\/p>\n IHM Sisters Justice, Peace and Sustainability Office<\/p>\n Illinois Women Religious Against Human Trafficking (IWRAHT)<\/p>\n Immaculate Heart Community Immigration Commission<\/p>\n Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary<\/p>\n Loretto Latin America\/Caribbean Committee<\/p>\n Mercy Ecology<\/p>\n National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd<\/p>\n Office of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (Oldenburg)<\/p>\n Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, Western American Area<\/p>\n Sisters, Home Visitors of Mary<\/p>\n Sisters of Mercy<\/p>\n Sisters of the Most Precious Blood-Committee on Immigration<\/p>\n Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Scranton, PA<\/p>\n Sisters of the Humility of Mary<\/p>\n St. Paul\u2019s Monastery, St. Paul, MN<\/p>\n Strangers No Longer, St. Michael Catholic Community, Michigan<\/p>\n\n\n
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