Mark Shmueli Goes Inside the Issues with Dr. Leon — Sirius XM — Central American Children Refugee Crisis

Thousands of Central American children are fleeing their homes and undertaking treacherous journeys through dangerous conditions.  Mark Shmueli and Wilmer Leon delve into the reasons behind the child refugee crisis in the United States. Below are a few key snippets of the conversation.  Links to the complete interview at the bottom of the post.

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• Mark: “[Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador] became so insecure in the last few years with the rise of gangs–many of which are a result of people that are deported from the US–with the rise of gangs, breakdown of security, and the breakdown of the economies in those countries, it just became extremely difficult to feed and keep safe the children that are there.” (Part 1, 08:30)

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• Dr. Leon: Are the unaccompanied minors coming to the US “part of a larger cycle that should have been foreseen?”  (Part 2, 01:20)
• Mark: “Yes…The countries are essentially unlivable.  There is extremely weak governments.  There are gangs that control huge parts of the country.  The violence is astronomical, particularly to girls, women.  And . . . people are doing what they can to keep [these kids] safe.”

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• Dr. Leon: “As this whole issue around comprehensive immigration reform gets bantered about . . . one of the things that hardly gets any conversation is US foreign policy and trade policy, that has contributed to and/or is creating conditions that are wreaking havoc on local foreign country economies and forcing people to take action . . . .  NAFTA, for example.” (Part 2, 03:55)
• Mark: “The really tragic aspect of . . . the US inadvertently or [intentionally] destroying the economies of and making these countries [Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador] more dependent on the US and less able to create their own infrastructures . . is that . . . when [those] people come [to the US] they get scapegoated and are considered to be a problem.” (Part 2, 06:20)

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• Mark: “Until the United States really engages with [Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador] in a way [that is] progressive, supporting of workers, and community building . . . there will be continued waves of migration to the United States because people will want to go where there are jobs and it is secure. “ (Part 2, 10:02)

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• Mark: “The demographics of the country do not dictate that there be anti-immigrant policies in the future. They just don’t” (Part 3, 23:36)

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Audio links to the three-part interview: