Senator John McCain faces
an migration-averse Arizona voter at a recent town hall:
The former 'maverick' on immigration has been chastened by
the political winds.
Columnist Edgar Gutierrez
writes that if McCain is the best Republicans can offer on
immigration, it will make
relations with the U.S. nearly impossible for Central America.
John McCain Bodes Ill for Central Americans (El Periodico, Guatemala)
"Thanks to the migration crisis, John McCain has become a hostile neighbor. ... If McCain, who sits on the Senate Subcommittee on Western Hemispheric Affairs, is the standard bearer of the Republicans' new policy toward Latin America, in terms of migration we are entering a new low in relations with the United States, accompanied by collision, tension, and hostility. In the middle will be extremely vulnerable migrants. ... beyond the politics of migration, a debate should commence on reforming the failed economic model (for the people) that the Washington Consensus hoisted on us 25 years ago, and which we continue to blindly follow: for us it is written in stone, and that stone is the weight of a tomb."
Republican
Senator John McCain, that old "maverick" conservative, has come home.
Since his "return" just over four years ago, he has set out to oppose
Latino migrants. He was co-sponsor of a
progressive migration law with the now-departed Edward Kennedy. Later, though,
in April 2010, he supported legislation in his own state of Arizona, giving police
carte blanche to capture and expel anyone suspected of having entered without papers.
Now
McCain, when it comes to the humanitarian crisis of migrant children, is
encouraging a heavy-handed approach to holding Central America responsible, and
is trying to shift the debate to one of security. The veteran senator has his
reasons. The 77-year-old is a political survivor in a state where
anti-immigrant sentiment has come on strong, and which has become ultraconservative
in the last decade. So McCain, who had his diplomatic skills tested in Syria,
Egypt, and even on Guantánamo as part of a mission to evaluate closure of the
prison, has, thanks to the migration crisis, become a hostile neighbor.
If McCain, who sits on the Senate Subcommittee on Western Hemispheric Affairs, is the standard bearer of the Republicans' new policy toward Latin America, in terms of migration we are entering a new low in relations with the United States, accompanied by collision, tension, and hostility. In the middle will be extremely vulnerable migrants. In the middle will be extremely
vulnerable migrants. Legal protections for Central American migrants in the United
States will diminish as requirements are imposed to criminalize migrant workers
and their families, and demands to penalize the parents of migrant children multiply.
A mission of presidents from the region asked for $2 billion, and in response,
President Obama offered to come up with ten percent of that.
Posted By
Worldmeets.US
"Surprise,
surprise they'll be asking for more money," McCain said provocatively (The
Washington Post quotedPrensaLibre). And
yet, he's right. It's no secret how we are seen from Washington
and the world's major political capitals: failed states, ruled by corrupt
politicians and greedy economic elites, who are astute enough to keep at bay
indefinitely millions of their fellow citizens who, asphyxiated, seek to live
out their lives elsewhere. It is difficult to engage in dialogue or serious
debate in the tense atmosphere before the next U.S. election, and without the
support of Central Americans for a policy proposal on migration.
But
beyond the politics of migration, a debate should commence on reforming the
failed economic model (for the people) that the Washington Consensus
hoisted on us 25 years ago, and which we continue to blindly follow: for us it
is written in stone, and that stone is the weight of a tomb.
