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23 Pub. Int. L. Rep. 36 (2017-2018)
Reaping Whirlwind: How U.S. Interventionist Foreign Policies Created Our Immigration Crisis

handle is hein.journals/pilr23 and id is 42 raw text is: 



Loyola Public Interest Law Reporter I


   Reaping Whirlwind: How U.S. Interventionist Foreign
            Policies Created Our Immigration Crisis


                          Nubia Batista Willman


     Why aren't we putting them on a bus like we normally do and send them back
     down to Guatemala? Representative Mike Rogers (R) of Alabama.1

     On June 24, 2014, the Homeland Security Committee convened to deter-
mine the best approach to resolve the sudden increase of Central American
unaccompanied minors and women seeking refuge in the United States.2 By
the time the Committee met, they discussed two main issues: one, how could
the U.S. government repatriate thousands of Central Americans as quickly as
possible, and two, what could be done to stop this border flooding.3 Through-
out the discussion, the Committee members, as well as the pundits and politi-
cians that followed, failed to acknowledge the major role U.S. military actions
and policies played in creating this Central American exodus.
    Latin Americans immigrating to the United States is not a new phenome-
non, however 2014 saw a sharp increase in Guatemalans, Hondurans, and
Salvadorans seeking refuge in the United States.4 The three countries are
neighbors and connect North and South America; together these countries are
known as the Northern Triangle.5 To make the 1,000 mile trek from the
Northern Triangle to the United States, many immigrants travel through Mex-
ico by riding a train known as La Bestia, the beast, putting their limbs and lives


    1 Unaccompanied Minors: Hearing Before H. Comm. on Homeland Security, 113 Cong.
(2014) (Statement by Rep. Mike Rogers, Member, House Comm. on Homeland Security) avail-
able at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-113hhrg91929/html/CHRG-113hhrg91929
.html.
   2 Unaccompanied Minors: Hearing Before H. Comm. on Homeland Security, 113 Cong.
(2014).
   3 Patricia Zengerle, Frustrated U.S. Lawmakers Urge Tough Action on Child Migration,
Reuters, June 24, 2014, http:l/articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-06-24/news/sns-rt-us-usa-im-
migration-chidren-20140528 1_own-border-security-guatemalan-tough-action.
   4 Tom Dart, Child Migrants at Texas Border: An Immigration Crisis That's Hardly New, The
Guardian, July 9, 2014, https:llwww.theguardian.com/worldf/2014/jul/O9/us-immigration-un-
documented-children-texas.
   5 Danielle Renwick, CentralAmerica's ViolentNorth Triangle, Council on Foreign Relations,
Jan. 19, 2016, http:l/www.cfr.orgltransnational-crime/central-americas-violent-northern-trian-
gle/p37286


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