According to an online New York Times article entitled “As Winter Looms, Venezuelan Migrant Surge Overwhelms Chicago” by Ernesto Londoño and Julie Bosman, Venezuelan migrants are now arriving in downtown Chicago day and night, doubling in number in recent weeks. More than 2,300 migrants are sleeping at police stations, in lobbies and outside in makeshift camps. The city’s airports have migrants camping out on floors.
This is just one city impacted by the “refugee” crisis. This flow of “asylum-seekers” from the southern border is not only impacting Chicago, but it has touched other cities around the country. New York is also straining with the issue.
Asylum-seekers, which is what the immigrants are called, are creating problems all over the country in strategic spots. At one time, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dumped some of them on Martha’s Vineyard, of all places. As predicted, it created quite an uproar among the resident population.
Wherever they land, these people who are fleeing unbearable conditions in their home countries, are coming to America so fast that cities are scrambling to raise funds in order to accommodate them.
Many asylum-seekers are being promised housing, jobs and more. It is also being said that some are lured to urban centers under false pretenses, and they end up without the promised jobs and training. They are being used as political pawns in a global game of territorial intrigue designed to make life miserable for politicians targeted by their political opponents.
For example, it is being said that Governor Ron DeSantis is sending refugees to Chicago in order to politically sabotage the city. Whether this is the intent or not has not been confirmed, but the fact of the matter is that so many seekers are being dropped off that it is making it difficult to accommodate them.
Aside from the economic and social impacts of what can arguably be called a crisis, there is an anti-refugee uproar coming from some communities, especially those populated by Black people. They are allegedly upset because the asylum-seekers are soaking up resources that disadvantaged Black people need. Because of this, some have joined forces with their neighbors to oppose the presence of the refugees in their communities.
Other opposition comes from residents in racially diverse affluent communities who believe that the influx of the refugees affects the local “ambiance” of communities and adversely impacts property values, invites crime, and otherwise makes their communities undesirable.
Ultimately what is happening is politicians, as stated earlier, are using the refugees like ping pong balls; they are being tossed around by, and have incurred the wrath of people who are leery of them. Black people complain about them, white people complain about them, poor people complain about them, and wealthy people have jumped onto the bandwagon. In other words, the refugee crisis has ignited a sociological fire that is threatening the well-being of some American communities.
This is a very unfortunate situation on all fronts. The asylum-seekers are our fellow human beings who are fleeing harsh social and economic conditions in their homelands, and are endangered by intolerable violence that threatens their lives. They are people in need. The honorable thing to do would be to help them as much as possible if we view this from a humanitarian standpoint.
There is one other way to look at things; if we think about it, the United States was founded by “migrants” from Europe who were seeking a better life for themselves. They were fleeing from the oppression they faced at home, and decided to migrate to America. They did this in a very interesting manner; they came, they saw, and they conquered. They slaughtered the indigenous people, took their land and placed the people who remained on contained plots of land called “reservations.”
They also implemented a “forced migration” to America of Blacks via the Transatlantic Slave Trade for the purpose of using them for free labor on their ill-gotten gains.
America became what it is through the actions of violent European immigrants who completely disrespected, dishonored, and created mayhem among the indigenous American population. This fact alone should cause us to reflect and respond with compassion by providing humanitarian support to the asylum-seekers from the southern border, and we should come up with realistic and effective plans for this. It is the decent thing to do. A Luta Continua.
