First, address reasons for the caravan
Latin American strife forcing migrants to travel to the U.S.
The crisis is not migration but rather not understanding the compelling reason Central Americans want to leave en masse. Therein lies the answer to solving why there has been a (huge) spike in Central American migration since 2010, (according to Vice News).
These migrants are predominantly women and children, too.
Assessing the situational data and enacting preventative measures seems more effective than troop mobilization or wall building. These are mere obstacles for a Central American migrant who is running from the fear that compels her to leave home.
Child homicide is one such compelling reason to leave Central America. In the United States, school shootings shock our country and devastate local communities. (CNN reports that) by May, one shooting per week had occurred since the year began . ... (According to Save the Children’s 2017 “End of Childhood” report) in Honduras, the child homicide rate is 30 per 100,000. El Salvador’s rate is 20. Guatemala’s is 16. These grave odds would compel any mother, regardless of race, to do whatever it takes to protect her child, including traveling thousands of miles by foot with minimal life essentials.
Hearing California resident Susan Schmidt-Orfanos’ grief and anger over her son not escaping a second mass shooting, first in Las Vegas then at the recent Borderline Bar tragedy, provides a hint of what drives Central American mothers to seek safer communities. Unlike Schmidt-Orfanos, who has the choice to mobilize civil society into action without fear of repercussion, Central American mothers know their countries’ weak institutions offer no justice. These mothers are not bringing crime with them. Rather, they are physically distancing their families from local criminals who thrive in lawlessness and impunity. These mothers do not want to actually be in the United States. They would rather be safe in their homes, just like most Americans.
The problem is that home has limited economic opportunity. Home has corrupt governance that perpetuates inequality and poverty cycles. Home has violence and impunity because of weak rule of law.
The migrant caravan, armed with a change of clothes, is not a threat to the United States. It is a sign that our neighbors’ human rights are threatened and we, therefore, must take appropriate action to solve what is behind the caravan, not what is in the caravan.
The fear-mongering rhetoric is only a distraction from the true crisis: absence of effective U.S. foreign policy in Latin American countries.