Tens of Thousands of Asylum Seekers Fleeing NTCA Violence Reach US Border - Research Paper

Introduction

In recent years, tens of thousands of asylum seekers fleeing violence from the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA) countries are being witnessed at the southern border of the US and Mexico. Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador are the most insecure with violence caused by gang involvement and drug-associated threats like kidnappings, sexual assaults, homicides, extortions, and minors' radicalization to gangs. Most of these crimes in these countries never lead to convictions due to corruption and impunity associated with the justice system, law enforcement system, and their leaders. This leads to lack of faith of the Salvadorans, Hondurans, and Guatemalans to the governments' institutions and coupled with poverty and lack of employment opportunities in their countries has prompted them to take the long journey north of more than 3000 miles to seek sanctuary in the US. This has created an immigration crisis in both Mexico and the US. This has sensitized both the Mexican and American governments of presidents Andreas Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and Donald Trump to call for a Central American Marshal Plan aimed at funding to promote regional development in the NTCA region hence reduce the migration. Research suggests an enactment of policies that can curb migration like the legalization of illicit drugs, funding reforms to create economic opportunities for citizens of Central America, and stop forced deportation; hence eliminating the incentive and funding of gangs to sustain violence in their respective countries.

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Because of the highly flawed governmental systems of the NTCA countries, a debate has erupted on the need to legalize and decriminalize these drugs on the view that violence, homicide, and gang-related crimes would be highly reduced in these countries. This argument has arisen due to the failure of "war against drugs" in Mexico. Mexico through the help of other institutional bodies has introduced billions of dollars in modernizing, training, and recruitment of their military and police. Despite these efforts as well as persecutions of drug cartel kingpins in Mexico, drug trafficking and killing of police, military, civilians, and judges has persisted with no signs of slowing down. On the view of this, Central American nation leaders have held various meetings on the view to legalize and decriminalize illicit drugs keeping in mind the benefits they would accrue in reducing violence associated with drug traffickers and gang activities. Reduced violence would also mean reduced emigration of Central Americans. (Bolton, 2012)

The legalization idea attracts these Central American nations for various reasons. Firstly, violence between rivalry drug trafficking gangs as a means to maximize profits through weakening one another, get and maintain control of trafficking routes, and expansion of the territory of operation can gradually be minimized by the legalization of soft and hard narcotics. This violence means only the most ruthless and cruel cartels maintain their business. This low number of rivals corresponds to an exorbitantly high price of these drugs thus great profits for the gangs meaning they can't be quashed by the weak governments like those in the NTCA region. (Bolton, 2012) An introduction to legal drugs would mean more players in the legalized business hence reduced price and thus a substantial reduction in the financial might of drug trafficking gangs which would reduce overall violence and more citizens would stay.

Secondly, reduced profits to these gangs would diminish their ability to perform corruption and impunity. This view can be associated with the knowledge that the NTCA countries experience the highest levels of impunity and corruption in the world. The ethics of national leaders, state disciplined forces, and other officers like judges are highly compromised by the financial persuasiveness of the drug trafficking organizations (Bolton, 2012). The fewer profits associated with legal businesses would result in fair trials and convictions for any violent group. More citizen-confidence with the state, police, and judicial system would make the citizens stay put and build the economy.

Thirdly, legalizing narcotics would ensure a much-needed injection of revenues associated with taxing legal businesses. More revenue would, in turn, be used for the economic development of the economy. This would go to the provision of basic education, improvement of health care amenities, infrastructural development, and agricultural development (Bolton, 2012). All these would mean education and work for the youth, therefore, a lack of the need to join crime gangs or traffic drugs to make a living. A better living condition would just increase the need to grow the economy even more hence the need to stay put.

Finally, another way is to stop the immigration of Central Americans is to put an end to forced deportations of the already immigrated Central Americans. A lesson can be learned from the massive deportations of immigrants with criminal records in the mid-1990s. The deportations led to the forced presence of the Los Angeles formed notorious street gangs like the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and the Eighteenth Street Gang (MS-18) and pandillas in the; weak state bodied, vulnerable youth lacking education and opportunities, and poverty-stricken NTCA nations (Labrador & Renwick, 2018). They exploited these bad conditions leading to the level of violence and gang activity being experienced now.

A viable alternative to deportations, the U.S can allow the immigrants individual skills as they wait for the condition of their state to improve. A study of the refugees returned to other countries portrays an improvement in their countries development strategies as a result of applying the skills they had gained from abroad. Applying a similar technique to Central American immigrants would mean a returnee added value to their nations from accrued skills hence eradicate the bad cycle of violence usually fueled by forced deportations to an unsafe country. The skills can also help build their respective nations by starting and introducing new opportunities to others hence reducing the possibility of gang radicalization and therefore reduced violence related thus a safe country to live and build (Bermeo, 2019). Forced deportations can also make desperate and unrelenting immigrants use human traffickers to cross to the United States. Stopping forced deportations means a stop in violence in the NTCA countries since their activities with violent gangs is eliminated forced.

Additionally, the policy of ensuring sustainable long term stability of the region would mean citizens stay put and build their country instead of immigrating. The major policies should be the elimination of corruption that has plagued these countries. The international community should enhance the pressure on Guatemalan president, to embrace the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG in Spanish) rather than ban it . CICIG an international body created by the United States in 2007 helped reduce impunity levels from 95% to around 72% in the years between 2009 and 2012. It also successfully worked with Guatemalan Attorney General in 2015 that led to the removal and arrest of the then president Otto Perez Molina in relation to custom corruption allegations. In Honduras the body formed by Organization of American state called Mission to Support the Fight Against Corruption and Impunity (MACCIH in Spanish) can be used to pressurize the Honduran government to act against corruption, reform the electoral system and their criminal justice (Labrador & Renwick, 2018). In El Salvador, the U.S and other powerful countries should support the government and other groups on war against graft and impunity. Reduced impunity and corruption among state bodies would mean an increase in confidence towards the state by the citizens thus building the citizens' need to stay and build owns nation rather than migrating to the United States of America.

Furthermore, international aid should be aimed at supporting government initiatives like the creation of strong tax collection bodies and strong judiciary that would build weak and corrupt nations hence help them regain legitimacy from its citizens. International experts sent by the United Nations, US, and more developed nations can aid the government in creating and institutionalizing strong governmental bodies like the strong tax systems and the judiciary. An empowered civil society like the empowered Judiciary would make the judges and prosecutors become clean and aspire in clean prosecution of the gangs and drug cartels (Demombynes, 2011, p. 7). Also, an empowered tax system can help the respective country collect revenue that they never managed to collect before. The boosted government revenue can then be dedicated towards development and provision of basic needs in the help the states. Strong and less porous government bodies mean strong and fearless states that can't be exploited by the drug traffickers and gangs hence reduced violence, extortions, human trafficking, and homicides meaning the citizens stay and rise up in rebuilding their nation, therefore, reduced emigration from NTCA.

Moreover, UN, US, and other nations can pump up financial resources inform of grants in helping foster economic development in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. UN budget pumped towards economic development of the Northern Triangle region is very low. Coupled with the low United Stated aid donated towards improvement of the NTCA region law enforcement bodies and counternarcotics, the nation is unable to cope with the financial might of the drug traffickers hence the crippling effect in eliminating corruption. Lack of financial power as evidenced by the low defense budgets of these countries in conjunction with less support from the UN and US means that the security forces have inadequate facilities to deal with the gangs who have escalated the violence in the region (Demombynes, 2011, p. 9). The Central American Marshal Plan proposed by Mexican president AMLO where he promises to provide $30 Billion and supported by president Donald Trump with a promise of $5.8 Billion, that is directed towards development of the region, shows some promise but it is still low as compared to the $40-50 Billion that the narcos gains through smuggling of drugs in Guatemala alone.

A working theory would be to increase the funding from all nations involved and the UN. The funding should be directed towards security, democracy and prosperity promotion in the region. The funding should be through International aid Organizations like the Mercy Corps rather than the government that is not trusted by its constituents (Latta, 2019). This is to make the citizens believe that something leading to development will happen and remain to be a contributor to that growth. These International organizations should strive at guiding the citizens especially the youth in the direction of brighter future and economic security. Establishing schools and introduction of programs like urban violence prevention programs (mainly projects to make the urban streets secure like street lighting system installation) and the agriculture programs that lead to the possibility to be educated and work thus no need to join gangs. These new opportunities increase the need to stay and build a better life at home a better person rather than abroad as an immigrant.

Other short term policies should be aimed at making the emigrations drop in Central America while at the same time advocating for broader long term policies. The climatic difficulty that has plagued southern Guatemala has also prompted them to m...