Migration is Often Deadly

Yesterday, I noted that the journey to the United States is often deadly for undocumented migrants — whether they travel across the frozen Northern border or across the treacherous oceans from the Caribbean. Not to mention, of course, deaths that result from traversing the deserts across the Southern border.

It bears noting that unlawful migration anywhere can be deadly. Readers may think that obvious, but I think that fact gets lost in news coverage that focuses so much on “vast hordes of … people crowding in upon us” and less on the dangers of their journeys.

Just this week WaPo reported that Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard officers shot and killed an infant when they fired upon a ship of Venezuelan migrants looking to enter their nation without authorization. Deaths at the hands of border enforcers isn’t unheard of, but, more commonly, irregular migrants face death just because of the circumstances under which they must attempt entry into a country where they are unwanted. As Ingrid noted not long ago, those deaths increased significantly in 2021. (For other compelling coverage of this issue, look to the PBS coverage of crossing the Darién Gap.)

Irregular migration is inextricably linked with the possibility (and in some cases probability) of death. It’s up to us as teachers to open our students’ eyes to this sobering reality.

-KitJ