All Eyes on Europe: What About the Humanitarian Crisis in North America?
The world has been watching as the refugee crisis in Europe has been the international news for the last week. Alan Gomez in USA Today asks a very logical question— why don’t Americans pay much attention to the humanitarian crisis along the U.S./Mexico border, with young children and others dying by the scores for many years in deserts as they try to make their way to the United States? Death on the border is no secret to readers of ImmigrationProf. In addition, the U,S. government in response to Central American families fleeing violence in 2014, responded with mass detention and deportations; some would say that the United States responded to Central Americans like Hungary recently responded to Middle Eastern refugees.
Out of the thousands of unidentified bodies scattered across the country, many are found in South Texas, where migrants are crossing into the U.S. from Mexico. Border-crossing is treacherous; dehydration and heatstroke claim many who try to make the trek. And dying in Brooks County, TX means that sometimes, their bodies aren’t found, let alone identified. So what happens to these remains? This week, join radio program Reveal as it travels to the border to find out, interviewing The Investigative Fund’s John Carlos Frey about what he learned while reporting his memorable story on migrant mass graves in the Texas Observer. You can listen to the segment here. Here is a link to Reveal‘s full series, “Left for Dead.”
KJ