The Predicted Migrant Wave Is Here.
A deadly new "VPI Route" through Venezuela. Underlying causes. The Darien Gap kills thousands. Still, they have no choice but to run.
A few months ago, Joe Biden changed the rules. In the days and weeks that followed, with a flood of migrants pooled at our southern border, all seemed quiet. There was no screaming and pressing up against the walls. There was nobody in line. Anywhere. The Biden Administration quickly declared, “Mission Accomplished!” as if they’d solved the problems that lead us all here.
In early May we wrote a backgrounder on immigration that, in the midst of such optimism, outlined why this year’s immigration push—fueled by corruption and violence and poverty deep in South America as well as problems in Central America and Mexico—would be unprecedented. Unfortunately, we had a good bead on it. The waves upon waves of migrants are now at our door, and Biden has taken up finishing Trump’s wall, even as courts are demanding that Texas rid the Rio Grande of the coils of razor wire it put in the middle of a river to cut immigrants to pieces.
This morning, there is an excellent article from The Guardian about a deadly new trafficking racket—the so-called “VIP Route” from Venezuela—that is taking the lives of thousands. Its advantage is supposed to be that it avoids the fatal Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama, which is the deadliest migration corridor on earth, as it is plagued with theft, murder, rape, tropical diseases, and predation by animals who kill immigrants for food.
Here is The Guardian’s essential article:
Martínez had saved for two years for the trip, before traveling overland to the Venezuelan border, and then flying with her siblings to the Colombian island of San Andrés. From here they planned to cross the Caribbean to Nicaragua, before continuing overland through Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico.
At around 1.30am, the three boarded a small fishing boat along with 10 other Venezuelan migrants and two local crew members. Other passengers included a seven-year-old boy, another pregnant woman, and an older woman just weeks away from her 73rd birthday.
Shortly before they set sail, Martínez wrote a short WhatsApp message to her relatives: “We found some cheaper life vests.”
It would be her last message. The boat – and all 15 souls aboard – were lost at sea.
Meanwhile, for those of you who have recently joined us and old-timers who want a refresher, here is our comprehensive backgrounder on underlying causes of migration waves from South America.
A Tidal Wave of Migrants Heads for the U.S.
A few months ago we published this post, which details the causes in Central and South America that we predicted would result in an unprecedented wave of migrants pressing upon our southern border. Then Biden put into effect his plan for stemming the tide of illegal immigration with new, tougher rules for applicants. In the ensuing co…
And, from Dr. Rupert Chapman, a brilliant historical take on migration movements of the past and their causes, so much clearer in retrospect.
One of the phenomena that recurs periodically throughout recorded history—which is to say, over the period from around 2500 BCE to the present—is mass migration. In the past, these events have been recognized primarily from their effects, from the comments made by denizens of established states upon the arrival of large groups of nonlocals all at once. Migrations known from records from widely different regions have given rise to the designation Migration Ages. One of these ages affected roughly the last 200 years of the Western Roman Empire, from the 4th to 6th centuries CE. ...
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The Democratic Party's legislative arm really must prioritize Immigration as a top level situation at this point in time. While yes their primary jobs are to create policies and laws that benefit and support currently valid native born citizens, by allowing the Neo-Republican Party to over-emphasize the issue of the incoming tides of seekers of a better life, they as a consequence allow that party of partisan selfishness to be nearly the only voice to be heard on the national stage about a truly epically important issue.