The Far Away Brothers is one book which I recommend. It is history, political science and social studies all rolled into one. Auren Markham did a fine job of unraveling the complexities of US policies which did not make any sense to me like DACA. I’ve written a few blog pieces on GrumpaJoesplace.com about how befuddled I was about the thousands of kids migrating to the USA from Central America. How could little kids do that by themselves? That is one of the questions she answered for me. Another question I asked is why did the USA advertise its DACA policy in Central America? Had our administration gone nuts? What she leads me to believe is that our Department of Homeland Security did just the opposite. Why I heard that the USA encouraged Central Americans to migrate is still a mystery, but I think it might have been Fake News that did it.
Markham exposes why kids from El Salvador are leaving in droves. It is simple and it has nothing to do with America. It has everything to do with Central American government’s inability to improve conditions in their countries, their inability to control gangs, and their excessive corruption. Where have we heard that before? In the meantime, the USA in its compassion, and mercy tries to legislate solutions to solve problems that we know nothing about. In my years as an engineer we learned to find to the root-cause. DACA legislation resulted from being unable to reach the root-cause. The frustration of passing laws without knowing what problem the law deals with in a country we have absolutely no intimate knowledge of. Even if did have intimate knowledge, how would we go about implementing laws in a foreign country to solve their inner problems? Meanwhile the people of Central America look to the North as a place where the ‘streets are paved in gold,’ and look upon the USA as the answer to all of their problems.
All along I wondered how young kids could travel over a thousand miles without any resources. They didn’t, they paid big money to hire a Coyote to get them into the USA. I should say, their parents paid big money by borrowing at ridiculous interest rates ( 20% +) , and expecting their liberated kid to work it off. What they don’t realize is the infinite maze of agencies, and systems legislated to insure only those who seek political asylum qualify, and not easily. Why these same people didn’t pay to get their kids a passport and visa before they paid for the coyote remains a mystery. In the meantime, we Americans swallow the bill to pay for the exorbitant court costs for years of needless red tape. I can now see why groups like La Raza want open borders, and free passage across borders to prevail.
Author Markham tells this story by telling the story of one family with nine kids from El Salvador whose one son gets in trouble with a gang that threatens to kill him. His loving parents pay for his escape. After he leaves, his twin brother who looks exactly like him fears the gang will kill him by mistake, so the parents take another juice loan to get the twin out-of-town. The story of their escape and arrival in the US is a mind-boggling drama that none of us would want to live through, but they make it.
I gave this book four stars.
Filed under: Book Review, Conservative, family, Government, Immigration | Tagged: DACA, DREAM Act, El Salvador | Leave a comment »
