Surely the meeting of the three leaders of North America was important. But not for the publicly displayed reasons. The new drum roll for an upcoming immigration reform adds to the rosary of “good intentions” that have paved the famous “road to hell” for 21 years.
The meeting in Washington D.C. By Joe Biden, from the United States, Justin Trudeau, from Canada, and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, from Mexico, the concrete result was a new photograph of three “progressive” leaders and very little else.
At the beginning of the century, when the concept of “intermestic” (the confluence of the international sphere with the domestic sphere) was a novelty, the disposition of three heads of state to deal together with cross-border issues such as trade, international organized crime and migration, meeting of the “three friends” had some relevance. At least in the rhetorical dimension of decorative diplomacy.
Let’s focus on the immigration issue – the reason for being of this publication committed to the better integration of newcomers to their new reality – a matter in which in 2021 it was promised again that it would be attended to from its roots – the program ” sowing opportunities “for Central America, with respect for human rights, in a comprehensive manner and with the commitment of the Mexican president to advocate before the US Congress on the” great contributions “(remittances) of his countrymen.
And, as those who know will say: “and what’s new?” Practically nothing. It has been two decades since a new generation of immigrants who, in fact, were already quite integrated into the American way of life, await a well-deserved immigration reform that, as has happened with all the great waves of immigration that formed this nation, will begin to be accepted. on their own merits in the country. As they were offered by practically all the presidents in turn. From Bush Jr. and Fox to Biden and AMLO.
In a global context of anguish over a pandemic that refuses to go away, in the face of the evident ravages of a deeply unjust economic order, the immigration issue has become an easy flag to channel frustrations and hatred to aging societies in rich countries, like the United States itself, where its politicization from the White House served as fuel to fuel the most primitive activism of a racist and ignorant extreme right.
And despite everything, after 21 years of listening to lies and empty promises, the more than 50 million Latinos continue to build their particular American dream. Reality continues to prevail: the still powerful North American economy continues to demand labor that its new generations are unable to provide; in addition to the demand for services to meet the basic needs of the more than 100 million baby boomers, the old generation that gave the country its imperial status. That, on the one hand; from the outside we have entire nations crumbling, an ever-expanding economic abyss and the very solid attractiveness of the propagandist machinery made in the U.S.A.
As a result, migrant caravans continue to cross Mexico, despite tens of thousands of military personnel who do everything to prevent their passage. Hunger, despair and the illusion of new migratory flows are such that not even metal or technological walls have been able to stop them.
Meanwhile, the Latinization of the United States is a fact. The example, hard work, patriotism and social progress of their communities is unquestionable. Almost 90 percent of Hispanics live in the country without any immigration problem, which is almost obvious if we consider that most of them were born in the United States. An overwhelming majority communicate very well in English and each day they recognize the Spanish language more as a cultural advantage and identity trait. In fact, they have gained full legitimacy. Hopefully and soon they will achieve it in law.
