Us politics on the backs of refugees

Us politics on the backs of refugees

The US government has been shut for 24 days, now making it the longest shutdown in US history. The shutdown is over President Donald Trump’s demand that Congress allocate nearly $6 billion to construct a wall on the southern border to keep out people trying to get into the US. President Trump and his supporters claim that the wall on the border with Mexico is essential to secure the US, keeping out illegal migrants and criminal elements. For the time being, those most affected by President Trump’s recalcitrance are not illegal migrants but asylum seekers, people who are escaping violence and waiting for their turn to legally enter the US.

Every country has a right and duty to secure its borders, and is free to adopt suitable means, whether a concrete wall, new fencing, more manned surveillance or anything else. However, there is a need to differentiate between flows of people seeking a better future and those fleeing oppression and persecution. Countries must have different sets of procedures with set timelines and accountabilities for people seeking migration and those seeking refugee status. There is also a need to recognise that in many countries, particularly in rich, industrialised countries, the native born or legal residents are unlikely to take up the jobs that are usually filled by migrants, such as seasonal farm jobs and unskilled work in the hospitality sector. Yet, the current US administration is conflating the categories of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.

Every country must adhere to the relevant international norms when it comes to asylum seekers and refugees. Holding people who have been forced to flee their homes to make a new beginning hostage to ideology and prejudice only detracts from the greatness of the sole superpower.