Hope vs. horror: Realities of U.S. immigration and foreign policy

By Yennifer Mateo and Joshua LeClair, People's World
April 25, 2016

LUMPKIN, GA - From April 5-9, People's World accompanied a local faith based advocacy group to visit immigrants being held at Corrections Corporation of America's (CCA) Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, GA. What we witnessed is criminal.

U.S. actions drive immigration

Before I delve into details of the trip, let's review a few things about the realities of immigrants in the U.S.

We cannot even begin a conversation about immigration without first addressing why people leave their home countries and begin a dangerous and often deadly journey to the U.S. We must first start with understanding how U.S. foreign policy and imperialism have been the root of many of the conflicts, economic insecurity, forced relocations and even genocides in much of the developing world. Let's start with what I know about my home country, the Dominican Republic.

On April 28th, 1965, 405 U.S. Marines landed in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, to support the U.S. backed military dictatorship in their fight against the Constitutionalists and revolutionary forces; a dictatorship responsible for over 50,000 murders including the Parsley Massacre and the disappearing of numerous political and union activists. To this day, U.S. and Canadian businesses through economic and political means, continue to make it nearly impossible for the Dominican people to make a life for themselves and determine their own political destiny. Please go here for a more detailed history of U.S. involvement in the Dominican Republic.[...]

Read the full article:
http://peoplesworld.org/hope-vs-horror-realities-of-u-s-immigration-and-foreign-policy/