McCorkle: What I saw in Mexican border city in March

I work extensively in the Mexican-American border cities of Reynosa and Matamoros where two South Carolinians were killed last month. We had a trip planned the week after these killings with college students from a Christian university in Florida who were seeking to assist asylum seekers and learn to become better advocates. One of the things we did was a prescription eyeglass clinic for asylum seekers.

After this past month’s tragedy in Matamoros, there was a lot of fear and anger particularly from the U.S. government and American politicians. Warnings were put out about Americans traveling to Mexico, especially to border cities like Matamoros, and some of our politicians like U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham called for U.S. armed forces to go to Mexico to take out the cartel even without the permission of Mexico. This led to a strong response from the Mexican president who justly saw it as a direct threat to its nation.

What I actually saw this past month was not too different than what I had seen previously. The reality is that Americans are not the target of violence in Mexico. In fact, the cartels will do anything they can to make sure an American is not harmed. They know they will face an international crisis like they did this past month, which is not good for their “business.” The tragic case that happened with these individuals from South Carolina was extremely rare. It seems it may have been a case of mistaken identity.

Asylum seekers, not American visitors, are in danger

The people who are in real, constant danger are the asylum seekers who are still lining up in border cities like Matamoros. We met with many of them two weeks ago. The majority of them are from Venezuela. They talked about the new process to enter the United States through a government phone app (CBP1), which gives people a certain date that they can go to a port of entry and apply for humanitarian parole. The problem with the current system is that each individual family member needs to have a separate appointment (which are hard to obtain), so what has happened, perhaps inadvertently, is that single individuals are being able to cross more easily than families with kids.

I met a mother with four children who had been waiting in the camp for five months. These are the people who are in the real danger of being kidnapped, extorted or even killed. There will not be news pundits talking about them. In fact, no one will even know when they go missing. This is part of the tragedy of forcing asylum seekers to stay in Mexico, which started under former President Donald Trump and has continued under President Joe Biden to a certain extent. I do believe conditions for asylum seekers have improved slightly under Biden, but without a doubt if an administration like Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis were to come back into power, they would move quickly to end or extremely limit asylum.

We need to tone down our rhetoric on Mexico. Yes, the cartels are a big problem, but they are strengthened by our drug demand paired with extremely restrictive drug policies. In addition, our restrictive policies on migrants give the cartel the power to control immigration. Finally, 80% of the weapons that the cartels use are from the U.S.

Maybe it’s time we tone down our fearful – and even sometimes hateful – rhetoric about Mexico and instead look inward about how our own policies have contributed to this situation. Additionally if we really believe Mexico is as dangerous as we are saying, why are we forcing asylum seekers to sleep on the streets with their small children?

There is a much better way. It’s time to push forward with a more humane policy that actually considers the lives of migrants.

Summerville resident Will McCorkle teaches educational foundations and social studies education at an area college.