Mike Pence's Central America Tour — US Intervention Created The Current Immigration Crisis

US Vice President Mike Pence met the Presidents of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, and told them to respect the US border and prevent further migrants from reaching it. Neither Trump's second-in-command or the three Central American leaders really understand the roots of the problem. 

Guatemalan top newspaper Prensa Libre criticized the gathering as failing to empasize the fight against corruption in the region as a priority, in order to deter one of the root causes of migration. Instead, the meeting focused on organized crime and weak border control, prompting Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez to commit to greater police presence along the Honduras-Guatemala border. Guatemala's Jimmy Morales also announced he will strengthen its police and military to exert stronger border control. 

This is bullshit – I can say it as a Guatemalan citizen. 

None of our Presidents really have an interest in defending the families being torn at the US southern border. And the US' current administration does not understand, as the former Vice President argued in a Washington Post op-ed, that without building governance and better economic opportunities in the countries of origin, there is virtually nothing that can curb migration flows. 

This is why Mark Tsent-Putternam's argument is so important:

The US has for its entire history been involved in the politics of Central America, and it is now oblivious to the fact in the way it is managing the current crisis. There is a reason why migrants from Central America flock to the US border en masse, and looking at history offers us the necessary understanding of why that is. 

"There can be no common-sense immigration 'debate' that conveniently ignores the history of US intervention in Central America," he writes. And he's right. The VP's official visit does not change the structural conditions for migration, and "agreeing" on telling people not to migrate is mere theatre.