The
terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001 created almost in every United
States citizen an “Anti-muslim” feeling. It is impossible to think in the attacks
without thinking about Al-Qaeda, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Middle East and Muslins.
But it is also impossible to think about the attacks and think at the same time
in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, since the
Central American region and citizens had nothing to do with the attacks. Even
though Central America has nothing to do with 9/11, immigration regulations
post 9/11 affected Central Americans more than Middle Easters.
Post-internationalism
is a term created by the American political scientist James N. Roseau to
describe "an apparent trend in which more of the interactions that sustain
world politics unfold without the direct involvement of states." An
important characteristic of the post international world is the power of groups
of individuals threatening the national security. The event which marked
definitively the transition to a post international world was the New York’s
terrorist attacks in September 11, 2001. The Post-international world has had
effects in many stages of the international life: new laws for international
travels, increase in the price of oil, and the priority countries where the
U.S. Financial aid goes.
Geopolitics
determines how countries will manage their diplomatic, financial and
technological relations with foreign countries based on events that occurs in
certain regions and that are a priority for maintaining a good status quo in
their foreign relations. The United States is the financial aid world’s top
donor, giving financial aid to 143 countries of the 188 member states of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF). Since financial aid is determined by
geopolitical events, financial aid is subject to change depending on the
current and future political, economic and social climate. Central America was
a priority region to the USA in the 70s, 80s and 90s since it was a region
influenced by the socialism of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
in the Cold War. With the aim of stopping socialism, the US government helped
with financial aid to Central American countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador
and Nicaragua while they were living through civil wars. The financial aid was
lent to support right-wing rebel groups that were in opposition to the
left-wing supporting socialism. Nicaragua received $24 million in financial aid
in 1984 alone, to support the rebels against the Sandinista Junta of National
Reconstruction, while El Salvador received approximately $1 million daily
during the most critical war years according to unofficial sources.
The
financial aid relation has been altered after 9/11 since the threat to U.S.
national security now comes from a different area that nothing has to do with
Central America. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is
lending U.S. financial aid to military related activities in the Middle East. With
this money the U.S. Government is trying to control terrorist organizations
such as Al Qaeda and the Taliban and also to control the development of nuclear
weapons that can be used to attack U.S. territory. Central America’s financial
aid in comparison to the financial aid to Middle Eastern countries is a proof
of how the U.S. is investing much more money in that region. The financial aid
to Central America since 2000 to 2010 was an average of $12 billion every year,
while single countries such as Iraq received more than $20 billion in the last
decade. In 2014 USAID gave $1.5 billion
to Egypt, $1 billion to Jordan, $1.1 billion to Afghanistan and so on, while
Guatemala received just $65 million in financial aid, El Salvador $22 million,
Honduras $42 million, Nicaragua $7.6 million, Costa Rica $1.8 million and
Panama $3 million. Even if we total the amount given to all the countries in
Central America we will not get even close to the amount given to Egypt or
Jordan in the same year. Nowadays, Central
America is facing security problems such as gangs and drugs trafficking that are
important to the U.S. government, but they are not as important as the battle
against terrorism. But the effects of terrorist events to Central America
didn’t finish with the 9/11. The France attacks in November 13, 2015 made the
Middle East again the priority region to the western countries and their agenda.
This means that the financial aid will not be lent again to Central America in
the short term. Central America cannot escape of the negative effects of
terrorism.
The
United States is the trend destination for Central American citizens looking
forward to improve their lives condition. Logically, because of the difficulty
of getting a visa, millions travel to the United States in an illegal way. Numbers
speak for themselves; in 2014 approximately 200,000 Central Americans tried to
emigrate to the U.S. illegally. Five days before 9/11 the U.S. president George
Bush and the Mexican president Vicente Fox, supported by the former presidents
of Central America, signed a treaty to legalize the immigration status of
around 3 million illegal immigrants. The effects of the treaty never came to
reality since immigration politics changed after 9/11. But even if the Central
American countries had nothing to do with 9/11, the majority of undocumented
immigrants in the U.S. are Latin Americans and every feasible resolution to
solve their immigration status stopped after 9/11. The amount of approved
immigrant visas dropped, requirements to get a visa became stricter and
deportations increased. From 2001 to 2010, there was a 430% increase of Central
American deportees from the U.S. going from 14,452 deportees to 76,603, while
Asia where just 34% rise in deportations and 46% from Europe. Deportation of
Central Americans results in broken families and the return of people threat by
the gangs to Central America. From January 2014 to October 2015, approximately
83 of the Central Americans deportees were killed by the gangs when they
returned. This could have been avoided if they if they had not been deported
but being poor and lacking of proper paperwork was enough to treat them as
criminals at the border. “This is the only time I remember enforcement raids on
families of women and children who are fleeing some of the most violent places
on the planet,” says Royce Bernstein Murray, director of policy for the
National Immigrant Justice Center (2016).
Unfortunately
nowadays Central American immigration has been also linked to terrorism. There
is a theory which states that al Qaeda have connections with Central American gangs
helping with guns transportation in the U.S. border. There was a huge rumor in
2005 that al Qaeda was not moving just traditional guns with the help of gangs
but they were moving nuclear weapons to the United Stated specifically with help
of the Salvadorian gang Mara Salvatrucha. The idea of Central Americans involved
in terrorist actions is also supported by university professors such as the
Kuwaiti Abdullah al-Nafisi who stated a theory about jihadists transporting
anthrax through drug tunnels coming from Central America and Mexico. Even
though there is a lot of speculation about the connection between Central
Americans and Middle Eastern terrorist, this connection have been never proved.
But the power of speculation is huge. Different institutions such Homeland
Security Act and the Enhance Border Security and Visa Reform Act post 9/11
represent a barrier for Central American immigration. Unfortunately, last year’s
Paris attacks have brought again the idea of Central American region linked
with terrorists which means that U.S. immigration security measures are far
away from disappearing. “In addition to thousands of Central Americans
fleeing poverty and violence, foreign nationals from countries like Somalia,
Bangladesh, Lebanon, and Pakistan are using the region’s human smuggling
networks to enter the United States,” said Gen. John Kelly, commander of U.S.
Southern Command.
Border
security regulations in addition to the level of scrutiny to people seeking to
enter to the U.S. have led to disadvantages for getting a legal entrance to the
U.S. for Central Americans, such as the increase in VISA fees, training of
consular officers to deny VISAS to “suspicious” Central American citizens, and
additional requirements for getting a student, work or tourist visas. Many
restrictions were created for Central Americans after the 9/11. States such as
West Virginia and Utah established stricter laws to prevent Central Americans for
getting a driver’s license, Texas canceled many bank accounts and refused to
report domestic violence issues in Central American families, California laid
off hundreds of immigrant working as baggage screeners in the airports while
more American workers were hired in the Border Patrol and National Guard which
include nowadays military participation (Blalock & Kadiyali & Simon,
2005).
Immigration
effects post 9/11can be noticed more than just in numbers, we can also notice
them in physical structures. Since 2006, with the aim of prevent illegal
immigration, the ex-president of the United States, George W. Bush, mandated
the construction of more than 700 miles of barrier fence in the U.S – Mexican
borderline. The U.S.-Mexico border fencing is a wall with sensors and cameras
that controls the entrance of undocumented immigrants. The fence’s length is
1,954 miles (3,145 km) but it continues in construction, which means that every
year, is increasing in length. At the same time the fence has controlled the
entrance of immigrants, it has also increased the number of deaths. With the
aim of avoiding the fence, undocumented immigrants are taking the Sonoran
Desert or the Baboquivari Mountain in Arizona to get to the U.S. Unfortunately,
factors like the weather and rough terrain cause multiple deaths. Approximately
7,000 people have died from 1998 to 2013 trying to cross, many of them Central
Americans. Border Patrol Agents have increased gradually from 10,000 agents to
20,700, most of them forgetting about immigrant rights and human rights when
they find immigrants trying to cross the border. In addition to the increased
militarization in the border, the extension of the fence, and the changes in
undocumented immigrant actions, the use of new technologies in the border is
improving daily. Technologies such as aerial drones are being used in the
border to control illegal immigration, drugs and arms trafficking. The term
“immigrant” has turn into “terrorist” which justifies treating them like
criminals.
In
conclusion, the post international world has caused many repercussions around
the world. Such effects vary from country to country. Even though Central
Americans had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks, they are one of the
populations that are suffering the majority of the effects. Approved immigrant
visas dropped, requirements to get a visa became stricter, deportations
increased, thousands were laid off of their jobs and even a fence was built to
control immigration in the U.S. - Mexican border. Do Central Americans deserve
there stricter effects even though they did not cause the 9/11 events? As a
Central American said once to the New York Times: "Here
there are no Iraqis, no Muslims; we are Central Americans and Mexicans. Yet we
are the ones suffering the consequences here" (Swarns, 2003).
