She begins her poem with the lines: «No one leaves home unless / home is the mouth of a shark. / You only run for the border / when you see the whole city running as well».
Later in the poem, Shire writes: «You have to understand, / no one puts their children in a boat / unless the water is safer than the land. // Who would choose to spend days / and nights in the stomach of a truck / unless the miles travelled / meant something more than journey. // No one would choose to crawl under fences, / be beaten until your shadow leaves you, / raped, then drowned, forced to the bottom of / the boat because you are darker, be sold, / starved, shot at the border like a sick animal, / be pitied, lose your name, lose your family, / make a refugee camp a home for a year or two or ten, / stripped and searched, find prison everywhere».
Shire’s poem reminds us of the struggles that refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants confront globally when seeking refuge and safety, particularly parents migrating with their children. Her words invoke empathy and humanize refugees, in contrast to the hateful and racist rhetoric of xenophobic and anti-immigrant politicians that criminalize and even blame immigrants for their plight.
This past week a viral photo showed the lifeless bodies of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his nearly two year old daughter Valeria clinging on his back. Both had drowned trying to cross Rio Grande into the US after fleeing El Salvador. The picture was a harsh visual of the humanitarian crisis and horrific conditions that migrants are confronting at the US-Mexico border. The family was denied the opportunity to seek asylum due to Trump’s policy known as metering, which reduces the amount of migrants who can request asylum, as well as having them wait in Mexico until their claims are processed.
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While many were sympathetic to the parents of Valeria, there were some who blamed them for their deaths. For example, acting Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli placed blame on Martínez Ramírez and said: “The reason we have tragedies like that on the border is because that father didn’t wait to go through the asylum process in the legal fashion and decided to cross the river and not only died, but his daughter died tragically as well.” These words were spoken without recognizing that Trump’s policies have denied the right to request for asylum. Others have placed blame on migrant parents for the violence their children confront, saying that these parents should not take them and expose them to these dangers. These attitudes and perspectives contribute to the further criminalization, dehumanization and victim-blaming of migrant parents. Shire’s poem reminds us to be empathetic and to understand that no one migrates or takes these decisions lightly, especially with their children. Valeria’s parents sought to provide her a better future, a future that has been cut short by the Salvadoran and US governments.
The US government continues to be responsible for these deaths due to its restrictive immigration policies. Central American officials continue to remain heavily silent on this issue and do little to nothing to combat migration. The one recent exception is Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who, in regard to migrant deaths, said: “They flee their homes because they feel they have to […] They fled El Salvador. They fled our country […] It is our fault.” Let’s hope that this admission of guilt turns into serious and quick action, and not just into political discourse.
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Read it in Spanish here.
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