President Trump, “The Wall”, and global migration (Episode 1811)
The U.S. government is at a standstill as President Trump is not backing down on getting $5.7 billion approved for the border wall to deter migrants coming from Central America to the United States. In a presidential address Tuesday night, Trump says the border wall is necessary because, “we are out of space to hold them, and we have no way to promptly return them back home to their country.”
Meanwhile thousands of migrants are in Mexico waiting for entry into the United States – hopeful to start a life without fear of violence.
Every living person deserves basic human rights of safety, peace and freedom, and migrants will risk everything – even their own lives – to find it.
This week on Context: We go deeper into the migrant border crisis.
On the ground in Mexico, reporters and aid workers give their first hand experiences with the migrants who are desperate to leave the violence and corruption at home to start a new life in the United States. They travelled by the thousands in a caravan for safety in numbers. But the hopes of safety and opportunity has faded as they are trapped between countries and governments.
Migration is happening at a global scale – escaping war and ISIS in Syria and Iraq, to fleeing economic destitute in North Africa. The United Nations prepared a Global Compact for Migration to address this.
Dr. Joanne Liu, international president at Doctors Without Borders, has seen this global migration first hand. She shares her learned experience from around the world and how government policy needs to do better to address the humanitarian crisis.
And here in Canada, thousands flocked the U.S.-Canada border last year. Many of those migrants were Haitians, seeking better economic opportunities. But was that enough for the Government of Canada to allow them to stay?
Canada has a rich history of welcoming and accepting refugees from around the world. We speak with a refugee and two women who are working first-hand with refugees – helping them settle to a new life, and cope with their past trauma.
Watch: Wednesday 8 pm ET on YesTV and Facebook Live.