thenation--2020-04-21--Refugees in the Time of Covid-19

Refugees in the Time of Covid-19

The Matamoros refugee camp in Mexico sits behind a dirt levee on the banks of the Rio Grande across from Brownsville , Texas .
It is home to 2,500 people , most fleeing cartel violence from Central America .
It began in 2018 as a result of Trump administration policies that forced asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico as their cases progressed in US courts .
For months it was a lively if desperate town , filled with hundreds of children , pop-up schools and restaurants , and aid groups .
Now , like much of the world , it has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pandemic .
Sam Bishop , a former US Army Ranger advanced-practice paramedic and project coordinator for Global Resource Management , which runs the medical clinic in the camp , says , “ The coronavirus can burn through it.
” Bishop says , “ It ’ s a perfect storm of where something can go really , really bad .
There is no real access to the full spectrum of medical care , there ’ s no potential for social distancing , and it ’ s a disadvantaged population.
” Bishop says that , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dense and underserved populations such as prisons , GRM thinks “ 70 percent of the camp could be infected in four weeks.
” He adds grimly , “ We may be looking at a higher mortality than usual.
” A visit to the camp bore out conditions ripe for the spread of communicable disease .
The residents live in hundreds of tents inches apart .
Port-a-potties and laundry sinks are packed together .
Adults wait for phones to charge at a single bank of electrical outlets bristling with cords .
Children race around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ play cards or eat at the makeshift restaurants with names like Vista El Norte and Restaurante El Paso , as they did weeks ago , but some residents still hold religious services despite being advised not to .
One says , “ They are all in support of it because they feel they need to follow the word of God in this time.
” The New York Times reports that there are “ patients with Covid-19 symptoms ” in the camp , but there are no confirmed cases .
Bishop says , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the camp based on symptomatic criteria consistent with Covid-19 ; all seven have come back negative.
” Nonetheless , most US-based aid groups have shifted to remote assistance as a precaution .
Sergio Cordova , cofounder of Team Brownsville , says his aid group has been serving migrants dinner every night for more than a year .
Aided by volunteers from around the country , Team Brownsville would buy and prepare dinner for a thousand people , haul it over the Gateway International Bridge to Matamoros in a procession of hand carts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the foot of the bridge .
Now , the group pays a local restaurant , Gorditas de Raquel , to prepare .
Similarly , World Central Kitchen , which received acclaim for serving 3.7 million meals in Puerto Rico after it was battered by Hurricane Maria in 2017 , reportedly withdrew its foreign-based staff from Matamoros in late March , weeks after building a dining hall in the camp that is now managed by residents .
Despite the danger of the pandemic , camp residents have more immediate fears .
Josue Rolando @ @ @ @ @ @ @ living in Matamoros with his wife , Yamaly Flores , 34 , and their three children , all seeking refuge from gangs in Honduras who killed their family members .
Speaking inside his tent over video , Rolando says they are “ extremely worried ” about the coronavirus , but “ more than anything , we are worried about our physical safety , about violence .
There is a gang that controls the camp .
They rape women , they beat up men.
” The dangers are a result of Trump administration policies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Migrant Protection Protocols , also known as “ Remain in Mexico , ” forcing 61,000 asylum-seekers such as Yamaly and Rolando back to Mexico to await hearings on their asylum applications .
The White House alleges the policy ensures that “ vulnerable populations will get the protection they need while they await a determination in Mexico.
” But the ACLU argues MPP is “ almost certainly illegal , ” as forcing migrants to Mexico places them in grave danger .
More than 1,000 cases of violence , including rape , assault , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
According to the advocacy group Human Rights First , “ The number of attacks on asylum-seekers and migrants returned to Mexico is certainly far above 1,000 , as the vast majority of those returned have not been interviewed by researchers or journalists.
” Barely 1 percent of asylum-seekers coming through the southern border gain legal entry under MPP .
Now , this slim hope has vanished , as Trump has used the pretext of the pandemic to shut down entry to virtually all migrant children and asylum-seekers .
Weeks earlier , when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yamaly explains to us why her family fled Honduras in May 2019 .
She sits in a white plastic chair in front of Store One , a green nylon tent that serves as a distribution center .
Men and women toting children stream by for free diapers , toothpaste , soap , and other essentials .
Yamaly has just come back from a hearing on her application for asylum in the United States .
Her pink glitter high-tops , which are missing shoelaces , accent the purple tropical flowers on her white blouse @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tent courts where judges preside by video are stripped of belts and shoelaces ) .
When asked what will happen if they are forced to return to Honduras , Yamaly says , “ We would immediately get on a bus and leave again .
We don ’ t have a choice .
We are in too much danger.
” She fidgets and her eyes dart side to side as Kelly Escobar , who is translating , says , “ She doesn ’ t want to say what would happen if they were forced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the dangers in the camp , it ’ s safer compared to the extreme violence they fled .
Yamaly worked as a seamstress in an underwear factory in San Pedro Sula , a city of 800,000 in northern Honduras .
Rolando drove a minibus .
She lost her job four years ago when the factory went bankrupt .
“ It ’ s very difficult to find work .
There were days we didn ’ t have enough money for food or water , and I had to ask neighbors for food , so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to school hungry.
” Rolando was forced to pay a “ war tax ” of $ 25 a week each to Mara Salvatrucha , or MS-13 , and the 18th Street gang , transnational gangs that control his neighborhood .
It left him with little money , and he stopped driving because gangs were killing bus drivers who refused to pay .
He says , “ Our home was in the middle of a war zone between the gangs.
” The violence began closing in on the family .
His adopted father is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ San Pedro Sula .
On May 5 , 2019 , in retaliation , Rolando ’ s uncle and aunt were killed by the 18th Street gang at home in front of two children .
Rolando says everyone in his family is dead except a few members who have taken refuge in Mexico .
Gangs then targeted Yamaly ’ s 14-year-old son , David , for recruitment .
His father , uncle , and three cousins had all been killed by gangs , and the rest of the family has fled to Chiapas , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the streets , asking , “ Are you ready ?
” They told him if he didn ’ t join , they would kill him .
Days later , after borrowing money from friends and without saying goodbye to their families , they escaped from Honduras by bus along with David and their two young daughters .
They bribed border guards to leave with their children , and paid smugglers to help them cross into Guatemala and then again into Mexico .
“ Every step of the way we had to pay something @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we didn ’ t have the money to pay them , they would have killed us.
” To cross into the United States , they borrowed $ 1,500 to pay more smugglers .
After applying for asylum , the family was deported to Matamoros under MPP .
As Yamaly tells her story , Antonio stops by Store One for toilet paper .
He and six family members also escaped gang violence in Central America .
They were targeted for filing a police report after gangs killed a relative .
Antonio ’ s work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his government didn ’ t protect him .
They arrived in the city of Monterrey last August , about a hundred miles from the US border .
Within minutes of disembarking from a bus , two pickup trucks full of men armed with semiautomatic handguns accosted them .
The family , including four children , were taken to a hideout their kidnappers called la bodega .
“ We were scared .
We were thinking the worst , ” says Antonio .
“ These types of people don ’ t care about life.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the United States , demanding $ 20,000 in ransom .
They were held for 22 days .
“ No food , no water , they beat us , ” says Antonio .
Their relatives scraped together $ 6,000 in ransom to secure the release of Antonio and two children .
The rest of the family escaped days later , having studied the routine of the kidnappers .
Antonio says , “ The children are deeply disturbed.
” Antonio and his family entered the United States through Laredo on August 25 and were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ later , barely avoiding another kidnapping .
After cases are heard in Laredo , asylum-seekers are discharged over the bridge into Mexico .
He said , “ Migrants are being kidnapped right out of court.
” A discussion ensued at the tent .
The migrants said that taking their shoelaces , ostensibly because it ’ s a suicide risk , marks them as targets to the gangs .
“ The criminals know who the migrants are because they are missing their shoelaces , ” said one .
Yamaly and Antonio ’ s families @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nine months .
Between the Rio Grande and a wide avenue of checkpoints , police , and cameras leading to the United States are migrants from Brazil to Haiti , Africa to Asia .
They live in tents covered in blue tarps on top of wood pallets and cluster together based on nationality .
The vast majority are from Honduras , Guatemala , El Salvador , and southern Mexico .
It ’ s called the Green Zone , for the grass and trees that are a rarity in Matamoros , but some joke @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; paths crisscrossing the camp have been worn down to gray , cracked dirt that whips up dust when it ’ s windy and turns to mud that sucks off shoes when it rains .
Yamaly says , “ It ’ s hard to live in a tent .
We don ’ t have beds , a shower , a place to change our clothes .
The kids have missed almost two years of school.
” UNICEF estimates there are 700 children in the camp , making social distancing impossible .
Kids play @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bridge .
They sit on the curb clutching baggies of cut-up fruit and eating cheese and bean enchiladas prepared by members of Adas Israel , a Washington , DC–area synagogue .
They pore over textbooks learning math and English at the Sidewalk School , which provides many of the children with their first taste of formal education .
Felicia Rangel-Samponaro started the school in 2018 .
She says that after seeing the camp , “ it ’ s hard to go back to your normal life.
” She moved to the border area @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , paying them herself at first .
Donors now cover the $ 1,500 weekly cost of teachers ’ pay , books and computers , and food for the 80 children who attend the school five days a week for 90 minutes .
The school has adapted to the pandemic .
Rangel-Samponaro says , “ We got a donation of over 100 tablets so we can be fully online .
No one wants school to stop .
No one needs to be in contact with each other anymore .
We ’ ve handed out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to students.
” Cordova of Team Brownsville says that in July 2018 asylum-seekers began living on the bridge connecting Matamoros to the point of entry in Brownsville .
Families were afraid of losing their place in line because the Trump administration had introduced a metering policy to drastically reduce the entry of asylum-seekers at ports of entry .
“ Once they get on US soil , the asylum process has to begin , so customs agents were stopping that process from even beginning , ” he says .
“ At first , families @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then a week , then a month , and eventually two months , three months .
It was crazy.
” Angry Tias and Abuelas of the Rio Grande Valley began helping migrants on the bridge .
Cordova says , “ It was a hundred degrees in the sun .
They were sleeping on the concrete in the open .
People were baking .
They were getting skin rashes .
They were getting bad headaches , stomach problems , respiratory problems .
We started bringing water , food , diapers .
We brought tarps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blankets and mats to sleep on .
We ’ ve brought over 700 tents since last July.
” That camp grew slowly , to a few hundred people , with migrants cycling in and out as they entered the United States to pursue asylum .
Then , in the summer of 2019 , it exploded to a couple thousand people after MPP was enacted at the Brownsville crossing .
The camp has also receded from the bridge .
For months it took over much of the main plaza in Matamoros before everyone was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ camp , girls lug around toddlers half their size .
Young boys tug at T-shirts as they watch Adrian , 19 , who was deported last year after living in Texas since age 2 , bury the slick , bloated corpse of a beaver .
( Three interviewees were undocumented Americans deported after decades of living in the United States . )
On the bridge hundreds of Mexicans line up for hours waiting to enter the United States for work or business as Americans flash their passports at border guards to breeze by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rocks .
A girl wades through the waist-deep river as another girl hangs around her waist , being pulled through the murky green water .
They laugh until they are out of breath .
Last June , a half-mile downriver , the bodies of 25-year-old Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and 23-month-old Valeria , Salvadoran migrants who were trying to enter the United States , washed up face down on the riverbank .
They had reportedly tried to cross after two months of waiting in Matamoros , frustrated by the metering policy .
Camilo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University , researches the political economy of migration and terror along the US-Mexico border and in Europe and Australia .
He says migrants are being targeted as a result of Mexico ’ s war on drug cartels .
That war began in 2006 and has received $ 3.1 billion in US funding , military hardware , and training .
Since then , an estimated 150,000 homicides in Mexico have been linked to organized crime , along with at least 40,000 disappearances .
Pérez-Bustillo says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a failed state ; it ’ s a strong state in the wrong hands.
” He says the “ cartelization ” of the state is evidenced by the arrest last December of former Mexican secretary of public security Genaro García Luna , the “ architect of Mexico ’ s war on drugs.
” The US Department of Justice charged García Luna with taking millions of dollars in bribes from Joaquín “ El Chapo ” Guzmán of the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for protecting the cartel , aiding it in trafficking tons of cocaine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cartels .
In the context of the drug war , says Pérez-Bustillo , the thousands of migrants forced to cities like Tijuana and Matamoros are “ a string of pearls along the border for the cartels to exploit.
” He says kidnapping and extortion are a huge business , as an estimated 80 percent of migrants have relatives in the United States .
The cartels know this , says Pérez-Bustillo , and have extorted billions of dollars from migrants and their US families through ransoms , smuggling , and bribes at borders .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ he says : “ Sealing the border is handing the migrants to the cartels to exploit .
Making the border more difficult to cross makes trafficking easier.
” In the camp two Cuban men say they were also abducted in Monterrey , held for days , and beaten until relatives in the United States paid $ 4,000 each .
They claim the kidnappers were the police .
Every refugee from the Northern Triangle countries ( El Salvador , Honduras , and Guatemala ) who spoke to The Nation was displaced by cartel violence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as with Yamaly ’ s family , or at gunpoint , as with Antonio ’ s family .
Recent refugees in the camp are from southern Mexico .
Maria left Guerrero with her children after her family was threatened by cartel members .
Rosa , from Michoacán , says a gang killed the father of her two children “ in front of their school.
” She says that despite the difficult conditions in the camp , which included not having drinking water for days , she was glad to be there because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The camp includes a smattering of political asylum-seekers .
Annaelle Fleurismat Sancois fled from Haiti to Chile , fearing for her life after participating in anti-austerity protests .
Her month-long journey to Matamoros included 15 days walking across Panama ’ s mountains while carrying her infant daughter , Elianise .
Edinson Daniel Perez-Blanco , who was a professor of business law in Venezuela before fleeing his country , says government supporters attacked him for protesting .
He had an easier trip , catching a plane from Bogotá to Mexico City .
He estimated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Matamoros , all living in the town itself , like him .
Sam Bishop estimates that aid groups assist a thousand refugees who live in the town but not the camp .
Numerous sources claim there are a thousand Cuban refugees in Matamoros , with up to seven living in one-bedroom apartments .
Perez-Blanco says , “ Venezuelans are getting asylum.
” The evidence backs him up : Since MPP began , more than 41,000 cases have been pushed through the courts or terminated , and only 481 refugees have been granted asylum @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are from Venezuela or Cuba .
Among 34,000 asylum-seekers in MPP from Honduras , El Salvador , and Guatemala whose cases have been closed , 41 have been given asylum .
That ’ s about one in a thousand .
A legal advocate for immigrants working in Brownsville says the goal of the new legal process is to “ dismantle asylum.
” The advocate , who requested anonymity because they didn ’ t have permission to speak on behalf of their organization , said that under MPP , “ the aim is to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a week .
You will get an hour to make phone calls to attorneys listed on a piece of paper .
Your access to legal representation is pretty much nonexistent .
If your asylum case is rejected , you are put on a plane flight , shackled .
They are not told where they are going , is what we hear .
They ’ re being disappeared .
All the elements of due process are stripped out.
” Under Trump ’ s pandemic emergency measures , migrants “ are being expelled to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” according to The Washington Post .
In the first half of February , 98 Hondurans and Salvadorans were deported from the Brownsville airport to Guatemala .
Refugees are reportedly not told where they are going , and upon arrival in Guatemala , they have three days to navigate “ a rushed and confusing ” asylum process termed “ a total disaster ” by Thelma Shau , who handles migration issues for Guatemala ’ s human rights ombudsman .
Caught for months in a camp stalked by violence and plagued by respiratory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chances of asylum , parents were sending children across the US border as unaccompanied minors , and children had also been crossing without telling parents .
It was a gamble that children were better off navigating a US detention system—where there were 1,673 reported cases of sexual abuse in fiscal year 2018 and where six children died in less than one year—than staying in violence-racked border cities .
In one Border Patrol sector , the number of unaccompanied children in February 2020 surged 107 percent over the same time last year .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ longer an option .
Now the Trump administration is deporting unaccompanied migrant children .
Eleanor Acer of Human Rights First says the White House is using the coronavirus as an excuse “ to advance their long-standing goal of overturning US laws protecting vulnerable children and people seeking asylum.
” Rangel-Samponaro says the Sidewalk School is texting parents , warning them that unaccompanied children will be deported to their home countries alone .
She says hundreds of migrants are “ self-deporting , ” as the Mexican government has stepped up its tactic of sending @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to relocate to southern Mexico .
On March 30 , around 100 Mexican asylum-seekers left the camp on government buses .
Yamaly and Ronaldo remain in the camp .
They cling to the hope for asylum .
Their final hearing has been postponed to April 28 because of the pandemic .
“ All our hopes are to get in the United States , ” says Yamaly .
“ There is no future for our children in Mexico .
It ’ s not much different from our country .
The United States is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the promised land.
” On February 28 , a federal appeals court agreed and ruled against MPP .
It found that the policy violated US law and that “ those returned to Mexico under the MPP risk substantial harm , even death.
” But on March 11 , the Supreme Court , after an emergency appeal by the Trump administration , stayed enforcement of the appeals court ’ s ruling while lower court challenges continue , dashing the hopes of thousands of refugees trapped in Mexico .

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The Matamoros refugee camp in Mexico sits behind a dirt levee on the banks of the Rio Grande across from Brownsville, Texas. It is home to 2,500 people, most fleeing cartel violence from Central America. It began in 2018 as a result of Trump administration policies that forced asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico as their cases progressed in US courts. For months it was a lively if desperate town, filled with hundreds of children, pop-up schools and restaurants, and aid groups. Now, like much of the world, it has fallen quiet under the shroud of the pandemic. Sam Bishop, a former US Army Ranger advanced-practice paramedic and project coordinator for Global Resource Management, which runs the medical clinic in the camp, says, “The coronavirus can burn through it.”
Bishop says, “It’s a perfect storm of where something can go really, really bad. There is no real access to the full spectrum of medical care, there’s no potential for social distancing, and it’s a disadvantaged population.” Bishop says that, based on how influenza spreads in similarly dense and underserved populations such as prisons, GRM thinks “70 percent of the camp could be infected in four weeks.” He adds grimly, “We may be looking at a higher mortality than usual.”
A visit to the camp bore out conditions ripe for the spread of communicable disease. The residents live in hundreds of tents inches apart. Port-a-potties and laundry sinks are packed together. Adults wait for phones to charge at a single bank of electrical outlets bristling with cords. Children race around the camp. Fewer people gather to play cards or eat at the makeshift restaurants with names like Vista El Norte and Restaurante El Paso, as they did weeks ago, but some residents still hold religious services despite being advised not to. One says, “They are all in support of it because they feel they need to follow the word of God in this time.”
The New York Times reports that there are “patients with Covid-19 symptoms” in the camp, but there are no confirmed cases. Bishop says, “The Mexican government has tested seven patients in the camp based on symptomatic criteria consistent with Covid-19; all seven have come back negative.” Nonetheless, most US-based aid groups have shifted to remote assistance as a precaution. Sergio Cordova, cofounder of Team Brownsville, says his aid group has been serving migrants dinner every night for more than a year. Aided by volunteers from around the country, Team Brownsville would buy and prepare dinner for a thousand people, haul it over the Gateway International Bridge to Matamoros in a procession of hand carts, and serve it to the migrants at the foot of the bridge. Now, the group pays a local restaurant, Gorditas de Raquel, to prepare. Similarly, World Central Kitchen, which received acclaim for serving 3.7 million meals in Puerto Rico after it was battered by Hurricane Maria in 2017, reportedly withdrew its foreign-based staff from Matamoros in late March, weeks after building a dining hall in the camp that is now managed by residents. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
A mother and child are among the 1,000 people who were served dinner every night by Team Brownsville at the foot of the International Gateway Bridge. (Arun Gupta)
Despite the danger of the pandemic, camp residents have more immediate fears. Josue Rolando Cornejo Savillón, 27, has been living in Matamoros with his wife, Yamaly Flores, 34, and their three children, all seeking refuge from gangs in Honduras who killed their family members. Speaking inside his tent over video, Rolando says they are “extremely worried” about the coronavirus, but “more than anything, we are worried about our physical safety, about violence. There is a gang that controls the camp. They rape women, they beat up men.”
The dangers are a result of Trump administration policies. In April 2019 it introduced the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as “Remain in Mexico,” forcing 61,000 asylum-seekers such as Yamaly and Rolando back to Mexico to await hearings on their asylum applications. The White House alleges the policy ensures that “vulnerable populations will get the protection they need while they await a determination in Mexico.” But the ACLU argues MPP is “almost certainly illegal,” as forcing migrants to Mexico places them in grave danger. More than 1,000 cases of violence, including rape, assault, and kidnapping, have been recorded against asylum-seekers. According to the advocacy group Human Rights First, “The number of attacks on asylum-seekers and migrants returned to Mexico is certainly far above 1,000, as the vast majority of those returned have not been interviewed by researchers or journalists.” Barely 1 percent of asylum-seekers coming through the southern border gain legal entry under MPP. Now, this slim hope has vanished, as Trump has used the pretext of the pandemic to shut down entry to virtually all migrant children and asylum-seekers.
Weeks earlier, when we’re visiting the camp, Yamaly explains to us why her family fled Honduras in May 2019. She sits in a white plastic chair in front of Store One, a green nylon tent that serves as a distribution center. Men and women toting children stream by for free diapers, toothpaste, soap, and other essentials. Yamaly has just come back from a hearing on her application for asylum in the United States. Her pink glitter high-tops, which are missing shoelaces, accent the purple tropical flowers on her white blouse (all the asylum-seekers who enter the tent courts where judges preside by video are stripped of belts and shoelaces). Current Issue View our current issue
When asked what will happen if they are forced to return to Honduras, Yamaly says, “We would immediately get on a bus and leave again. We don’t have a choice. We are in too much danger.” She fidgets and her eyes dart side to side as Kelly Escobar, who is translating, says, “She doesn’t want to say what would happen if they were forced to stay.” Yamaly says that despite the dangers in the camp, it’s safer compared to the extreme violence they fled.
Yamaly worked as a seamstress in an underwear factory in San Pedro Sula, a city of 800,000 in northern Honduras. Rolando drove a minibus. She lost her job four years ago when the factory went bankrupt. “It’s very difficult to find work. There were days we didn’t have enough money for food or water, and I had to ask neighbors for food, so the kids did not have to go to school hungry.”
Rolando was forced to pay a “war tax” of $25 a week each to Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, and the 18th Street gang, transnational gangs that control his neighborhood. It left him with little money, and he stopped driving because gangs were killing bus drivers who refused to pay. He says, “Our home was in the middle of a war zone between the gangs.”
The violence began closing in on the family. His adopted father is a pastor who does anti-gang work in San Pedro Sula. On May 5, 2019, in retaliation, Rolando’s uncle and aunt were killed by the 18th Street gang at home in front of two children. Rolando says everyone in his family is dead except a few members who have taken refuge in Mexico. Gangs then targeted Yamaly’s 14-year-old son, David, for recruitment. His father, uncle, and three cousins had all been killed by gangs, and the rest of the family has fled to Chiapas, Mexico. Gang members beat David in the streets, asking, “Are you ready?” They told him if he didn’t join, they would kill him.
Days later, after borrowing money from friends and without saying goodbye to their families, they escaped from Honduras by bus along with David and their two young daughters. They bribed border guards to leave with their children, and paid smugglers to help them cross into Guatemala and then again into Mexico. “Every step of the way we had to pay something,” says Yamaly. “If we didn’t have the money to pay them, they would have killed us.” To cross into the United States, they borrowed $1,500 to pay more smugglers. After applying for asylum, the family was deported to Matamoros under MPP.
As Yamaly tells her story, Antonio stops by Store One for toilet paper. He and six family members also escaped gang violence in Central America. They were targeted for filing a police report after gangs killed a relative. Antonio’s work as a civil servant high up in his government didn’t protect him. They arrived in the city of Monterrey last August, about a hundred miles from the US border. Within minutes of disembarking from a bus, two pickup trucks full of men armed with semiautomatic handguns accosted them. The family, including four children, were taken to a hideout their kidnappers called la bodega.
“We were scared. We were thinking the worst,” says Antonio. “These types of people don’t care about life.”
The gang forced them to call relatives in the United States, demanding $20,000 in ransom. They were held for 22 days. “No food, no water, they beat us,” says Antonio. Their relatives scraped together $6,000 in ransom to secure the release of Antonio and two children. The rest of the family escaped days later, having studied the routine of the kidnappers. Antonio says, “The children are deeply disturbed.”
Antonio and his family entered the United States through Laredo on August 25 and were returned to Nuevo Laredo under MPP days later, barely avoiding another kidnapping. After cases are heard in Laredo, asylum-seekers are discharged over the bridge into Mexico. He said, “Migrants are being kidnapped right out of court.” A discussion ensued at the tent. The migrants said that taking their shoelaces, ostensibly because it’s a suicide risk, marks them as targets to the gangs. “The criminals know who the migrants are because they are missing their shoelaces,” said one.
Yamaly and Antonio’s families have called the Matamoros camp home for nine months. Between the Rio Grande and a wide avenue of checkpoints, police, and cameras leading to the United States are migrants from Brazil to Haiti, Africa to Asia. They live in tents covered in blue tarps on top of wood pallets and cluster together based on nationality. The vast majority are from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and southern Mexico. It’s called the Green Zone, for the grass and trees that are a rarity in Matamoros, but some joke that it’s the brown zone; paths crisscrossing the camp have been worn down to gray, cracked dirt that whips up dust when it’s windy and turns to mud that sucks off shoes when it rains.
Yamaly says, “It’s hard to live in a tent. We don’t have beds, a shower, a place to change our clothes. The kids have missed almost two years of school.”
UNICEF estimates there are 700 children in the camp, making social distancing impossible. Kids play with a radio-controlled toy car near the bridge. They sit on the curb clutching baggies of cut-up fruit and eating cheese and bean enchiladas prepared by members of Adas Israel, a Washington, DC–area synagogue. They pore over textbooks learning math and English at the Sidewalk School, which provides many of the children with their first taste of formal education.
The Sidewalk School, founded in 2018, teaches kids in the Matamoros camp. It is continuing with online classes taught by asylum-seekers to 100 children who have been given free tablets. (Arun Gupta)
Felicia Rangel-Samponaro started the school in 2018. She says that after seeing the camp, “it’s hard to go back to your normal life.” She moved to the border area from Houston and hired asylum-seekers as teachers, paying them herself at first. Donors now cover the $1,500 weekly cost of teachers’ pay, books and computers, and food for the 80 children who attend the school five days a week for 90 minutes.
The school has adapted to the pandemic. Rangel-Samponaro says, “We got a donation of over 100 tablets so we can be fully online. No one wants school to stop. No one needs to be in contact with each other anymore. We’ve handed out hundreds of masks and pairs of gloves to students.”
Cordova of Team Brownsville says that in July 2018 asylum-seekers began living on the bridge connecting Matamoros to the point of entry in Brownsville. Families were afraid of losing their place in line because the Trump administration had introduced a metering policy to drastically reduce the entry of asylum-seekers at ports of entry. “Once they get on US soil, the asylum process has to begin, so customs agents were stopping that process from even beginning,” he says. “At first, families were waiting days to cross in, then a week, then a month, and eventually two months, three months. It was crazy.”
Angry Tias and Abuelas of the Rio Grande Valley began helping migrants on the bridge. Cordova says, “It was a hundred degrees in the sun. They were sleeping on the concrete in the open. People were baking. They were getting skin rashes. They were getting bad headaches, stomach problems, respiratory problems. We started bringing water, food, diapers. We brought tarps to protect them from the sun, blankets and mats to sleep on. We’ve brought over 700 tents since last July.”
That camp grew slowly, to a few hundred people, with migrants cycling in and out as they entered the United States to pursue asylum. Then, in the summer of 2019, it exploded to a couple thousand people after MPP was enacted at the Brownsville crossing. The camp has also receded from the bridge. For months it took over much of the main plaza in Matamoros before everyone was moved behind the levee.
In the camp, girls lug around toddlers half their size. Young boys tug at T-shirts as they watch Adrian, 19, who was deported last year after living in Texas since age 2, bury the slick, bloated corpse of a beaver. (Three interviewees were undocumented Americans deported after decades of living in the United States.) On the bridge hundreds of Mexicans line up for hours waiting to enter the United States for work or business as Americans flash their passports at border guards to breeze by. Underneath, women beat laundry on rocks. A girl wades through the waist-deep river as another girl hangs around her waist, being pulled through the murky green water. They laugh until they are out of breath.
Members of the Washington, DC–area Adas Israel Congregation helped prepare dinner in Brownsville for a thousand people that they later served to migrants in Matamoros. (Arun Gupta)
Last June, a half-mile downriver, the bodies of 25-year-old Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and 23-month-old Valeria, Salvadoran migrants who were trying to enter the United States, washed up face down on the riverbank. They had reportedly tried to cross after two months of waiting in Matamoros, frustrated by the metering policy.
Camilo Pérez-Bustillo, a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, researches the political economy of migration and terror along the US-Mexico border and in Europe and Australia. He says migrants are being targeted as a result of Mexico’s war on drug cartels. That war began in 2006 and has received $3.1 billion in US funding, military hardware, and training. Since then, an estimated 150,000 homicides in Mexico have been linked to organized crime, along with at least 40,000 disappearances.
Pérez-Bustillo says, “The Mexican state is not a failed state; it’s a strong state in the wrong hands.” He says the “cartelization” of the state is evidenced by the arrest last December of former Mexican secretary of public security Genaro García Luna, the “architect of Mexico’s war on drugs.” The US Department of Justice charged García Luna with taking millions of dollars in bribes from Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán of the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for protecting the cartel, aiding it in trafficking tons of cocaine, and tipping it off about rival cartels.
In the context of the drug war, says Pérez-Bustillo, the thousands of migrants forced to cities like Tijuana and Matamoros are “a string of pearls along the border for the cartels to exploit.” He says kidnapping and extortion are a huge business, as an estimated 80 percent of migrants have relatives in the United States. The cartels know this, says Pérez-Bustillo, and have extorted billions of dollars from migrants and their US families through ransoms, smuggling, and bribes at borders. Trump’s policies benefit cartels, he says: “Sealing the border is handing the migrants to the cartels to exploit. Making the border more difficult to cross makes trafficking easier.”
In the camp two Cuban men say they were also abducted in Monterrey, held for days, and beaten until relatives in the United States paid $4,000 each. They claim the kidnappers were the police.
Every refugee from the Northern Triangle countries (El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala) who spoke to The Nation was displaced by cartel violence and paid them under duress at borders, as with Yamaly’s family, or at gunpoint, as with Antonio’s family. Recent refugees in the camp are from southern Mexico. Maria left Guerrero with her children after her family was threatened by cartel members. Rosa, from Michoacán, says a gang killed the father of her two children “in front of their school.” She says that despite the difficult conditions in the camp, which included not having drinking water for days, she was glad to be there because it was safer for her children.
The camp includes a smattering of political asylum-seekers. Annaelle Fleurismat Sancois fled from Haiti to Chile, fearing for her life after participating in anti-austerity protests. Her month-long journey to Matamoros included 15 days walking across Panama’s mountains while carrying her infant daughter, Elianise. Edinson Daniel Perez-Blanco, who was a professor of business law in Venezuela before fleeing his country, says government supporters attacked him for protesting. He had an easier trip, catching a plane from Bogotá to Mexico City. He estimated there were 50 other Venezuelan refugees in Matamoros, all living in the town itself, like him. Sam Bishop estimates that aid groups assist a thousand refugees who live in the town but not the camp. Numerous sources claim there are a thousand Cuban refugees in Matamoros, with up to seven living in one-bedroom apartments.
Perez-Blanco says, “Venezuelans are getting asylum.” The evidence backs him up: Since MPP began, more than 41,000 cases have been pushed through the courts or terminated, and only 481 refugees have been granted asylum. But of those, 84 percent are from Venezuela or Cuba. Among 34,000 asylum-seekers in MPP from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala whose cases have been closed, 41 have been given asylum. That’s about one in a thousand.
A legal advocate for immigrants working in Brownsville says the goal of the new legal process is to “dismantle asylum.” The advocate, who requested anonymity because they didn’t have permission to speak on behalf of their organization, said that under MPP, “the aim is to get you through the entire asylum process in a week. You will get an hour to make phone calls to attorneys listed on a piece of paper. Your access to legal representation is pretty much nonexistent. If your asylum case is rejected, you are put on a plane flight, shackled. They are not told where they are going, is what we hear. They’re being disappeared. All the elements of due process are stripped out.” Under Trump’s pandemic emergency measures, migrants “are being expelled to Mexico in an average of 96 minutes,” according to The Washington Post.
In the first half of February, 98 Hondurans and Salvadorans were deported from the Brownsville airport to Guatemala. Refugees are reportedly not told where they are going, and upon arrival in Guatemala, they have three days to navigate “a rushed and confusing” asylum process termed “a total disaster” by Thelma Shau, who handles migration issues for Guatemala’s human rights ombudsman.
Caught for months in a camp stalked by violence and plagued by respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases, and with slim chances of asylum, parents were sending children across the US border as unaccompanied minors, and children had also been crossing without telling parents. It was a gamble that children were better off navigating a US detention system—where there were 1,673 reported cases of sexual abuse in fiscal year 2018 and where six children died in less than one year—than staying in violence-racked border cities. In one Border Patrol sector, the number of unaccompanied children in February 2020 surged 107 percent over the same time last year.
But that Sophie’s choice is no longer an option. Now the Trump administration is deporting unaccompanied migrant children. Eleanor Acer of Human Rights First says the White House is using the coronavirus as an excuse “to advance their long-standing goal of overturning US laws protecting vulnerable children and people seeking asylum.”
Hundreds of children are living in the Matamoros camp, making social distancing impossible as the threat of the coronavirus pandemic looms. (Josue Rolando Cornejo Savillón)
Rangel-Samponaro says the Sidewalk School is texting parents, warning them that unaccompanied children will be deported to their home countries alone. She says hundreds of migrants are “self-deporting,” as the Mexican government has stepped up its tactic of sending buses to the camp and encouraging refugees to relocate to southern Mexico. On March 30, around 100 Mexican asylum-seekers left the camp on government buses.
Yamaly and Ronaldo remain in the camp. They cling to the hope for asylum. Their final hearing has been postponed to April 28 because of the pandemic. “All our hopes are to get in the United States,” says Yamaly. “There is no future for our children in Mexico. It’s not much different from our country. The United States is the land of laws. It’s the promised land.”
On February 28, a federal appeals court agreed and ruled against MPP. It found that the policy violated US law and that “those returned to Mexico under the MPP risk substantial harm, even death.” But on March 11, the Supreme Court, after an emergency appeal by the Trump administration, stayed enforcement of the appeals court’s ruling while lower court challenges continue, dashing the hopes of thousands of refugees trapped in Mexico.


thenation--2020-04-21--These People Aren’t Freedom Fighters—They’re Virus-Spreading Sociopaths

I ’ m going to make a confession : I am half inclined to let the fringe Republicans agitating to “ liberate ” America go out and catch Covid-19 and die in whatever way seems best to them .
Safely ensconced in my house , living under the protection of a Democratic governor , I am not required to care about maskless fools in Ohio , frosting the statehouse windows with their communicable diseases .
In related news : I ’ ve never once cared about a recreational mountain climber who goes missing halfway up Mount Killayadumass .
You pays @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And yet , I care about the sherpas .
I care about the impoverished community of workers who make their living propping up the rugged individualist fantasies of richer people , and who sometimes die in the process of making the mountain-climbing economy work .
It takes a village to climb a mountain , or to “ open ” an economy .
The “ liberate America ” protesters—and calling them “ protesters ” is being generous to the small band of fake-news enthusiasts who have been deployed in battleground states to fight @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be under the impression that individual hardiness can protect them from Covid-19 and jump-start the economy .
They claim to want the freedom to make their own choices about their health and safety during the pandemic , but what they really want is to force other people to risk their lives so the economy can rebound .
These protesters act like all they want is the liberty to , say , go to a baseball game this summer—without a mask , if that ’ s what their freedom-confederacy demands .
But think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to play by Republican death-cult rules if we reopen the stadiums .
Concession stand workers and parking attendants will have to go back out in public , whether they feel safe or not , with or without access to personal protective equipment .
Transit workers who are already feeling the brunt of keeping the “ essential ” economy going will be pressed into game-day schedules to shuttle people to and from the stadium .
Police officers will be pulled off of more important duties to go to the ballpark and keep the peace @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a “ choice ” about whether or not to risk their health are the fans , and most of the people protesting only want the stadiums open so they can catch a game on television .
It ’ s not just sports .
There will be a disparate impact on the people who have to do the work versus the people who will benefit from the work in every industry Republicans are able to bully into reopening .
Consumers will retain the freedom to make choices about where they ’ ll be most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ freedom .
Even David Frum understands that the health burden of reopening the economy will fall most heavily on the poorest workers who are the least able to protect themselves .
Writing in The Atlantic , he points out that That ’ s not liberty ; that ’ s wage slavery .
People who can not risk missing a paycheck or losing a job will be forced to risk their health , while people who can afford to shelter in place a little longer will have the “ freedom ” to do so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ demand to force people back to work in the language of patriotism is a sick joke .
Patriotism contemplates sacrificing your individual desires for the good of the country .
Patriotism involves the idea of solidarity and self-sacrifice in the face of national danger .
But these protesters aren ’ t willing to sacrifice anything for the greater social good .
They are literally unwilling to wear masks to help keep other Americans healthy , even when those other Americans are their fellow protesters .
They are not willing to stay home to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers .
They are not interested in channeling their cavalier attitude about being outside into ministering to the poor or the lonely , or even to cheering on first responders who are trying , with both hands , to keep communities together .
All these people can think to do with all the time they evidently have on their hands is to tie up traffic and bitch and moan .
These people are not “ patriots.
” They ’ re punks .
They ’ re selfish punks who spent all of their time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t need to contribute to society in the form of taxes , and how they could hold out for years in their doomsday bunkers .
But it turns out they couldn ’ t last four weeks without public meeting places and double-ply toilet paper .
None of this right-wing lunacy can be considered surprising if you consider its source .
After all , these are the same so-called freedom-loving individuals who want the government to have so much power it can outlaw a woman ’ s autonomy over her own body .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ called the “ liberate ” protests “ the logical conclusion of the modern far-right ’ s donor-funded , shock jock–led liberty movement.
” The freedom to die is the only form of liberty Republicans want their base thinking about .
And Covid-19 is only the latest pathogen .
These people also want the freedom to die in mass shootings ; the freedom to die from not being able to afford medicine ; the freedom to not take the vaccines they can afford ; and the freedom to drive 90 mph on a highway @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the government ” telling them to slow their roll .
Argentina Is Showing the World What a Humane Covid-19 Response Looks Like The Lesson of the Coronavirus ?
There ’ s No One Left to Trust .
More in this series It ’ s easy for these people to write off the death of 2 to 3 percent of the country ’ s population as an “ appetizing ” “ trade-off , ” because right-wing media has already conditioned these people to think that the death or suffering of millions is an acceptable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
These are the people who derisively call food assistance a government handout that ’ s bleeding the richest nation on earth , and who think women and children fleeing oppression and trauma are faking it .
These are the people who oppose universal health coverage that doesn ’ t give a cut to insurance companies .
These are the people who consistently vote against their own economic interests based on the mere promise that racial minorities will get it worse .
It ’ s a shame that the people most willing to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ among us .
Because people really concerned about freedom for everybody have a lot of reasons to take to the streets right now .
We should be pressuring the government , demanding it provide the financial resources that would allow people to make their own choices about their health and safety .
Nobody who can work from home should be forced back to work to chase a paycheck .
Nobody who is sick should be forced out of their homes to work to make rent .
People who have been laid off because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ safety net , including forbearance on rents and mortgages for the foreseeable future .
We ask soldiers and firefighters and reality TV crab fishermen to risk their lives to go to work .
Nobody working at a damn chicken plant should be asked to make the same choice .
Philosophically , I ’ m okay with right-wing agitators ’ going out there and getting the coronavirus at a protest , if they want to .
Maybe I ’ m a bad person , but I just don ’ t have the emotional energy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have decided to self-inflict in their never-ending quest to “ own the libs.
” But they must not be allowed to infect everybody else .
My freedom to live is every bit as important as their freedom to die .

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I’m going to make a confession: I am half inclined to let the fringe Republicans agitating to “liberate” America go out and catch Covid-19 and die in whatever way seems best to them. Safely ensconced in my house, living under the protection of a Democratic governor, I am not required to care about maskless fools in Ohio, frosting the statehouse windows with their communicable diseases.
In related news: I’ve never once cared about a recreational mountain climber who goes missing halfway up Mount Killayadumass. You pays your money, you takes your chances.
And yet, I care about the sherpas. I care about the impoverished community of workers who make their living propping up the rugged individualist fantasies of richer people, and who sometimes die in the process of making the mountain-climbing economy work.
It takes a village to climb a mountain, or to “open” an economy. The “liberate America” protesters—and calling them “protesters” is being generous to the small band of fake-news enthusiasts who have been deployed in battleground states to fight this newest front in the culture wars—seem to be under the impression that individual hardiness can protect them from Covid-19 and jump-start the economy. They claim to want the freedom to make their own choices about their health and safety during the pandemic, but what they really want is to force other people to risk their lives so the economy can rebound. Current Issue View our current issue
These protesters act like all they want is the liberty to, say, go to a baseball game this summer—without a mask, if that’s what their freedom-confederacy demands. But think about how many people will be forced to play by Republican death-cult rules if we reopen the stadiums. Concession stand workers and parking attendants will have to go back out in public, whether they feel safe or not, with or without access to personal protective equipment. Transit workers who are already feeling the brunt of keeping the “essential” economy going will be pressed into game-day schedules to shuttle people to and from the stadium. Police officers will be pulled off of more important duties to go to the ballpark and keep the peace. The only people who will have a “choice” about whether or not to risk their health are the fans, and most of the people protesting only want the stadiums open so they can catch a game on television.
It’s not just sports. There will be a disparate impact on the people who have to do the work versus the people who will benefit from the work in every industry Republicans are able to bully into reopening. Consumers will retain the freedom to make choices about where they’ll be most safe, but workers will lose that freedom.
Even David Frum understands that the health burden of reopening the economy will fall most heavily on the poorest workers who are the least able to protect themselves. Writing in The Atlantic, he points out that Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
if the reopening starts in May, it will be phased not by medical advice, but by the hard grammar of wealth and poverty: poorest first, richest last. In the event of an early and partial reopening, the disparities can only widen. Those who can telecommute, who can shop online, or who work for health-conscious employers like public universities will be better positioned to minimize their exposure than those called back to work in factories, plants, and delivery services.
That’s not liberty; that’s wage slavery. People who cannot risk missing a paycheck or losing a job will be forced to risk their health, while people who can afford to shelter in place a little longer will have the “freedom” to do so.
That these protesters are couching their demand to force people back to work in the language of patriotism is a sick joke. Patriotism contemplates sacrificing your individual desires for the good of the country. Patriotism involves the idea of solidarity and self-sacrifice in the face of national danger.
But these protesters aren’t willing to sacrifice anything for the greater social good. They are literally unwilling to wear masks to help keep other Americans healthy, even when those other Americans are their fellow protesters. They are not willing to stay home to ease the burden on hero health care workers. They are not interested in channeling their cavalier attitude about being outside into ministering to the poor or the lonely, or even to cheering on first responders who are trying, with both hands, to keep communities together. All these people can think to do with all the time they evidently have on their hands is to tie up traffic and bitch and moan.
These people are not “patriots.” They’re punks. They’re selfish punks who spent all of their time pre-virus tooting about how they didn’t need to contribute to society in the form of taxes, and how they could hold out for years in their doomsday bunkers. But it turns out they couldn’t last four weeks without public meeting places and double-ply toilet paper.
None of this right-wing lunacy can be considered surprising if you consider its source. After all, these are the same so-called freedom-loving individuals who want the government to have so much power it can outlaw a woman’s autonomy over her own body. In The New York Times, Charlie Warzel called the “liberate” protests “the logical conclusion of the modern far-right’s donor-funded, shock jock–led liberty movement.”
The freedom to die is the only form of liberty Republicans want their base thinking about. And Covid-19 is only the latest pathogen. These people also want the freedom to die in mass shootings; the freedom to die from not being able to afford medicine; the freedom to not take the vaccines they can afford; and the freedom to drive 90 mph on a highway with no seat belt, without “the government” telling them to slow their roll. Covid-19 How Brexit Infected Britain’s Coronavirus Response Natasha Hakimi Zapata Argentina Is Showing the World What a Humane Covid-19 Response Looks Like Jacob Sugarman The Lesson of the Coronavirus? There’s No One Left to Trust. Elie Mystal
It’s easy for these people to write off the death of 2 to 3 percent of the country’s population as an “appetizing” “trade-off,” because right-wing media has already conditioned these people to think that the death or suffering of millions is an acceptable price for Republican economic and social policies. These are the people who derisively call food assistance a government handout that’s bleeding the richest nation on earth, and who think women and children fleeing oppression and trauma are faking it. These are the people who oppose universal health coverage that doesn’t give a cut to insurance companies. These are the people who consistently vote against their own economic interests based on the mere promise that racial minorities will get it worse.
It’s a shame that the people most willing to defy social distancing are the least empathetic among us. Because people really concerned about freedom for everybody have a lot of reasons to take to the streets right now. We should be pressuring the government, demanding it provide the financial resources that would allow people to make their own choices about their health and safety. Nobody who can work from home should be forced back to work to chase a paycheck. Nobody who is sick should be forced out of their homes to work to make rent. People who have been laid off because of the pandemic need the full social safety net, including forbearance on rents and mortgages for the foreseeable future.
We ask soldiers and firefighters and reality TV crab fishermen to risk their lives to go to work. Nobody working at a damn chicken plant should be asked to make the same choice.
Philosophically, I’m okay with right-wing agitators’ going out there and getting the coronavirus at a protest, if they want to. Maybe I’m a bad person, but I just don’t have the emotional energy to care about the latest wound Republicans have decided to self-inflict in their never-ending quest to “own the libs.”
But they must not be allowed to infect everybody else. My freedom to live is every bit as important as their freedom to die.


thenation--2020-04-21--Racism and Covid-19 Are a Lethal Combination

As data began showing that Covid-19 death rates are significantly higher among African Americans and Latinos , the White House asked US Surgeon General Jerome Adams to deliver a special message , calling these historically marginalized communities to step up and help stop the spread of the virus by “ avoid [ ing ] alcohol , tobacco , and drugs.
” Adams went on to temper his comments , stating that it was “ possible ” that social ills were contributing to the alarming rates of death in these communities .
But he did not name which social ills he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made no direct reference to structural racism .
Later , Adams said he meant no offense to any group of people and encouraged all communities to take similar measures .
But his assumptions were clear , echoing racist ideas that have long been part of America ’ s commentary on black health and black death .
The pattern of victim-blaming arises any time inequities in the health and wealth of communities of color are laid bare .
Instead of addressing how decades of structural racism , political exploitation , and economic exclusion have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ communities , the American habit has been to trivialize those inequities as the result of individuals ’ behavior .
In addition to this victim-blaming , Adams ’ s call for African Americans to “ step up ” by not smoking fails to take into account that the “ smoking ” that exacerbates the death rate in these communities is not voluntary .
Rates of cigarette and vaping usage are similar among African American , Latino , and white communities .
But long-term exposure to air pollution is not .
This health disparity , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fuel polluters ’ locating in poor black and brown communities , is an underlying condition created by environmental racism .
Congress Urgently Needs to Check and Balance the Wannabe King Take Action Now : Fight for Justice During the Pandemic The Right to Get Our Hair Cut More in this series Science has drawn the connection between environmental pollution and mortality rates for Covid-19 .
Earlier this month , Harvard released a new study that confirmed a significant relationship between Covid-19 fatalities and other conditions related to long-term air pollution exposure .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in places with significant air pollution ( cities ) are 15 percent more likely to die from Covid-19 than those with the same health profile who live in less polluted areas .
And who is most likely to be exposed to long-term air pollution ?
Dr. Aaron Bernstein , interim director at Harvard ’ s Center for Climate , Health , and the Global Environment , spoke to Forbes on the subject : “ Exposure to air pollution is majorly affecting the risk of people dying from Covid-19 and we know that African @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to more air pollution than whites.
” According to recent data , African Americans are exposed to 21 percent more air pollution than white Americans , measured by the amount of particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns they inhale ( the PM 2.5 standard ) .
Hispanic Americans are exposed to 12 percent more .
The Harvard study found that chronic exposure to higher levels of PM 2.5 directly increases the chances of death after contracting Covid-19 .
Other data sets further illuminate the situation : Seventy-eight percent of African Americans live within @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; 71 percent of African Americans and 80 percent of Latinos live in counties that violate federal air pollution standards .
This long-term exposure has direct consequences for health .
One in six black kids suffers from asthma ( compared with the national average of one in 10 ) , and Latino kids are 2.5 times more likely than whites to develop the condition .
This is the involuntary “ smoking ” that Adams fails to recognize—a systemic inequality that hurts communities of color .
The additional irony is that while Adams admonishes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up ” to prevent the spread of the virus , the Trump administration has used the present pandemic crisis as an opportunity to weaken key environmental protections , effectively putting the same communities at even greater danger .
As just one example , on March 23 , the Environmental Protection Agency announced a blanket waiver of reporting air pollution emissions from power plants and industrial polluters for an indefinite period of time .
This announcement directly followed lobbying efforts by the oil and gas industry , and resulted in a broad “ enforcement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ indicated it would temporarily cease the enforcement of some compliance regulations for facilities that were facing complications related to the pandemic .
The policy specifically relaxed mandates on monitoring , testing , and reporting of regulated emissions during the temporary period , and softened penalties for failures of air emission control or wastewater treatment .
Ironically , the policy increased the responsibility of private actors to adhere to environmental regulations , a move that some have said could hamper the development of new tools to monitor air pollution .
It ’ s too @ @ @ @ @ @ @ result is that black and brown communities will breathe dirtier air and drink more polluted water .
What ’ s more , the Trump administration released its final rule this month rolling back President Obama ’ s fuel efficiency standards for automobiles , reducing the standard for vehicle fleets from 54 miles per gallon by 2025 to an average of only 40 miles per gallon .
This assault on federal environmental protections is not new .
The Trump administration has repealed or is in the process of repealing at least 95 different environmental @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and adverse impact on the nation ’ s air quality , and dozens more that will indirectly increase air pollution .
Surgeon General Adams ’ s critique is drastically misplaced .
It is not the communities suffering that need to step up but rather the Trump administration , which has consistently acted to put us all at risk by extending carte blanche to polluters .
Dr. Adams has gotten one thing right : The devastation we see in black and brown communities is something we must all step up to address .
Sending @ @ @ @ @ @ @ EPA may be a good place to start .

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, William J. Barber III, JD

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As data began showing that Covid-19 death rates are significantly higher among African Americans and Latinos, the White House asked US Surgeon General Jerome Adams to deliver a special message, calling these historically marginalized communities to step up and help stop the spread of the virus by “avoid[ing] alcohol, tobacco, and drugs.”
Adams went on to temper his comments, stating that it was “possible” that social ills were contributing to the alarming rates of death in these communities. But he did not name which social ills he was referring to, and he certainly made no direct reference to structural racism. Later, Adams said he meant no offense to any group of people and encouraged all communities to take similar measures. But his assumptions were clear, echoing racist ideas that have long been part of America’s commentary on black health and black death.
The pattern of victim-blaming arises any time inequities in the health and wealth of communities of color are laid bare. Instead of addressing how decades of structural racism, political exploitation, and economic exclusion have compounded health and wealth disparities in black communities, the American habit has been to trivialize those inequities as the result of individuals’ behavior.
In addition to this victim-blaming, Adams’s call for African Americans to “step up” by not smoking fails to take into account that the “smoking” that exacerbates the death rate in these communities is not voluntary. Rates of cigarette and vaping usage are similar among African American, Latino, and white communities. But long-term exposure to air pollution is not. This health disparity, which is often the result of fossil fuel polluters’ locating in poor black and brown communities, is an underlying condition created by environmental racism. Coronavirus Amid Partisan Politicking, Revelations on a Covid Origins Article Jimmy Tobias It’s Not “Unreasonable” to Want to Change Our Rotten Health Care System Gregg Gonsalves Covid Has Left Deep Wounds in America’s Rural Communities Anne N. Sosin
Science has drawn the connection between environmental pollution and mortality rates for Covid-19. Earlier this month, Harvard released a new study that confirmed a significant relationship between Covid-19 fatalities and other conditions related to long-term air pollution exposure. The study showed that those who have lived in places with significant air pollution (cities) are 15 percent more likely to die from Covid-19 than those with the same health profile who live in less polluted areas.
And who is most likely to be exposed to long-term air pollution? Dr. Aaron Bernstein, interim director at Harvard’s Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, spoke to Forbes on the subject: “Exposure to air pollution is majorly affecting the risk of people dying from Covid-19 and we know that African Americans, in particular, are exposed to more air pollution than whites.”
According to recent data, African Americans are exposed to 21 percent more air pollution than white Americans, measured by the amount of particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns they inhale (the PM 2.5 standard). Hispanic Americans are exposed to 12 percent more. The Harvard study found that chronic exposure to higher levels of PM 2.5 directly increases the chances of death after contracting Covid-19. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Current Issue View our current issue
Other data sets further illuminate the situation: Seventy-eight percent of African Americans live within 30 miles of a toxin-spewing coal plant; 71 percent of African Americans and 80 percent of Latinos live in counties that violate federal air pollution standards.
This long-term exposure has direct consequences for health. One in six black kids suffers from asthma (compared with the national average of one in 10), and Latino kids are 2.5 times more likely than whites to develop the condition. This is the involuntary “smoking” that Adams fails to recognize—a systemic inequality that hurts communities of color.
The additional irony is that while Adams admonishes black and brown communities to “step up” to prevent the spread of the virus, the Trump administration has used the present pandemic crisis as an opportunity to weaken key environmental protections, effectively putting the same communities at even greater danger.
As just one example, on March 23, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a blanket waiver of reporting air pollution emissions from power plants and industrial polluters for an indefinite period of time. This announcement directly followed lobbying efforts by the oil and gas industry, and resulted in a broad “enforcement discretion policy” through which the EPA indicated it would temporarily cease the enforcement of some compliance regulations for facilities that were facing complications related to the pandemic.
The policy specifically relaxed mandates on monitoring, testing, and reporting of regulated emissions during the temporary period, and softened penalties for failures of air emission control or wastewater treatment. Ironically, the policy increased the responsibility of private actors to adhere to environmental regulations, a move that some have said could hamper the development of new tools to monitor air pollution. It’s too early for data, but the likely result is that black and brown communities will breathe dirtier air and drink more polluted water. Conversations With ‘The Nation’ Conversations With ‘The Nation’: The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II The Nation
What’s more, the Trump administration released its final rule this month rolling back President Obama’s fuel efficiency standards for automobiles, reducing the standard for vehicle fleets from 54 miles per gallon by 2025 to an average of only 40 miles per gallon. This assault on federal environmental protections is not new. The Trump administration has repealed or is in the process of repealing at least 95 different environmental rules, with 25 having a direct and adverse impact on the nation’s air quality, and dozens more that will indirectly increase air pollution.
Surgeon General Adams’s critique is drastically misplaced. It is not the communities suffering that need to step up but rather the Trump administration, which has consistently acted to put us all at risk by extending carte blanche to polluters. Dr. Adams has gotten one thing right: The devastation we see in black and brown communities is something we must all step up to address. Sending that message to the president and the EPA may be a good place to start.


thenation--2020-04-21--Letters From the May 5/11, 2020, Issue

Letters From the May 5/11, 2020, Issue

Susie Linfield warns us against “ telling lies ” [ Letters , April 6 ] , then proceeds to demonstrate her commitment to exactly that by claiming , falsely , that I have manufactured “ entirely fictitious claims.
” Linfield is referring to her central charge in the chapter on me in her book The Lions ’ Den : that I invented a fairy tale about the 1976 United Nations Security Council Resolution , which very explicitly called for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict along the internationally recognized borders , with guarantees for “ the sovereignty , territorial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ states in the area , ” including Israel and the new Palestinian state .
In fact , I discussed this resolution accurately , quoting its crucial words and pointing out that it was supported by Egypt , Syria , and Jordan ; rejected by Israel ; and vetoed by the United States , while the Palestine Liberation Organization condemned “ the tyranny of the veto.
” I also quoted Israel ’ s Ambassador to the UN ( later president ) Chaim Herzog , who claimed that the Palestinians not only backed the resolution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ therefore rendering it unacceptable .
Not true , but a useful illustration of how extreme was Israel ’ s concern that a two-state solution might be endorsed by the UN .
The country ’ s formal reaction was presented by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin : Israel must “ vehemently oppose any tendency to establish a third state in the area between it and Jordan.
” See my books Towards a New Cold War , pages 267 and 461 , and Fateful Triangle , pages 67 and 68 .
Linfield cites both , thus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of simple ignorance but by conscious fabrication .
The same books review many other occasions in the 1970s when Israel rejected opportunities for a diplomatic settlement , all evaded by Linfield , who prefers such gambits as repeated laments that “ [ Chomsky ] cites himself as the source ” —meaning that I gave a page reference in the same book for explicit statements instead of merely repeating them .
There is no point wasting space on Linfield ’ s litany of deceit and misrepresentation , though I ’ ll be happy to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ important to recognize is that in the early stages of the occupation , in the ’ 70s , Israel made a fateful decision to choose expansion over security .
That decision had far-reaching consequences for the Palestinians and more broadly , including for Israel itself .
In the ’ 70s , Israel was still highly admired , even benefiting from accolades accorded to no other state .
That is now far from true .
The decline is a matter of real concern to those who care about the society and its people , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by anything like this sorry performance .
Re “ “ No Cross Words , ” , ” by Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto [ April 6 ] : I am a lifelong liberal , but I subscribe to The Nation because of the puzzle by Kosman and Picciotto .
When the puzzle goes , so will I. I quit The Atlantic after it yanked its puzzle and stubbornly did not read it again until 2020 .
At the same time , I ’ ve remained loyal to the increasingly weird Harper ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
What do you expect us all to do while we are trapped at home by the pandemic ?
This is just so mean !
Amy Brunvand salt lake city

This article appears in the May 4/11, 2020 issue.
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The Truth About Lies
Susie Linfield warns us against “telling lies” [Letters, April 6], then proceeds to demonstrate her commitment to exactly that by claiming, falsely, that I have manufactured “entirely fictitious claims.”
Linfield is referring to her central charge in the chapter on me in her book The Lions’ Den: that I invented a fairy tale about the 1976 United Nations Security Council Resolution, which very explicitly called for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict along the internationally recognized borders, with guarantees for “the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence of all states in the area,” including Israel and the new Palestinian state.
In fact, I discussed this resolution accurately, quoting its crucial words and pointing out that it was supported by Egypt, Syria, and Jordan; rejected by Israel; and vetoed by the United States, while the Palestine Liberation Organization condemned “the tyranny of the veto.” I also quoted Israel’s Ambassador to the UN (later president) Chaim Herzog, who claimed that the Palestinians not only backed the resolution but even “prepared” it, therefore rendering it unacceptable. Not true, but a useful illustration of how extreme was Israel’s concern that a two-state solution might be endorsed by the UN. The country’s formal reaction was presented by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin: Israel must “vehemently oppose any tendency to establish a third state in the area between it and Jordan.” See my books Towards a New Cold War, pages 267 and 461, and Fateful Triangle, pages 67 and 68. Linfield cites both, thus demonstrating that her charge arises not out of simple ignorance but by conscious fabrication. Current Issue View our current issue
The same books review many other occasions in the 1970s when Israel rejected opportunities for a diplomatic settlement, all evaded by Linfield, who prefers such gambits as repeated laments that “[Chomsky] cites himself as the source”—meaning that I gave a page reference in the same book for explicit statements instead of merely repeating them.
There is no point wasting space on Linfield’s litany of deceit and misrepresentation, though I’ll be happy to respond to specific queries. What is important to recognize is that in the early stages of the occupation, in the ’70s, Israel made a fateful decision to choose expansion over security.
That decision had far-reaching consequences for the Palestinians and more broadly, including for Israel itself. In the ’70s, Israel was still highly admired, even benefiting from accolades accorded to no other state. That is now far from true. The decline is a matter of real concern to those who care about the society and its people, a concern that should not be contaminated by anything like this sorry performance.
Noam Chomsky
oro valley, ariz.
A Puzzling Decision
Re “ “No Cross Words,” ,” by Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto [April 6]: I am a lifelong liberal, but I subscribe to The Nation because of the puzzle by Kosman and Picciotto. When the puzzle goes, so will I.
Matthew Field
hastings, england
I quit The Atlantic after it yanked its puzzle and stubbornly did not read it again until 2020. At the same time, I’ve remained loyal to the increasingly weird Harper’s largely because of its excellent monthly puzzle. What do you expect us all to do while we are trapped at home by the pandemic? This is just so mean!
Amy Brunvand
salt lake city


Pattern

Trump demands that governors “ be appreciative ” of his coronavirus response .
The governors seeking equipment from Trump Know @ @ @ @ @ a hearing .
Extortion ’ s Trump ’ s game , as it was with @ @ @ @ @ , not smearing .

This article appears in the May 4/11, 2020 issue.
Trump demands that governors “be appreciative” of his coronavirus
response. —news reports
The governors seeking equipment from Trump
Know praise is the path to a hearing.
Extortion’s Trump’s game, as it was with Ukraine—
For flattery this time, not smearing.


thenation--2020-04-21--from ‘For a Daughter/No Address’

from ‘For a Daughter/No Address’

if what etches into your eyes leaves a small canyon in its trough is there the chattering speech I don @ @ @ @ @ s enough to say images seen the still Aleppo pine needles a tarp billowing at @ @ @ @ @ weather how long could you look in the foreground at a wet child who isn @ @ @ @ @ bits of peeling white light she tossed into us feel like a skein a weight @ @ @ @ @ in the bath a salted silver-edged negative pressing you to the steady light impulse neither @ @ @ @ @ in it all the while by its known waves the state ’ s cargo planes @ @ @ @ @ street having lost a few peoples running in superfluity the sky behaves itself over bamboo @ @ @ @ @ bedded with river stones hauled come to rest their smoothing ends but not the infinitive @ @ @ @ @ with water as one of her rhymes

This article appears in the May 4/11, 2020 issue.
Reportless Subjects, to the Quick / Continual addressed—
—Emily Dickinson
if what etches into your eyes leaves a small canyon in its trough
is there the chattering speech
I don’t think it’s enough to say images seen the still Aleppo pine needles
a tarp billowing at the lower winds are a weather how long could you look
in the foreground at a wet child who isn’t you
the two bits of peeling white light she tossed into us feel like a skein
a weight water falling down your back in the bath a salted
silver-edged negative pressing you to the steady light impulse
neither of us will absorb winking in it all the while by its known waves
the state’s cargo planes keep from folding into our street
having lost a few peoples running in superfluity the sky behaves itself
over bamboo that grows here wild or bedded with river stones hauled
come to rest their smoothing ends but not the infinitive daughter
gone to run away with water as one of her rhymes


thenation--2020-04-21--A Lower Register Sweetness

A Lower Register Sweetness

What a privileged person I am to be relieved to no end and to have you back putting me in my place .
Thank you for coming along !
Thank you for ordering me !
We ’ re ending a crucial few decades of prime thinking and doing and conditioning and humming along with our able-bodied heads .
And now we ’ re coop-flown according to the actuarial sciences .
The future is comprised of supervised high adventures .
Those are the matters of fact weighing down our stacked deck .
You prefer the drone of being done over being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ down with arms across my chest .
I can ’ t do anything .
I can keep my mouth open .
I ’ m leveling my head with a disheveled table and you are above me and I need you to discuss me by yourself away from this place , and with one of the biscuits I made earlier , in your hand .
We ’ ve just had the last civil disagreement .
There will be no others on this property so long as I ’ m the demand of this house @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and they didn ’ t before .
The drift we ’ re getting is exhausting , unsightly .
Heavenly to have even a thin space to settle my affairs .
And what of yours ?
Within arm ’ s reach , enough to live for days .

This article appears in the May 4/11, 2020 issue.
What a privileged person I am
to be relieved to no end
and to have you back
putting me in my place.
Thank you for coming
along! Thank you for ordering me!
We’re ending a crucial few
decades of prime thinking
and doing and conditioning
and humming along
with our able-bodied heads.
And now we’re coop-flown
according to the actuarial
sciences. The future
is comprised of supervised
high adventures. Those are the matters
of fact weighing down
our stacked deck.
You prefer the drone
of being done
over being done over
and I’m lying down
with arms across my chest.
I can’t do anything.
I can keep my mouth
open. I’m leveling my head
with a disheveled table
and you are above me
and I need you to discuss
me by yourself
away from this place,
and with one of the biscuits
I made earlier, in your hand.
We’ve just had
the last civil disagreement.
There will be no others
on this property so long
as I’m the demand
of this house. The light
switches have a color
and they didn’t before.
The drift we’re getting
is exhausting,
unsightly. Heavenly
to have even a thin
space to settle
my affairs. And what
of yours?
Within arm’s reach,
enough to live
for days.