February 1, 2006
Foreign Policy: How to Lose Friends and Influence
By Carlos Alberto Montaner

Miami International Airport, one of the major U.S. gateways, provides to millions of foreigners their first impression of the United States, which sometimes can be quite prejudicial.

Not long ago, at the end of an exhausting flight from Europe, hundreds of us tired travelers were waiting the almost two hours it took for the inspection of passports, photos and fingerprints. An immigration official, annoyed by the chatter of the newly arrived and the rumpus of the children, emerged from his cubicle, blew his police whistle stridently and, after the crowd quieted, shouted angrily: ``Shut up and stay in line, or I'll have you all arrested!''

An Italian woman standing next to me said softly, almost in fear: ``My God, this reminds me of the Soviet Union.''

Of course, the United States is not at all like the USSR, and certainly that outburst from the immigration official was an exception, not the rule. But it is possible that the Department of Homeland Security, created after 9/11, is unwittingly giving the country a raw, barracks-like tone that is absolutely contrary to the nation's tradition of hospitality and contrary to the courtesy of a society that on the streets smiles amiably at anyone. The latter comes as a pleasant surprise to most foreigners, who are used to avoiding the gaze of people they don't know.

Something more serious is at stake, however. That official brusqueness sometimes transcends the formal domestic aspects and affects -- very seriously and negatively --international relations.

Right now, for instance, the powerful Department of Homeland Security is pressuring the White House to cancel the temporary permits that grant legal residence to hundreds of thousands of Central Americans under Temporary Protected Status instituted in 1998 and 2001. Since then, those permits have been renewed periodically as a way to help countries that are hit by devastating hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters.

How meaningful are the efforts of the State Department to strengthen the economy of Central America and stabilize its fragile democratic institutions through CAFTA, the free-trade agreement, while another branch of government asks for the United States to expel people who are generally hardworking and law abiding? These are people who, via remittances, help feed and clothe the families they left behind. It so happens that the nations affected by that measure are precisely some of the best allies of the United States in the region: El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras.

TPS for Central Americans

El Salvador even maintains a military contingent in Iraq, not so much because it is certain that that is a just and necessary war but because of its conviction that that is the way to help the American people in a conflict that is becoming increasingly unpopular. Also because, in the midst of the Cold War, Washington kept the small Central American country from falling into the hands of the communist guerrillas during the bloody battles of the 1980s.

Besides the diplomatic considerations, there are the powerful arguments raised by common sense. Those hundreds of thousands of Central Americans -- many of whom live in South Florida, a region with less than 4 percent unemployment; people who work basically in construction and agriculture, who pay taxes and give both industries a spectacular boost -- are not going to return to their countries of origin in a disciplined and gentle manner. They're going to move to other cities to swell the ranks of undocumented workers who barely contribute to the general welfare of the nation because they have to live clandestinely, often exposed to violence and crime.

Usually, the immigration problem that afflicts prosperous democracies worldwide has two fundamental aspects: first, how to prevent the entry of illegal immigrants; second, how to regulate and integrate the immigrants who already live in the country.

If the U.S. government is foolish enough to delegalize those hundreds of thousands of Central Americans, many of whose children speak English and feel that they are yanquis through and through, it will harm the immigrants, the countries they come from and the United States.

It's like a parody of Dale Carnegie's famous bestseller: How to lose friends and stop influencing nations.

©2006 Firmas Press

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