​​​​​​​Trump's policies towards Mexico hide real reasons for humanitarian crisis: Analyst

Focusing on US President Donald Trump's bombastic policies towards Mexico hide the real reasons for the humanitarian crisis at the border, according to Myles Hoenig, an American political analyst and activist. 

Hoenig, a former Green Party candidate for Congress, told Press TV on Thursday that the mainstream US media has failed to dig deep into the real causes of the crisis and is only interested in kids in cages than the actual causes of migration.

According to official figures, US authorities detained or blocked more than 144,000 migrants at the border with Mexico in May, up 32 percent since April as Central Americans flock to the United States seeking asylum.

Customs and Border Protection officials said most of the migrants were families from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, and the total included some 57,718 children, AFP reported.

“Although TV journalists are making a big deal out of the increase in the number of migrants coming to the US, and how much it’s increasing from previous months, what they fail to explain is why they are coming and what has precipitated this mass migration. Also these same people put the usual spins on the reaction but all this is very a surface level of reporting,” Hoenig said.

“People are escaping violence and economic hardships, but that can be said for so many different groups of migrants, from Africans escaping turmoil in Libya, the Sudan, and war zones in other parts of the continent, to Muslims targeted by China or Myanmar in Asia. What’s happening in the western hemisphere has its roots in US imperialism and colonialism and it is nearly forbidden to discuss this in our main stream media,” he added.

“When in the US they talk about free trade agreements, NAFTA, and the newest concoction by Trump, they fail to talk about the hardships created by such agreements, as if how the corporations for which these agreements are written for are the ones most affected, not the people of Central America who have had their lives destroyed, and forced to migrate north. Nor do they discuss the murderous regime in Honduras that President Obama and Sect. of State Clinton imposed upon the Honduran people. In the US media’s eyes, US policy is never at fault and should not even be entertained as a factor in the immigration crisis at our border,” he stated.

PressTV-US detained 144,000 immigrants in May

American border authorities detained over 144,000 immigrants trying to cross the border into the country last month.

“The drama playing out right now is focusing on tariffs on all Mexican goods until they fix the immigration problem. Another matter that is not even discussed is the right these people have in coming north. The media ignores their legal right as refugees and asylum seekers and focuses more on what looks good, or bad, for the cameras; for example, kids in cages, and then looks to see who they can blame for it. Again, nothing deeper than that,” Hoenig noted.

“There is a humanitarian crisis at the border. Tens of thousands are fleeing conditions back home. But until the media gets past the aesthetics and delves into the root causes, all we’ll continue to see are kids in cages and blowhards like Trump blaming Mexico’s,” the analyst noted.

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