“There’s no space for them.”
“We can’t feed them.”
“We already have problems the way it is.”
All of these phrases have been said by the United States president, Donald Trump, since the start of his presidential campaign in 2016. Recently, these have also been said by the very people who complained about these affirmations the most: Mexicans.
This situation was provoked due to the recent inflow of migrants from Honduras whose intention was to reach the United States. Regardless of the final destination, and this particular case, everyone in the world should question themselves. In which moment did we decide that certain people should not be allowed to cross some imaginary lines we call borders?
Since the 15th century, Francisco de Vitoria established a very useful and logical principle, the “Ius Peregrinandi.”
This principle states that everyone on the globe is entitled to travel around the worlds surface if they agree to respect the rules, laws and traditions of the region in question.
With the delimitation of territory and agreements on nationality the “Ius Peregrinandi” has been weakened. However, the overall idea is still a thing, as seen in the European Union and within certain countries.
Let’s now remember in which century we live: the twenty-first. Many important movements of all sorts have taken place in a deeper way in this century than in many others, such as feminism, ecologic movements, movements for the LGBTQ+ community and so on.
So why limit ourselves to this? Why are we incapable of being empathic with all other human beings because we are not Mexican, French, Argentinian or whatever country you’re from. We are all humans.
Governments all across the world should make more agendas that include topics, such as migration, both inflows and outflows. Most of the time these migratory movements are forced movements, and this makes me think on how much importance we give to very subjective topics and not to those concerning other humans.
Yes, economy is important, development is important, sports are important, but I cannot really imagine any of these being more important than safety and social development.
Featured photo courtesy Current Edition.
