Margelis Polo Negrette, from Venezuela, and their family in El Paso, Mexico, on the arrival of the border patrol agents

EL PASO — The Rio Grande ran thin through downtown, slimy and clay-colored from recent rains, coursing along concrete banks and through tangles of wildflowers, a liquid boundary marking the end — or, if you like, the beginning — of the United States. Margelis Polo Negrette, the 9-year-old who was with her parents when they crossed over from Mexico, climbed up a sandy rise and headed for the Border Patrol agents.

The mother and daughter had their hair done before they arrived. The family of three advanced into the United States thanks to their churchgoing ancestors. The October sky was bruised with gathering rain while tyuno accordions drifted over the water. It was very simple to enter and very confusing to stay.

The family was from Venezuela, and so they were allowed to stay. Mexico had banned Venezuela from returning and there was no simple way to bring them back, so they were left to go somewhere else. The parents were schoolteachers; they had fled Venezuela, they said, after a politically active family member was jailed and tortured. Agents didn’t ask them about any of that, though. Not yet. They were from Venezuela; it was enough.

The Tragic Case of Four Missing Americans in Matamoros, Mexico: The State Department’s Warning for Tamaulipas

Editor’s Note: Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in New York and author of the book “OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind.” Follow her on Twitter. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely her own. CNN has more opinion on it.

It is like the opening scene of a bad action movie, or a horror story, for the four Americans who were kidnapped by armed men in northeastern Mexico on Friday. It was apparently a case of mistaken identity, with the kidnappers believing that the Americans were Haitian drug smugglers.

Two of the victims were found dead and at least one of the survivors was found in a medical building in Matamoros, according to CNN.

So much about this story has yet to be known, but the State Department has a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” warning out for Tamaulipas, “due to crime and kidnapping.” Matamoros is located across the border from the Rio Grande valley in the US and is home to nearly five million people every year.

The fact that hundreds of thousands of Americans travel abroad every year to get medical care, many of them to Mexico, for everything from root canals to in-vitro fertilization, is a testament to the tragic fates of these victims. Women in the south are more likely to travel to Mexico for safe abortions because of the wide criminalization of abortion.

It’s also not clear how many Americans actually read, let alone heed, the State Department’s travel warnings – especially to a neighboring country that is also a popular tourist destination. It is easy to point the finger at the victim. But the four Americans who were kidnapped were doing what a great many other US citizens do every day without incident.

Tamaulipas has an astoundingly high murder rate, and even that is likely underreported. The people are disappearing in order to be uncounted, so they kill journalists as well as law enforcement who want to get a body count. Corruption is rife, and reining in the cartels has proven to be nearly impossible. In Tamaulipas alone, there are thousands of Mexicans who are simply missing.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/07/opinions/mexico-americans-kidnapped-killed-filipovic/index.html

The fate of innocent immigrants in the U.S.: What do innocent Americans have to lose if they aren’t brought to justice?

At the same time as Americans have turned our eyes toward our fellow citizens and their ordeal, President Joe Biden is said to be considering a return to the Trump administration’s draconian anti-immigrant policies, which would allow for the detention of migrants who entered the US without proper documentation, followed by their swift expulsion.

Another Biden proposal would make it nearly impossible for the vast majority of asylum-seekers to qualify for safe harbor in the United States. Meanwhile, the same cartels terrorizing their fellow citizens are enriching themselves through drug production and smuggling, making money off of – and fueling – the crisis of addiction in the United States. The Mexican government blames American gun laws for some of their violent crimes, because many guns used in Mexican crimes came from the United States.

Let’s be clear: Many of these migrants, including those with children, are fleeing the same violence that has now swept up for innocent Americans. Many of the migrants will be returned to the horrible conditions that have left at least two Americans dead. Mexicans bear the brunt of Mexican gang violence, while Salvadorans, Hondurans, and other peoples from other countries also experience the violence. Americans who visit are overwhelmingly spared.

It is crucial that these innocent Americans get justice. Their lives are not more valuable because of their passports. Millions of people whose homes have turned into ruins, and also people who show up at the border looking for the same type of safety we want for our fellow citizens, deserved better. Their tragic fate must be a reminder that all people deserve to live and raise their kids free from violence.