Many of us should remember the childhood story of the Pied Piper who lured children from their homes and off into a distant place. Are we seeing a redux of that fictional tale in 2014?
If not, we would have to simply believe that fathers and mothers of teenagers and toddlers from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador individually were so terrified of life in their native countries that they somehow raised the thousands of dollars each to hire smugglers/coyotes to take their sons and daughters on a 2,000 mile trip across Mexico to the United States.. And then individually believe that upon arrival and contacting the Border Patrol they would be safe, taken care of and delivered to other family members or ??…
Sorry, but it can’t be that simple and wonderful. For these thousands of children to be involved, some sort of collective “Pied Piper” must exist. Deliberately or incidentally, some causes or organizations could include:
— relaxed enforcement of deportations
— promises of “Dream Act” executive action
— press coverage of possible immigration reform
— press reports in Central American media that minors will be card for and not deported by the U.S.
— probable amplification of the above by smuggler/coyote organizations
— etc., etc.
Even with all the above, or other, factors, it strains credulity that there is not some collective organized activity behind this mass movement of young people. Personally, I have no confidence in any governmental answer which might be provided and I call on the investigative capability of U.S. media – all major print, all network and cable TV, radio, etc. – to do the job they have done in the past when motivated to do so.
Otherwise, we will simply have to accept that we do have a Pied Piper 2014.
Glenn Lundell
Green Valley, AZ