The modern day is filled with migrant crises. Wars largely resulting from colonialism and imperialism, which could be considered the inverses of immigration, have destroyed the lives of millions in countries of the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Recipient countries of immigrants vary in response from ethnic nationalism to empathetic acceptance.

The situation in Central America is similar. The legacy of political interference in Latin America has left many countries with unstable, corrupt governments that do disservice to their citizens. The void of power has largely been usurped by violent gangs that prevent any semblance of the good life for average citizens.

The northern triangle refers to the three Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador that are plagued by these issues the most. In addition to the aforementioned issues, they also face civil wars and extreme weather that destroys crops and takes lives — weather that continues to get worse over the years as a result of climate change.

These countries comprise the great majority of incoming immigrants from Latin America, but even so, most are not granted asylum status unless they were already able to get into the country. This is the cause of the Mexican border crisis — not Mexicans.

In recent years large caravans of migrants from these countries have trekked across Central America to the border and have faced grave challenges along the way, often being brutalized by police. Once at the border, they face legal challenges at achieving asylum status, are usually detained and separated from family members, and even when they are finally successful, are unable to achieve acceptance in a Trump era society.

This utter immigration failure is what leads to illegal immigration and incentivizes it, as the illegal journey is often far preferable and more conducive to success than the legal, as was the case with the Golden Venture.

We have laws, and in an ideal world everyone would follow them. At the same time, in such an ideal world we would need no such laws. Therefore, if laws are only in place because people have reasons to break them, why do we not inform our legislation by these reasons?

The fact that people are willing to risk their lives — not just risk but entirely give them up — should mean more to us, it shouldn’t just be a fact that is met with fear, hostility, and rhetoric. The day that people no longer want to come to this country will be the day that this country is no longer worth protecting.

The US has clearly made mistakes in the past, but there’s never been a mass aversion to immigration like there is today (apart from war-time). It’s clearly not as simple as leaving the front door unlocked, but it’s also clear that the land of the free should not be locking people up for simply wanting to join in the triumph.