Skip to footer
Dignity
The Monitor's View

A migrant debate cuts across the Americas

As the region flares up over U.S. deportations and similar issues, the debate also points to the ideals at stake.

|
Reuters
In Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, workers set up a giant tent, one of many shelters for migrants expected to be deported from the United States.
  • By the Monitor's Editorial Board

The Americas are home to about 1 in 5 of the world’s migrants, most of them forcibly displaced or stateless. In recent days, the region has also been home to an enlightening debate over responsibilities involving this cross-border flow of humanity.

On Jan. 22, Colombia’s president visited the troubled island of Haiti and gave a public apology for the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, an act attributed to Colombians in Haiti. He also asked for forgiveness. An ex-army officer from Colombia has already been convicted of the killing.

“We do not believe in the death that those Colombians spread, we believe in life,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro stated. His visit included discussions about preventing Haiti from being used by Colombians transporting drugs to the United States.

Then on Jan. 24, Brazil complained to the U.S. about “degrading treatment” of dozens of its citizens being deported by the Trump administration aboard a U.S. military plane. During the transport, Brazil ordered the removal of handcuffs on the deportees, citing a “lack of respect” for their rights.

On Sunday, meanwhile, Colombia took a similar and even stronger action in light of Brazil’s concerns. President Petro barred two U.S. military planes carrying Colombian deportees from landing, saying that the U.S. should be using civilian aircraft. He told more than 15,000 Americans living illegally in Colombia to take steps to legalize their status.

President Donald Trump responded by ordering tariffs on and visa restrictions against one of its closest allies in the region. Mr. Petro finally backed down on the use of military planes. Yet his officials say all such flights would now have “dignified conditions.”

These incidents illustrate how much values such as mercy and justice will play out as the U.S. tries to deport most of the estimated 11 million unauthorized migrants in the country. More than half of U.S. voters support Mr. Trump’s deportation plans, according to a New York Times/Ipsos poll.

On Thursday, Honduras plans an urgent meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States to discuss the region’s response to the U.S. deportations. Colombia may also raise its recent concerns over violent groups in Venezuela crossing their shared border.

The mix of responses is already quite varied – a request for forgiveness, calls for humane treatment of deportees, help in catching criminal migrants. Amid the threats and the diplomacy, a public debate may lead to better protection of those deemed the most vulnerable in a region awash in migrants.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to A migrant debate cuts across the Americas
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0127/A-migrant-debate-cuts-across-the-Americas
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe