US Border: Migrants risk everything for an American dream - BBC News

 

After a decline during the first year of the pandemic, thousands of migrants from Central America are again on the move trying to reach the United States - many of them families or unaccompanied minors.

Border business: Inside immigration | Full Documentary

 

Originals presents a documentary special about the cottage industry that's built up across Central America to get migrants to the U.S. border.

America's cocaine habit fueled its migrant crisis

Today, the US is facing a migration crisis on its southern border with Mexico. Thousands of people from Central America, especially Guatemala and Honduras are fleeing their home countries, taking a dangerous journey north through Mexico, and claiming asylum in the US. How did this crisis begin? Much of it can be traced back to the 1970s cocaine trade. Cocaine, which is mostly produced in Colombia, used to be shipped by boat and plane across the Caribbean. But in the 80s and 90s, the US cracked down on this route, so traffickers started shipping their drugs through central america and overland to Mexico. This created a violent and competitive turf war between gangs and organizations in Guatemala and Honduras. After the governments cracked down, violence only increased, which is forcing people to flee, to the US, today.

Banana's And Republics

How did United Fruit Company - now known as "Chiquita" - turn into a multinational empire that could downgrade Central American nations to easily manipulated "banana republics" and destroy millions of hectares with monocultures? Using the banana as an example, this documentary shows how globalized capitalism actually works. The documentary ‘On Bananas and Republics’ uses rare archival images, many unpublished, to illustrate the history of the United Fruit Company. Founded in the 19th century, the company held the monopoly over the world banana trade for almost a hundred years.