There is an American problem. More than four million people, refugees and others, have left Venezuela. Maybe 10% of them have been counted officially as refugees. Regardless of how you count them. Colombia, with a population of nearly 50 million and Peru, with a population of more than 30 million, have taken in Venezuelans at a pace that resembles the intake of refugees by Germany, Iran, Sudan, and Bangladesh – the last two among the poorest countries I the world. Other Latin American countries have taken in substantial numbers as well. Not the US.
Refugees do not seek asylum in random countries. They seek refuge in nearby countries. Guatemala borders Mexico. El Salvador and Honduras border Guatemala. The people escaping the three northern countries of Central America are not escaping a war. They are not pushed out by a country that doesn’t want them.
They are escaping small countries where the poorest neighborhoods are controlled by criminal gangs. Some say the gangs are led by criminals deported from the US. Parents protect their twelve and thirteen year old boys from being pressed into those gangs. Parents protect their twelve and thirteen year old daughters from becoming sexual slaves for those gangs. As Venezuelans head for Colombia and Ecuador and Peru, refugees from the northern part of Central American head for the US by way of Mexico.