Extinguishing the Beacon of America
In early May, I traveled to McAllen, Texas, to speak with U.S. Border Patrol about the current immigration crisis. It was a humid, overcast morning and Chris Cabrera, the agency’s spokesperson, stood on the banks of the Rio Grande as he explained the challenges posed by the current wave of migrants entering the country illegally, most of whom are refugees fleeing deadly violence and institutional failure in Central America. “You have a lot of women and children that are coming here. I’ve seen groups of 20, 25 people that are all women, or all girls, age 15 and below.”
Cabrera was anguished about the surge in illegal entries. “We have this beacon that says you can come in, and we will take you, right?” he said. “So what does that do? That activates people.”
Throughout our conversation, Cabrera returned to what he called “the beacon”—in this case, the promise of freedom that was luring children and their families across the border. “When you find an 11-year-old in the brush, dead, alone, and you could see that he’s got his little Pokemon belt on, it breaks your heart,” he said. “At what point do we turn off this beacon?”
But that beacon is the idea of America—the promise
