Anthony W. Fontes, American University School of International Service
MS-13 is not the biggest or most violent gang in the US. But its grisly murders and Latino membership inflame Americans’ anxiety about immigration. GOP campaign ads stoke those fears to attack Democrats.
Toronto Mayor John Tory’s use of race-coded words to describe gun violence in Toronto, including “thugs, sewer rats and gangsters,” stokes racism and serves to justify policing Black communities.
Trump hopes migrants won’t come if they know their children will be taken away. That grim logic ignores the inescapable dangers that drive thousands of Central Americans to flee their homes each year.
El Salvador stands at the centre of the current refugee crisis in Central America. But gang violence is not the only reason why its people are fleeing their country.
Many communities struggle with crime, violence and abuse, but they are not all the same. Those that look to local expertise for solutions offer hope in a world where success in preventing violence is rare.
The spectacular arrival of thousands of unaccompanied Central American children at the southern frontier of the US over the last three years has provoked a frenzied response. President Obama calls the…