In the news world of today, immigration is a hot topic with strong partisan ties, and perhaps more than ever it’s important to know the facts.
A small crowd surrounds Dr. Tennyson after her lecture for questions. Photo by Jake Burks.
On March 21 the WCU Criminology and Criminal Justice Department hosted Dr. Kristin Tennyson as part of WCU’s visiting scholar program. Tennyson delivered her lecture entitled “BUILD THAT WALL? Exploring Mexican and Central American Immigration Patterns, Crime, and the Utility of a Border Barrier.”
“We do have a migration problem here in the United States, but I am not here to share my opinions on if we need a border wall,” Tennyson said.
Instead, Tennyson focused her talk on the root cause of this wave of immigrants entering the country through data, facts and personal anecdotes from her time spent in Central America. She explained that most of the illegal immigration we’re seeing here in the U.S. today is not from Mexico, but from Central American countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.
These countries have experienced a large amount of war and instability over the past half–century and as a result have extremely high amounts of crime, both organized and not. Their economies are also struggling as they attempt to expand into the global market and move away from subsistence farming and small scale manufacturing.
“The reason people are leaving the region comes when they experience an intersection of these problems.”
The intersection comes from a lack of work and issues with organized crime. As residents of these countries are lacking in work, they are unable to pay off the gangs that rule major cities in the region with an iron fist. She describes the gangs as “violent, organized and diabolically savvy.”
In these Central American countries, their problems continue to grow and opportunities for employment and education continue to decline. This creates a situation where leaving is the only feasible option for many people.
“We could very well build a border wall, but what I will say is that if we do, we’re going to need to invest in more boats because people from this region will keep coming.”
Tennyson received her Ph.D. in criminology from the University of Florida and has spent the past few years working for the U.S. Department of State collecting and then analyzing data from Mexico, Central America, and South America. Dr. Tennyson currently serves as the Chair of the Western Hemisphere Area Studies Department at the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Training Institute in Arlington, Va.
