U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping deportation campaign and hardline approach to restricting immigration, particularly from Latin American countries, has caused a knock-on effect in Spain. The country is seeing an increasing number of Latinos arriving, abandoning their American dream.
Benjamin Enrique Berardinelli Manjarrez is one of them. The 33-year-old Colombian arrived in Madrid at the beginning of May, by way of Italy.
“My first idea was to go to the U.S. Like many other Latinos, I have this dream of America for a better life and to make money,” said Berardinelli Manjarrez. “In one day, you can earn enough money to pay a month’s rent in Colombia.”
“Many Colombian friends told me they want to go back. They don’t feel safe anymore and are scared of ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and the police,” said Berardinelli Manjarrez, who left behind a wife and a nearly three-year-old child.
“The American dream” only existed for a very short period in history and was largely caused by factors not directly in control of America (i.e. Europe needing to rebuild itself after WWII), and then it was only allowed to a certain group of people with a particular level of skin pigmentation.
It would be more productive and rewarding to try and find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
Also high taxes on the wealthy and specific policies designed to build a middle class.
It’s incredible how quickly our politicians managed to
be paid off tofuck that one up.The regression back from that peak point of opportunity and quality for the many (though, as the previous poster pointed out, in America very much only for those with a certain skin color) has happened all over the West, though in this the US is ahead of the rest.
Basically Neoliberalism was the method used to reverse most of what the Working Class fought for in the post-War period.
to try to* find
and again… 🤷♂️