Rep. Norma Torres, only House member from Central America, wants to fix border crisis with aid, not punishment
Rep. Norma Torres looks at the Central American migrants flocking to the Mexican border in hopes of gaining asylum in the United States and sees her own reflection.
When she was 5, Torres' parents sent her from their home, in war-torn Guatemala, to live with an uncle in Whittier. She remembers the city as less diverse than it is today, and being "pretty much the only Latino family on our street."
She also says she understands how big a move it was to send her north.
"I can't imagine what a mother or a parent would have to be thinking to make that decision, to send their daughter to the U.S. – to a whole new country, a new language, and a new culture," Torres said.
"I believe that it is in our best interest, our national interest, to focus on our southern border and our neighbors and the deep-rooted issues of why people are migrating north."
Now 54, Torres, D-Pomona, is the only Central American native currently serving in Congress. She's taken a keen interest in U.S. policy toward the Northern Triangle – Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala – a region that has been the focus of President Donald Trump's ire as he seeks to stem the flow of migrants.
Since arriving on Capitol Hill in 2015, Torres founded and is co-chair of the Central America Caucus, a group of congressional lawmakers focused on the region. She previously served on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, including its Western Hemisphere subcommittee.
Before winning a seat in Congress, Torres, who worked as a 911 dispatcher, was an assemblywoman, state senator and the mayor of Pomona. Her congressional district includes Pomona, Montclair, Ontario, and part of Rialto.
But Torres' work in the House also remains influenced, in part, by what she learned as a child. She believes people arriving at our border from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala don't want to leave, but are simply fleeing for their lives.
"You're not given much of a choice if you become a target of (these drug cartels)," Torres said.
"They don't just murder a target," she added. "They murder their families."
Adding to the problem, Torres said, is rampant government corruption in the Northern Triangle that protects the cartels. The defense spending bill signed into law last year included a Torres amendment requiring the State Department to provide a list of elected or government officials in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala known to have engaged in or aided drug trafficking and corruption.
"It's true there are people who are hindering the anti-corruption agenda, so let's see who these people are," Torres told InSight Crime, a foundation focused on organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean.
On Friday, May 17, Torres and Central America Caucus co-chair Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Missouri, introduced a bill that would let the State Department enter agreements with El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala to protect women and children in those countries from domestic violence, sexual assault, and abuse.
"Work with them"
In Torres' view, building a border wall, or cutting off U.S. aid to Central America – the Trump administration announced $700 million in cuts in late March – won't deter migrants.
"I agree that we should not be funding or training or providing any equipment to the military in those areas, or the police forces," she said. Late last year, the White House donated new military vehicles to the Guatemalan government, which has been accused of using U.S.-issued jeeps to intimidate anti-corruption investigators and American embassy personnel.
"We vetted these individuals to make sure we could trust them and make sure they're not involved in (drug) trafficking. They're no longer there," Torres said. "We have no business given them equipment that can be turned around and used against us."
In this Monday, April 15, 2019, photo migrants from Guerrero, Mexico, Erika Faustino Torres, left, with her three children, wait at the Juan Bosco migrant shelter in Nogales, Mexico. They left fearful of crime and cartels violence. (AP Photo/Patricio Espinoza)
That said, Torres — who along with about 100 House Democrats recently signed a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo detailing their opposition to the administration's aid cuts — does support food assistance and small business aid.
"It's cheaper for us to work with them there, in the region, than try to deal with what's happening at our southern border."
Like other Democrats, Torres condemns the practice of separating migrant children from their parents. "When we think about immigration policy, we think about Ellis Island, not children locked in cages," she said.
When she was sent to America, she said, the experience was "traumatic … Not seeing my mom, not seeing my dad … living in a neighborhood where no one looked like me."
"The message we're sending to the world when these images (of migrant children in holding facilities) come out is really not the message of American values."
Under the Obama administration, Torres said, the U.S. made progress with Central America in fighting corruption, protecting democracy and making sure aid was being spent as it was intended. But she said those efforts stopped under the Trump administration, something that in her view has exacerbated the conditions that are driving migrants to seek asylum in the United States.
"When the U.S. is not pushing for (Central American governments) to do more, all of a sudden, we began to see the sliding of democracy (and) ignoring the rule of law," she said
In an April interview with CBS News, Torres said the U.S., which during the Cold War supported right-wing Central American governments and coups, bears part of the blame for the region's current corruption and instability.
The U.S. government, she said, was "at the wrong place, at the wrong time" in Central America "time and time again."
More time needed?
Torres agrees with the Democratic caucus that U.S. aid to Central America should not be cut.
But "she takes a more progressive position by suggesting that the U.S. policy should stress the establishment of rule of law, and anti-corruption, as keys to addressing the dismal security situation, corruption, and impunity," said Stephen D. Morris, a professor in the political science and international relations department at Middle Tennessee State University.
Torres is right in that cutting off aid to Northern Triangle counties is "counterproductive" and Trump's argument that aid programs don't work is misguided, said Eliza Willis, a political science professor at Grinnell College in Iowa.
But Willis, who recently wrote an article in The Atlantic magazine under the title "Troubled Countries Can't Keep People From Leaving," said the congresswoman "overstates the case for the effectiveness of funding allocated to date."
"There have been significant delays in the allocation of approved funds. Most of the programs have not been operating long enough to show real, measurable impacts," Willis said.
"Some preliminary results are promising, but we do not yet have good evidence to make strong claims for effectiveness. More time is needed to provide an accurate assessment of the programs."