Antonio Navalón
No city in the world is more symbolic and representative of what Americans call the “melting pot” than New York. This place is populated by a mix of migrants from an assortment of nations from all over the world. Throughout the 20th century and much of this 21st century, New York was the pride of America and the showcase of what an institutional strength and well-worn American dream was capable of offering not only to its citizens but to almost anyone in the world, regardless of their origins or roots. Today, however, everything has changed.
New York City’s Democratic mayor, Eric Adams, has argued that migration may be the factor that leads to the city’s collapse. In recent months and years, the so-called “Big Apple” has witnessed the tremendous social dislocation and need that inhabits the city’s streets, going from being the world metropolis and representative of business success to being a refuge – with increasingly limited capabilities – for the dreams of migrants. In addition, as if all this were not enough, we also see, register, and live with the lack of social integration and the absence of a joint project – which, at the time, was the element that consolidated not only New York but the entire United States -, a situation that has caused neither residents nor migrants to look for things that unite them and allow them to redesign the city positively and together.
The 21st century, the century of knowledge and communications, has marked – among other things – the end of the loyalty pact in international migration. For various personal and professional reasons, I have been a migrant all my life, residing in different parts of the world. I have been living and residing in the United States for many years. I remember that, for many years, one of the fundamental parts of the migration pact was that – as a sign of gratitude and loyalty to the place that allowed you to aspire to a new life – one began by offering the best of oneself. The receiving country opened its doors to you, and in return, you had to show your best skills and qualities, not only professionally but also personally, to make a place for yourself in the society to which you were migrating.
Now, since the communications revolution, the world is flat, and we can all see the same images through our cell phones, but without regard to their context, migrants have stopped arriving gratefully in the countries that welcome them. They come with fury and rage, demanding where their share of the pie is. There is no reflection behind those photographs, that promise, and that aspiration – however legitimate it may be – there may even be centuries of the culture of sacrifice and effort. There is loyalty to what we have to do; however, there is no sense of obligation to what we have to do to have the part corresponding to us in the collective development.
We have created incommunicated and autistic societies, united only by the failure to find opportunities outside our country of origin and living not with gratitude for what is offered but with a sense of demand for what we do not have. It is as if the history of the world had been made as one, and there were no differentiating elements on how the countries could build their fortune. It is as if there were no races or different languages and as if there were only the inalienable right to have the best of each society without contributing to the best of each one. That is why, at this moment, seeing the terrifying lines of migrants in cities like New York in a circumstance that has surpassed the limits and is also happening in different parts of the United States and the world, it is essential to understand something. Until there is a new approach and local, professional, and personal reading of integration, this problem will never have a solution, and we will be condemned to a social explosion due to dissatisfaction and unhappiness and, above all, due to the lack of integration. There are many examples of what I mention; look and see the latest incidents and protests in France, the lack of control at the border between Mexico and the United States, or the heartbreaking images of people taking a raft in the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe.
Today’s world is full of images. Unfortunately, more images demonstrate the political, social, and economic debacle than those that promote or give hope of getting back on track. Scenes such as those currently taking place in the armed conflict between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas are, to a large extent, a representative announcement of the chaotic emotional state and, above all, of the flood of hatred that this time has managed to generate.
If one remembers and sees the big European cities, one will realize that no matter how many millions have come from Africa, Turkey, or Latin America, the fact is that the European societies within themselves are cut off from each other and that the newcomers – who are currently bridging the demographic gap – have not managed to integrate either. It is clear and irrefutable that we are becoming increasingly isolated in communities that do not communicate, share a life project, or even the purpose of shared happiness.
I do not believe it is possible to maintain migration control at the borders. At the moment, the problem is the dysfunction and the absence of a global project, which means that, in the face of the uncontrolled growth of attempts at migration, usually illegal, a reaction leads to closing the doors and reinforcing migratory controls. However, this is sometimes geographically impossible since how to close a field or a sea that separates two territories?
But the real question and problem is not that of closing borders, but that in reality – for political, social, or economic reasons – we have completely misunderstood the phenomenon we have been facing for centuries. Why not seek to include rather than exclude? In countries like the United States and many others in Europe, migrants are the driving force of the national economy. Global leaders must understand once and for all that migration is inevitable, that it has existed for centuries and will always exist, and that the solution does not lie in closing borders but in opening opportunities consolidated in common growth and development.
Curiously, Ronald Reagan was the last U.S. president to perform a heroic act by incorporating millions of illegal immigrants. However, the social peace, growth, and what is now the basis of multiplication within the union of immigration communities were due, in large part, to the massive legalization policy implemented during that presidency.
The countries of Europe have an indisputable problem. The owners of Europe do not want Europe. The young French people who came out to demonstrate on the Champs Elysées want – and they confess it – their culture, life, religion, and belonging, and from the State that welcomes them, they want a pension check and protection. They are not looking for the possibility of personal growth or much more because, in the end, social hatred and pent-up fury seek to destroy everything that crosses their path. In this sense, we must know and be aware that the longer we delay in reconfiguring a new list of objectives and a new scheme of social integration, the more time we will be wasting and the higher the price we will pay in the form of demonstrations of contained social hatred, putting us all at risk.
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