Introduction
Part 4 of a 5 Part Series
This series begins with Trump at the UN: Part 1, a Tale of Two Presidents and a Vision
On September 24, as President Trump addressed the United Nations he took his audience on a world tour that included China, Iran, Korea and Afghanistan. His final stop in Part 4 of his speech is closer to home, the Western Hemisphere.
In this part of his address President Trump points out the dangers of mass illegal migrations. It would seem common sense to recognize that those who encourage such migration, while believing themselves compassionate, are actually assisting criminals that abuse and endanger the very people purportedly being helped. Beyond that, the future of the countries that people leave are darkened, increasing the suffering of those left behind.
The President recognizes the siren call and brutality of socialism and communism, ideologies that cost 100,000,000 lives in the last century and the damage done to Venezuela, a country rich in natural resources. Venezuela, Cuba or Nicaragua are not saved by depleting them of the youth that are their future.
Imagine for a moment if in the 18th Century, rather than unite in a determination to rid themselves of the oppressive rule of King George, Americans decided to simply leave. There would be no Declaration of Independence, no Constitution, no United States.
Imagine if the best and brightest of the Poles, Lithuanians and others behind the Iron Curtain formed caravans to flee the Soviet Union rather than unite to throw off the chains. There would not be 13 new members of NATO joining to defend freedom. Ten of those new NATO allies were former enemies under their communist rulers as members of the Warsaw Pact. As President Trump points out, patriots defending their own freedom and that of their neighbors makes the world safer.
President Trump understands the solution is multi-lateral, acknowledging the critical cooperation of Mexico, Canada, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Panama in upholding the integrity of borders to ensure the safety and prosperity of their people. This is a long-term view to helping the long-suffering people of Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and more.
A country ensuring the liberty, safety, security and prosperity of its own people stands as an example for others to free themselves. One only need to see the people of Hong Kong waving American flags as they sing the Star Spangled Banner to see that this is true.
Trump at the UN:
Part 4, The Western Hemisphere
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Here in the Western Hemisphere, we are joining with our partners to ensure stability and opportunity all across the region. In that mission, one of our most critical challenges is illegal immigration, which undermines prosperity, rips apart societies, and empowers ruthless criminal cartels.
Mass illegal migration is unfair, unsafe, and unsustainable for everyone involved: the sending countries and the depleted countries. And they become depleted very fast, but their youth is not taken care of and human capital goes to waste.
The receiving countries are overburdened with more migrants than they can responsibly accept. And the migrants themselves are exploited, assaulted, and abused by vicious coyotes. Nearly one third of women who make the journey north to our border are sexually assaulted along the way. Yet, here in the United States and around the world, there is a growing cottage industry of radical activists and non-governmental organizations that promote human smuggling. These groups encourage illegal migration and demand erasure of national borders.
Today, I have a message for those open border activists who cloak themselves in the rhetoric of social justice: Your policies are not just. Your policies are cruel and evil. You are empowering criminal organizations that prey on innocent men, women, and children. You put your own false sense of virtue before the lives and well-being, of countless innocent people. When you undermine border security, you are undermining human rights and human dignity.
Many of the countries here today are coping with the challenges of uncontrolled migration. Each of you has the absolute right to protect your borders, and so, of course, does our country. Today, we must resolve to work together to end human smuggling, end human trafficking, and put these criminal networks out of business for good.
To our country, I can tell you sincerely: We are working closely with our friends in the region — including Mexico, Canada, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Panama — to uphold the integrity of borders and ensure safety and prosperity for our people. I would like to thank President López Obrador of Mexico for the great cooperation we are receiving and for right now putting 27,000 troops on our southern border. Mexico is showing us great respect, and I respect them in return.
The U.S., we have taken very unprecedented action to stop the flow of illegal immigration. To anyone considering crossings of our border illegally, please hear these words: Do not pay the smugglers. Do not pay the coyotes. Do not put yourself in danger. Do not put your children in danger. Because if you make it here, you will not be allowed in; you will be promptly returned home. You will not be released into our country. As long as I am President of the United States, we will enforce our laws and protect our borders.
For all of the countries of the Western Hemisphere, our goal is to help people invest in the bright futures of their own nation. Our region is full of such incredible promise: dreams waiting to be built and national destinies for all. And they are waiting also to be pursued.
Throughout the hemisphere, there are millions of hardworking, patriotic young people eager to build, innovate, and achieve. But these nations cannot reach their potential if a generation of youth abandon their homes in search of a life elsewhere. We want every nation in our region to flourish and its people to thrive in freedom and peace.
In that mission, we are also committed to supporting those people in the Western Hemisphere who live under brutal oppression, such as those in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
According to a recent report from the U.N. Human Rights Council, women in Venezuela stand in line for 10 hours a day waiting for food. Over 15,000 people have been detained as political prisoners. Modern-day death squads are carrying out thousands of extrajudicial killings.
The dictator Maduro is a Cuban puppet, protected by Cuban bodyguards, hiding from his own people while Cuba plunders Venezuela’s oil wealth to sustain its own corrupt communist rule.
Since I last spoke in this hall, the United States and our partners have built a historic coalition of 55 countries that recognize the legitimate government of Venezuela.
To the Venezuelans trapped in this nightmare: Please know that all of America is united behind you. The United States has vast quantities of humanitarian aid ready and waiting to be delivered. We are watching the Venezuela situation very closely. We await the day when democracy will be restored, when Venezuela will be free, and when liberty will prevail throughout this hemisphere.
One of the most serious challenges our countries face is the specter of socialism. It’s the wrecker of nations and destroyer of societies.
Events in Venezuela remind us all that socialism and communism are not about justice, they are not about equality, they are not about lifting up the poor, and they are certainly not about the good of the nation. Socialism and communism are about one thing only: power for the ruling class.
Today, I repeat a message for the world that I have delivered at home: America will never be a socialist country.
In the last century, socialism and communism killed 100 million people. Sadly, as we see in Venezuela, the death toll continues in this country. These totalitarian ideologies, combined with modern technology, have the power to exercise new and disturbing forms of suppression and domination.
For this reason, the United States is taking steps to better screen foreign technology and investments and to protect our data and our security. We urge every nation present to do the same.
This series begins with Trump at the UN: Part 1, a Tale of Two Presidents and a Vision
It continues with Trump at the UN: Part 5, Freedom, Democracy, Human Rights and Liberty
[…] It continues with Trump at the UN: Part 4, The Western Hemisphere […]