Destabilize, Exploit, Repeat: How U.S. Hegemony Creates the Immigration Crisis
The U.S. broke their countries—then blamed them for it.
For decades, American foreign policy has systematically destabilized nations across Latin America and beyond, propping up dictators, funding violent regimes, and plunging entire economies into chaos in service of its own political and economic interests. The narrative pushed in the U.S. tells a different story. It insists that these nations were always doomed, their poverty and violence inherent, their people desperate to escape so they can take advantage of “the land of opportunity.” This lie erases the role the U.S. played in creating these crises in the first place. The truth is that these countries were rich in resources, culture, and promise until American intervention ensured otherwise.
When somebody points out one of the flaws of the United States: its staggering wealth inequality, its failing healthcare system, its crumbling infrastructure, its violent policing, and you respond with, “Then why do people leave their ‘shithole’ countries to come here?” consider this: U.S. intervention has strategically destabilized those very countries, forcing people to flee and become an exploited under-the-table labor force in the U.S. The CIA-backed coup in Guatemala (1954) overthrew a democratically elected government to protect U.S. corporate interests, leading to decades of civil war and genocide. In Chile (1973), the U.S. orchestrated the overthrow of Salvador Allende, replacing him with the brutal dictatorship of Pinochet. In El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, the U.S. funneled billions into arming right-wing death squads and paramilitary groups, fueling massacres, mass displacement, and instability. The U.S. continues to deepen the war on drugs, which has empowered cartels in Mexico and Central America, and economic policies like NAFTA, which decimated local agriculture in Mexico, pushing farmers into poverty and migration. When the people of these countries are left with no choice but to flee in search of safety and opportunity, they are met with scorn, accused of leeching off a system that deliberately ensured they would have nowhere else to go.
People throw out the “shithole country” question in response to valid criticism as if it is some kind of rhetorical knockout. But before you drop the mic, pass it over; if you are suddenly interested in geopolitics, you are about to get a real answer. Consider this your introduction to global power dynamics and the carefully maintained machinery of the New World Order.
Reality is far more complex than the American narrative suggests. People do not leave their homelands out of choice but out of necessity, displaced by economic ruin, political instability, and violence set in motion by U.S. interference. Once here, they spend decades working to build better lives for their families. Because their immediate conditions in the U.S. are better than where they fled, it is not apparent to them that they become part of a system that both sustains the destruction of their home countries and fuels an exploitative labor economy. This phenomenon is conveniently framed as “fulfilling the American Dream.”
However, nobody can ignore the realities faced by these immigrants, nor should blame be placed on them for any part of this process. They recognized that their countries were unsafe. The United States was portrayed as the place to find refuge, and they endured hellish conditions to get here. They work tirelessly in dangerous environments to build lives more stable than what they left behind. They embody the concept of the American Dream in its purest form.
What I want to emphasize is that both realities can coexist: these immigrants achieved the American Dream through genuine determination, unyielding grit, fierce loyalty to their families, and a refusal to give up. But we must also recognize that the American Dream is not just a beacon of opportunity; it is a predatory system disguised as salvation. It is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, thriving on the labor, sweat, and sacrifice of those same immigrants, giving power to a structure that not only benefits domestically but continues to sink its fangs into the very countries they fled.
What they have sacrificed and achieved for their families is nothing short of miraculous. They view their wins and losses as collective, bound by a deep sense of solidarity that refuses to leave anyone behind. They reject the individualism that is so ingrained in the American psyche, and in doing so, they hold onto the communal spirit that is a cornerstone of Latin American culture, something that remains lost in American society where personal achievement is typically prioritized over shared success. They have fought for their survival and success against odds that many will never understand. We cannot, under any circumstances, deny or diminish these experiences.
Yet, despite their journeys laced with hardship and the warmth, kindness, language, art, music, dance, and thought they bring to our country (not to mention the delicious food), along with their tireless work ethic that powers our nation, their contributions are overshadowed or minimized completely by the system that depends on their sacrifice. This same system not only benefits from their labor but goes on to effectively “other” them, scapegoating them as the cause of white plight while evading accountability for the larger, systemic issues that actually shape the challenges faced by working-class White Americans.
The system goes to great lengths to reinforce its narrative, deliberately keeping immigrants in the dark about how U.S. hegemony has shaped their circumstances, manufacturing what we now call the immigration crisis. The modern asylum process has been intentionally gutted, with policies like Title 42 barring legitimate refugees from seeking safety under the guise of pandemic response. Meanwhile, border militarization funnels migrants into deadlier crossing routes, ensuring thousands perish while politicians use their deaths as talking points. By doing so, the U.S. maintains the illusion that these issues are personal failures of Latin America and its people, rather than the result of a carefully orchestrated global power structure working exactly as it was designed. Whether by orchestrating coups, bankrolling cartels, or engaging in kidnappings and assassinations, such as the U.S.-backed Operation Condor which saw thousands of leftist dissidents disappeared across South America, the U.S. machine will go to any length to manufacture the conditions needed to sustain its exploitative system.
In many ways, this system has begun to backfire on the U.S. machine, as seen in the relentless protests by and in favor of Latin American immigrants. For decades, the U.S. government has forced them to become unbreakable; hardening themselves, shedding fear, crossing rivers, deserts, and walls, all in the name of love and family. These are people who have always been willing to risk everything for what they hold dear. And now, that same resilience, the very thing that allowed them to survive, is being wielded in defiance of the system that they recognize has sought to exploit them.
Those who have walked thousands of miles, survived near-starvation, and endured grueling, exploitative labor have gone on to raise doctors, lawyers, architects, and engineers. But they have also raised the mailman who delivers your letters, the fast-food worker who flips your burgers, the bus driver who gets you where you need to go. They raised your next-door neighbor, your child’s teacher, the nurse who cares for you in the hospital. Their contributions are not just found in the extraordinary, but in the everyday, as the backbone of the society that refuses to acknowledge their worth.
Born into a harsh reality that demanded resilience, they have spent their entire lives fighting to survive. Yet, despite everything, you’ll find them with a smile, full of love and laughter on any given day of the week. This makes them rich in ways that no soulless bastard running this country with millions to spare could ever understand.
The U.S. has forced them to fight since before they were even born, so why would they back down now?
Sources & Further Reading
Chomsky, Noam. Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance. Metropolitan Books, 2003.
In this book, Chomsky explains how U.S. foreign policy has been driven by the need to maintain global hegemony, often at the expense of Latin American countries.
Petras, James, and Henry Veltmeyer. The New Imperialism: Crisis and Resistance in the 21st Century. Zed Books, 2005.
A detailed analysis of U.S. interventionist policies in Latin America and their role in creating instability and fostering exploitation.
Johnson, Chalmers. Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire. Henry Holt and Co., 2000.
A thorough exploration of how U.S. foreign policies have created long-term negative consequences, both abroad and domestically.
“U.S. Role in Latin America: A History of Political Interference.” BBC News, January 19, 2019.
A concise article providing an overview of U.S. interventions in Latin America, including support for dictatorships and covert operations like the overthrow of Chile’s Allende in 1973.
Grandin, Greg. The Last Colonial Massacre: Latin America in the Cold War. University of Chicago Press, 2004.
This book examines the United States’ involvement in Latin American military coups, focusing on its role in the Guatemalan Civil War and the broader geopolitical implications.
“The U.S. Has a Long History of Interfering in Latin America—Here’s Why.” The Guardian, October 21, 2020.
An informative article on the history of U.S. interventions in Latin America and how they have fueled migration crises and social instability in the region.
Hedges, Chris. Death of the Liberal Class. Nation Books, 2010.
While focused on the decay of liberal institutions in the U.S., Hedges’ analysis provides insight into how American capitalism exploits labor both domestically and abroad.
“The Myth of the ‘American Dream’.” The Atlantic, May 6, 2019.
This article critiques the concept of the American Dream and how it’s often presented as an ideal without acknowledging the exploitation that makes it possible.
“America’s Role in the Mexican Drug War.” Al Jazeera, March 10, 2016.
An examination of U.S. drug policies and their role in fueling violence in Mexico, which has contributed to forced migration from the region.
“The Dark History of U.S. Interventions in Latin America.” Al Jazeera English, September 7, 2017.
A journalistic piece that highlights key moments of U.S. intervention in Latin America, from the Cold War era to more recent developments, and the lasting impact on the region.