translated from Spanish: Right not to emigrate – The Mostrador

Mr. Director:
With regard to the massive arrival of migrants in the commune of Colchane, the solution to the migration problem is not a ditch that divides and closes borders, in the style of walls that have wanted to be erected to close the common horizon that only manages to leave us locked in ourselves.
While it is true that, in order to give greater dignity to migrants, it is necessary to develop international and national public policies that allow and guarantee the right to emigrate to sister lands in search of help and better opportunities; it is no less true that the “right not to emigrate, that is, to have the conditions to remain in one’s own land” must also be guaranteed (Fratelli Tutti, 38). The right to find protection, opportunities and everything necessary for the integral development of the person must be safeguarded. In addition, it should be remembered that, as a person leaves for another country or continent, seeking better opportunities, not only the lives of those who emigrate are torn apart, but also entire families and societies who remain in the homeland. Without denying the contribution to culture and society that occurs through migration. That is why I consider it necessary that, in the face of immigration problems, we should not regard the problem as if it were “they”, but of “we”, as brothers of the same common house.
 
Ricardo Ramirez Basualdo
Professor at the Academy of Catholic Leaders

Original source in Spanish