Hundreds of refugees from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are living in uncertainty on both sides of the US-Mexico border while they wait to officially be granted asylum in the United States. Thousands more have left their homes in new caravans toward the US. They do so despite the racist xenophobia of Trump’s government; despite a militarized border that US troops don’t hesitate to fire across; and despite no guarantees that they will ever find stability or have their humanity recognized again.

Working-class people inside the US have risen to the task of fighting for the rights granted to asylum-seekers under international law. We are fighting to stop Trump’s racist border wall and welcome these refugees. But we also must stand up against the US foreign policies that are causing so many in Central America to flee their homes in the first place.

In Honduras, a US-backed coup in 2009 installed a regime under which murders of trade unionists, land protectors and indigenous leaders are carried out with impunity. People who fight back are given threats to leave or be killed. Family members face extortion and violence from corrupt police, while US troops continue to occupy military bases inside the country despite widespread opposition.

In Guatemala, decades of CIA support for genocidal death squads and repression have led to mass poverty. Private development projects routinely displace indigenous farmers and destroy their means of livelihood and the environment. Longstanding relationships between US-backed paramilitaries and drug traffickers ensure corruption goes unpunished and repressive violence continues.

In El Salvador, the US continues to demand unrestricted access for predatory companies. In January, the Trump administration threatened to impose harsher trade rules on El Salvador for not toeing Washington’s foreign policy line. Meanwhile, corrupt officials and criminal gangs exported directly from the US have wrenched de facto control over entire neighborhoods. This situation is poised to grow even more oppressive if US government interference continues, especially US meddling in the upcoming El Salvador elections in 2019.

In all cases, the US uses military, political and economic power to oppress the Central American nations and quash the self-determination of their peoples. Trump’s obsession with militarizing the border is an attempt to further subjugate these nations to the benefit of US and multinational corporations. Along with Trump’s Muslim ban, “build the wall” is a racist narrative used to criminalize and dehumanize entire peoples.