Hello again, I'm Ormond Alney.

Contemporary issues that demand immediate action are often the consequences of history.

So it is that the separation of migrant families at America's borders was not invented by the Trump administration.

It's a practice rooted in bipartisan failure to resolve ongoing conflict between human rights

and American traditions in the politics of the moment.

The pressure of upcoming midterm elections is making that all too clear.

On this podcast, we'll compare the rhetoric with the reality and later we'll take a preliminary

look at the latest crisis at the U.S. Supreme Court.

First to the borders, for many decades, the U.S. claimed relations with Central America

were governed by a so-called good-neighbor policy.

In the early 1950s, it was the subject of a good-natured satire in a Broadway musical.

Good neighbors, good neighbors, remember our policy.

Good neighbors, I'll help you if you'll just help me.

Now that happy music was cover for economic imperialism,

punctuated by invasions and economic intrusions.

Currently, the sounds of separated families are revealing the much harsher reality.

That's becoming an all too familiar sound.

Miranda Katie Hallett has just returned from field work in El Salvador, sponsored by the Human Rights Center at the University of Dayton in Ohio.

She is a professor there of cultural anthropology. And, Professor, we're just delighted

to have you on our program. Thank you for having me. How do those tragic sounds reflect what you saw

when you were in El Salvador? Well, I think, as you say, this is just the latest manifestation

of suffering caused by U.S. policies towards Central Americans.

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