In John Steinbeck’s novel ‘The Grapes of Wrath,’ the Joad family was just one of millions that had to move west because of the havoc the Dust Bowl wreaked. 2.5 million people took a similar journey that they did. Most were farmers who were fleeing because their acres could no longer support them. They faced discrimination from the Californians they came in contact with and police alike. It was brutal. ‘Okies,’ a term that once served to remind them where they came from, soon turned into an insult. People took advantage of their desperation. They got paid low wages that were hard to live off of, and were often given poor living conditions in the camps they worked out of. The police helped start more fights than they put out. It was horrible, and the dehumanization of such migrants can be compared to lots of things that happened in the past and that are happening presently. 
In our modern day world, immigrants in Mexico are treated more harshly than any other country in the world. This USA Today article talks about a man who came from Honduras to Mexico in order to escape a drug cartel. He thought life would be better with the move, but the man wasn’t treated much better. Local police robbed him and threw him (and several others) off of a moving train. The other people he had been traveling with were taken by gang members in front of Mexican authorities. Tens of thousands of people running away from violence in their countries are often made prey by criminal organizations as well as corrupt government officials.
And it’s hard for them to leave Mexico and cross over into the United States because of our flawed system and Trump’s hatred of immigrants. Despite the bad experience some migrants have shared that come through their travel through Mexico, there’s been talks about naming the country a ‘safe third country.’ I’d if that happens, it would be legal for the United States to send asylum-seekers there while their cases or pending. Or, they could send them there permanently instead of granting them access to the United States.
When it comes to Mexico and how it treats its migrants, how safe is safe? As human beings, whether past or present, why is it so hard for us to allow everyone a place to utilize their rights and freedoms?
