Trump's deplorable immigration policy is only getting worse it seems. While the administration has supposedly stopped separating undocumented children from their parents at the border, the children thay have been separated already have still not been reunited. And as there is currently a crisis at the border with all of the recent asylum seekers, they are increasingly being detained in deplorable conditions without adequate food, water, and sanitation. We literally have innocent children being treated worse than convicted felons in this country.
And yes, "concentration camps" is the correct term, since the dictionary definition is "the mass detention of civilans without trial". So it looks like AOC is apparently spot-on. This is how it started in 1930s Germany, after all--first they had detention camps, then slave-labor camps, and only from 1941 onward did they have extermination (death) camps.
Look, it is clear that a lot of people don't like the term "concentration camps". Maybe we should call them "torture camps" instead, given that what all too often occurs in them meets the internationally recognized definition of torture, especially when it involves children. Or perhaps we should call them "Trump Camps" to guarantee that historians forever attach their memory to his name and vile and disgusting legacy, while ironically giving him a perverse ego boost without him even seeing the irony.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is planning even more ICE raids for the purpose of deporting more and more undocumented immigrants, including those who have been living here for years or decades and have no criminal records.
Clearly, such cruelty for cruelty's sake has NOT been any sort of deterrent, as the number of illegal border crossings has gone from the lowest it has been in years in much of 2017 to the highest it has been in decades by March 2019. Let that sink in.
That kinda backfired, didn't it? Meanwhile, the 100% preventable illnesses, injuries, and deaths of both children and adults in these camps just keep piling up every day that goes by. We can no longer call our country a "shining city on a hill" anymore as long as this continues. Even the late Ronald Reagan (who coined both that phrase, as well as the MAGA slogan, by the way) must be spinning in his grave right now.
To be sure, the crisis at the border does not have any easy, ready-made solutions at this point, and certainly requires thinking outside the box. Ideally, all immigrants should come in through the proper channels legally. But the system is currently broken, and when those proper channels are blocked off by the powers that be, for political reasons, clearly something has to give as a result. And the train has basically left the station at this point.
Don't look away. This is how it starts, people. The banality of evil, and "we were just following orders" and "the law is the law". So where's the long-overdue outrage? Remember, the only thing it takes for evil to prosper, is for good people to do nothing. Seriously.
Showing posts with label immigration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label immigration. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Monday, June 18, 2018
We Condemn Trump's Deplorable Immigration Policy
We at the True Spirit of America Party hereby wholeheartedly condemn the Trump administration's ruthless, cowardly, and deplorable immigration policy. It started out bad enough with senseless raids against non-criminal and non-violent undocumented immigrants. But in recent weeks, things took an even darker turn. The administration's is literally separating undocumented children (including infants and toddlers!) from their parents (which easily qualifies as torture) as a cowardly and cynical ploy to gain "leverage" over both the immigrants themselves as well as the administration's political opponents. And even caging them in prison-like conditions on top of that while they await their questionable fate. Seriously, how absolutely low can one get?
And for those who say that it's "not so bad" or "it could be a lot worse", we say, compared to what, exactly? Nazi Germany? Soviet Russia? Because that is, quite frankly, a pitifully low bar to clear. And it is worth noting that, not even during the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII (as deplorable as it was) were children separated from their parents.
Future generations will ask everyone who was around when this happened, "what did you know, when did you know it, and what did you do about it?" And you should hope that you can honestly say that you actually had the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing and wholeheartedly opposed such evil and despicable acts that blatantly contravene international law and all that is decent in this world.
UPDATE: On June 20, Trump finally bowed to increasing public outrage and pressure and signed an executive order halting the deplorable practice of ICE agents separating families at the border. But the damage is basically done already, and the rest of Trump's current immigration policy still leaves a lot to be desired overall. And as of August, most of the separated children have still not yet been reunited with their parents even two months later.
And for those who say that it's "not so bad" or "it could be a lot worse", we say, compared to what, exactly? Nazi Germany? Soviet Russia? Because that is, quite frankly, a pitifully low bar to clear. And it is worth noting that, not even during the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII (as deplorable as it was) were children separated from their parents.
Future generations will ask everyone who was around when this happened, "what did you know, when did you know it, and what did you do about it?" And you should hope that you can honestly say that you actually had the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing and wholeheartedly opposed such evil and despicable acts that blatantly contravene international law and all that is decent in this world.
UPDATE: On June 20, Trump finally bowed to increasing public outrage and pressure and signed an executive order halting the deplorable practice of ICE agents separating families at the border. But the damage is basically done already, and the rest of Trump's current immigration policy still leaves a lot to be desired overall. And as of August, most of the separated children have still not yet been reunited with their parents even two months later.
Monday, February 13, 2017
Trump's Immigration Policy is Cruel, Callous, and Counterproductive
One issue on which the TSAP has changed considerably over the years for the better, especially more recently, has been immigration policy, which we have recently updated in our party platform. And not coincidentally, that very issue is emerging as one of the most controversial issues concerning the new Trump regime, who is currently displaying a very angry, paranoid, hard-line, nativist, racist, xenophobic, and Islamophobic character. Such toxic and regressive attitudes toward immigrants and immigration clearly do far more harm than good overall. Because like it or not, America has always been a nation of immigrants, and we always will be, believe me.
National security is an important issue, no doubt about that. But Trump's method of dealing with such concerns, most notably the draconian Muslim Ban that was recently struck down by the courts, is far too crude and extreme, and ultimately makes us less safe on balance. Most Muslims are good people, only a tiny fraction are jihadists, and we have more to worry about from reich-wing extremists in this country than we do from jihadists nowadays. In fact, you are statistically more likely to be struck by lightning than killed by a terrorist of any kind. And slamming the door on refugees (who are fleeing unimaginable horrors due in part to American foreign policy blunders, and were already being vigorously vetted under Obama) is downright cruel and un-American. Besides, such draconian and xenophobic policies only alienate more people in the Muslim world, and are thus a yuuuge propaganda victory for ISIL and their fellow-travelers.
"Building the wall" along our border with Mexico would also not be a particularly wise idea on balance. Especially Trump's idea of demanding that Mexico pay for it or reimburse us for it (or slapping a tariff on goods from Mexico to pay for it), all $15-25 billion dollars of it. That is practically the definition of chutzpah! And it would be wasteful. We already have a fairly large fence in place along most of the land border, and the rest of the border's terrain is really not very suitable for building a wall there. And it would still have to be patrolled, wall or no wall, so investing more in patrols and technology would make more sense if border security were really the goal. In practice, it is starting to sound less like the Great Wall of China (which ultimately failed to keep out Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes, by the way), and more and more like the infamous Berlin Wall (which effectively kept half of Europe prisoner for decades). Now, if only Gorbachev would tell him, "Mr. Trump, tear down this wall!" (The irony.)
What about all those mass deportations that Trump has promised, and have apparently already begun to some extent? Well, those who support such an idea apparently haven't exactly thought that one through. First of all, it would be a logistical nightmare in practice to round them all up. Secondly, deporting all or most of the currently undocumented immigrants in this country, or causing them to "self-deport", would basically blow a YUUUUGE hole in the economy, particularly in agriculture where they are a YUUUUGE part of the workforce, and the resulting labor shortage would cause food prices to go up. BIGLY. When Alabama tried such a crackdown a few years back, that was exactly what happened, so imagine that happening nationwide. (As for the old chestnut, "dey turk ur jerbs", most of those "jerbs" are ones that very few native-born Americans are willing to do at current wages and conditions.) And last but not least, doing so would be downright cruel and callous indeed, and would break up countless families with children.
And about all that crime that immigrants supposedly bring to this country with them? Well, the best studies find that more immigration actually tends to reduce crime overall. And sanctuary cities also tend to have lower crime rates (and better economies as well) compared with similarly-matched non-sanctuary cities. Another myth bites the dust.
What we really need to do is pass comprehensive immigration reform like Obama and Congressional Democrats had tried a few years ago, but Republicans had severely obstructed. The system is clearly broken as it is, and so many problems can literally be solved with the stroke of a pen. We need to make it easier to enter legally, and also easier to become a naturalized U.S. citizen, as the current process is ridiculous. We need amnesty and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who are currently here, we need to pass the DREAM Act yesterday, and we need to speed up the ridiculously long backlog of people waiting years to get in legally. After that, of course, we should still reduce the quotas so going forward we let in no more immigrants than the previous year's emigration rate (around 200,000 per year) in order to fight overpopulation. Note that this last bit is still part of our party platform, and has been since 2009, though we should note that the very high immigration rates (both legal and illegal) that prevailed under Bush have actually plummeted under Obama for a variety of reasons. And finally, we need to focus on the "push" factors in the sending countries, not just the "pull" factors.
Anything less would be uncivilized. Believe me.
National security is an important issue, no doubt about that. But Trump's method of dealing with such concerns, most notably the draconian Muslim Ban that was recently struck down by the courts, is far too crude and extreme, and ultimately makes us less safe on balance. Most Muslims are good people, only a tiny fraction are jihadists, and we have more to worry about from reich-wing extremists in this country than we do from jihadists nowadays. In fact, you are statistically more likely to be struck by lightning than killed by a terrorist of any kind. And slamming the door on refugees (who are fleeing unimaginable horrors due in part to American foreign policy blunders, and were already being vigorously vetted under Obama) is downright cruel and un-American. Besides, such draconian and xenophobic policies only alienate more people in the Muslim world, and are thus a yuuuge propaganda victory for ISIL and their fellow-travelers.
"Building the wall" along our border with Mexico would also not be a particularly wise idea on balance. Especially Trump's idea of demanding that Mexico pay for it or reimburse us for it (or slapping a tariff on goods from Mexico to pay for it), all $15-25 billion dollars of it. That is practically the definition of chutzpah! And it would be wasteful. We already have a fairly large fence in place along most of the land border, and the rest of the border's terrain is really not very suitable for building a wall there. And it would still have to be patrolled, wall or no wall, so investing more in patrols and technology would make more sense if border security were really the goal. In practice, it is starting to sound less like the Great Wall of China (which ultimately failed to keep out Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes, by the way), and more and more like the infamous Berlin Wall (which effectively kept half of Europe prisoner for decades). Now, if only Gorbachev would tell him, "Mr. Trump, tear down this wall!" (The irony.)
What about all those mass deportations that Trump has promised, and have apparently already begun to some extent? Well, those who support such an idea apparently haven't exactly thought that one through. First of all, it would be a logistical nightmare in practice to round them all up. Secondly, deporting all or most of the currently undocumented immigrants in this country, or causing them to "self-deport", would basically blow a YUUUUGE hole in the economy, particularly in agriculture where they are a YUUUUGE part of the workforce, and the resulting labor shortage would cause food prices to go up. BIGLY. When Alabama tried such a crackdown a few years back, that was exactly what happened, so imagine that happening nationwide. (As for the old chestnut, "dey turk ur jerbs", most of those "jerbs" are ones that very few native-born Americans are willing to do at current wages and conditions.) And last but not least, doing so would be downright cruel and callous indeed, and would break up countless families with children.
And about all that crime that immigrants supposedly bring to this country with them? Well, the best studies find that more immigration actually tends to reduce crime overall. And sanctuary cities also tend to have lower crime rates (and better economies as well) compared with similarly-matched non-sanctuary cities. Another myth bites the dust.
What we really need to do is pass comprehensive immigration reform like Obama and Congressional Democrats had tried a few years ago, but Republicans had severely obstructed. The system is clearly broken as it is, and so many problems can literally be solved with the stroke of a pen. We need to make it easier to enter legally, and also easier to become a naturalized U.S. citizen, as the current process is ridiculous. We need amnesty and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who are currently here, we need to pass the DREAM Act yesterday, and we need to speed up the ridiculously long backlog of people waiting years to get in legally. After that, of course, we should still reduce the quotas so going forward we let in no more immigrants than the previous year's emigration rate (around 200,000 per year) in order to fight overpopulation. Note that this last bit is still part of our party platform, and has been since 2009, though we should note that the very high immigration rates (both legal and illegal) that prevailed under Bush have actually plummeted under Obama for a variety of reasons. And finally, we need to focus on the "push" factors in the sending countries, not just the "pull" factors.
Anything less would be uncivilized. Believe me.
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