I originally wrote this almost two weeks ago, the day after a bunch of migrants from the “caravan” tried to storm the border and force their way into the country. Then it sat, unpublished. The points are still as valid now as they were then, so here we go…unedited.,
People who pay attention, and are intellectually honest, know that I loathe and detest Donald Trump both as a man and a politician, but as a preface I feel the need to reiterate that, given the current immigration topic and some people’s penchant to knee-jerk.
As much as I disagree with most of what the man does, he is pretty close to being correct on immigration, at least illegal immigration. Some points, pro and con…
- – We should be protecting our borders from unfettered immigration, otherwise we’re not a nation, we’re just a loose collection of people handing out benefits.
- – “The Wall” is fucking dumb. It’s a ‘shiny object’ to appeal to gullible people to establish a base voting block. If there is any justice in the world The Wall will get zero funding.
- – Using tear gas was unfortunate, but… what are we supposed to do? Seriously. You have a better plan? If so, when you criticize please share it. I’m honestly open to alternatives that are less harsh AND effective. I’ve experienced tear gas. I absolutely hated it, it was one of the worst experiences of my life. But it didn’t harm me and it won’t harm the vast majority of people who experience it.
- – Kids were tear gassed? Again, unfortunate, but… unless you’re vocally placing at least equal condemnation on the kid’s parents for taking them into that kind of situation, I will dismiss your opinion out-of-hand. And I want to see you include the parents every single time you include our government.
- – The president says, as do I as part of my official long-term platform, that people need to go through the process and do it legally. Totally agree (though I suspect I’m more sincere about that point than the president is), though it’s too often disingenuous to proclaim this, considering our current system and/or pretty much total unwillingness to do something about it. Problem is, and what people like the president don’t acknowledge, is that 1) we really don’t have an adequate system to deal with it, and 2) what system we do have is too chaotic and bureaucratic and takes too long. We need to streamline it, hire more people, and make it reasonable so that the legal option is attractive as legitimately viable. Until then, this point from politicians is just jaw-jackin’.
- – What’s that Tijuana and Mexico? You’re having to deal with so many unwanted people that is saps your resources and you don’t know what to do? Welcome to our world. Not fun, is it? If we did close the border, and masses of migrants did linger in Mexico, maybe they would start enforcing their own borders and spend less effort helping them through. That would actually be a good thing, and one place that Trump’s actions could actually be a good thing.
- – According to a couple news reports I heard this morning on the radio, some migrants, now that they’ve been rebuffed, are considering seeking asylum from Mexico, or… *gasp!*… going back to their home country. Hmmm… maybe it really wasn’t as bad and terrifying as some on one side wanted us to believe.
- – I’m very skeptical of the “they’re criminals” crap, though I’m sure some are. Again, that’s just pandering to the base. But, that’s also just humanity. Gather large groups of people together and a certain percentage will be sketchy and dishonest. It’s the implication that they all are that I reject.
- – We do have a moral obligation to fix our legal process, or else we’re a bunch of hypocrites ourselves. It’s easy to say “only come legally”, but hollow if the process isn’t reasonably workable.
Less about the current issue, but someone will bring these up…
- – “We created the problem.” Yes and no. Our government did do things that helped set this up in some countries, and we dropped aid later (in the Clinton administration, IIRC), but not all the immigrants are from those countries. We do have something of a moral obligation, to a point, of re-establishing aid, but we do not have a moral obligation to take anyone and everyone who wants to come.
- – “We are a nation of immigrants.” Yes, we are. What many people fail to remember is that even at Ellis Island we had strict standards and we sent a great many people back to where they came from because they didn’t meet our standards.