Kpdemello wrote:Growing up, I went to public schools, and was taught about our country's history. About how George Washington and the founding fathers fought for the right to be represented and have a say in government, and not be ignored and trampled on by far-off powers. About how Abraham Lincoln fought a civil war to keep the country united and how he freed the slaves. About Martin Luther King Jr. and his struggle for equal rights for all.
All though this, one concept sunk deep - that all humans are born free and equal, with certain inalienable rights. If one believes in that concept, than other axioms necessarily follow. Mistreatment of one class of people is mistreatment of all, because allowing discrimination against one allows discrimination against any. Each person is a unique human life with a right to be treated in a fair and humane manner. People shouldn't be judged and have their rights taken away without due process of law. These aren't just rights for American citizens - they're inalienable rights we are all *born* with. These concepts, to me, embody what it means to be an American.
But now we have a guy in office, as our President, whom many people unabashedly support, who is perfectly content with allowing human rights violations during a humanitarian crisis of unparalleled proportions right on our southern border. Children are separated from their parents for no other reason than they are trying to travel to a foreign country. Think about that. Imagine if you took your kids to Europe, and when you got to the border, they took your kids away and put him in some camp, not letting you see them. How would you react to that?
Then the president sets up internment camps for these refugees, locating many outside the U.S., but he fails to ensure that there's enough food for the people who come to these camps. He's found a way to divert over a billion dollars from U.S. soldiers to build a wall, but he can't find a way to provide enough food for starving people in his camps. Instead, he blames the refugees. They're criminals, he says. They're rapists. Have you ever been so desperate for a better life that you've walked over a thousand miles just for a chance of making it to a better place? Have you ever risked your life, crossing a deep river with a strong current, to try to help your family live a better life? These are people we're talking about. People born equal, and free, and with those same inalienable rights to which we are all entitled. And Trump treats them like human waste.
And this is just one reason among many that this administration is a disaster. It will be regarded as a dark time in our history, and future generations will look back on what this President has done with shame.
This dissertation contains the essence of why we don't agree. It starts out with rah rah feel good historical icons, and then warps and conflates itself into pure feel good with no recognition of things like laws, borders, and the need for them.
KPD wants to forgo any screening process for immigrants. Disease, criminal past, kidnapping a child, a mule carrying drugs, no matter. KPD conveniently forgets Trump was denied, and is still denied, adequate funding for care and housing of refugees and better border security. KPD ignores what happened prior to the current administration. KPD sees no difference or value between legal immigration and illegal immigration. KPD thinks if you present your family at a foreign country in the same manner, illegally, that you won't be detained, separated and jailed pending disposition of your case. And lastly, KPD seems to ignore how the thousands of refugees get here, the coyotes, the human trafficking industry, and the enticement our recent loophole filled essentially open border policy if you just utter "Asylum" has on nearby populations. That enticement, fueled by the open border rhetoric, has caused both the death of which KPD speaks (On foreign soil, but KPD lets that slide to make the story better) and the overwhelming of our ability to adequately deal with the number of border crossing asylum claimers.
Meanwhile, the US continues to be the most generous nation with foreign aid and accepting of legal immigrants.
More than 44.5 million immigrants resided in the United States in 2017, the historical high since census records have been kept. One in seven U.S. residents is foreign born, according to 2017 American Community Survey (ACS) data.
Number of legal immigrants 2017: 1,127,167. Not very dark. Not very shameful.
