Trump's new system
I chose to post about the changed deportation guidelines because I disagree with what Trump has decided to put our country though, and would like to know my classmates opinions on the topic. In 2011, when Barack Obama was president, he decided that it was not important to deport immigrants who had formed a valuable life and family and were not considered a threat to the public safety of the U.S.. Due to this, the U.S. government prioritized deporting illegal immigrants who were considered felons. However, the Trump administration has reopened the cases of the many illegal immigrants who cases Obama had pushed aside. This idea was one of the first examples Trump had promised, and once the plans started to take action, a wave of chaos and panic had washed over the tens of thousands of illegal immigrants who had been “safe” from deportation for years. In the month of May, the government has reopened nearly 1500 cases. When Trump took Obama’s place as president, the deportation principles have changed from targeting only criminals, to criminals continuing to be the majority of deportations, but also targeting anybody in the country who entered illegally. The following passage is from an article from Reuters.com by Mica Rosenberg and Reade Levinson.
In the 32 reopened cases examined by Reuters:
--22 involved immigrants who, according to their attorneys, had not been in trouble with the law since their cases were closed.
--Two of the cases involved serious crimes committed after their cases were closed: domestic violence and driving under the influence.
--At least six of the cases involved minor infractions, including speeding after having unpaid traffic tickets, or driving without a valid license, according to the attorneys.
As you can see, under Trump’s new terms, hundreds of innocent people are being forced out of their home all too quickly. However, because of these many deportations, the fear of other illegal immigrants is building up quickly. Some feel that their only option is to leave themselves before someone can force them out of their homes. This was the case for a mother and her son, who left the U.S. on July 21’st. They flew back to Mexico to live with the father of her son, and her husband, who had been deported in 2015. The fact that an important loved one could get taken out of their lives within a few days haunted this family, and added to the mother’s fear of going to jail because of her family’s decision to illegally enter the U.S. in hope to find a job to support the children when she was only 14. Why should we be forcing innocent people out of our country who are not negatively affecting our lives in any way? Most of them entered the country with no say in the decision because they were so young and only following their family in their search for a better life. But could this new process be benefiting the U.S. and making our country stronger?
Discussion Questions:
- Should we focus on deporting mainly criminals or all illegal immigrants in the U.S.?
- How will deporting all of the illegal immigrants affect the way our country runs as of now?
- Why do you think that Obama decided not to deport all illegal immigrants, but Trump wants to?
Further Reading:
When hearing the phrase “illegal immigrants”, our minds often paint the picture of troublemaking figures who we associate with drugs, trafficking, crime, and overall negative ideas. On the contrary, as the article by The New York Times showed, not every undocumented immigrant has malevolent intentions at all. The woman featured in the story, Edith Rivera, described her hard-working, honest life also wrought with the fears that come with her illegal status. People like her really do only want to build better lives for themselves and their families. In the same way as any other documented Mexican immigrant in the United States, others have the same motivations. However, every situation varies, and some may have different circumstances that may lead to more desperate measures (by this I refer to crossing the border illegally). Oftentimes, these immigrants are so willing to find work and means to get by that they find job openings that nobody wants. In this way, it is completely contradictory to the belief that these people are “stealing American jobs”. Usually, this population does not have the skills, education, or qualifications (some do not even speak English) to fill the spots that opposers refer to. Oftentimes, they perform grueling, manual labor in rural areas for very small wages. In Hampton, Iowa, people “admired the immigrants who cleaned out reeking livestock pens for $10 to $15 an hour”. In a town filled with mostly eggs farms and hog barns, Edith Rivera’s family started a small business power-washing hog barns. If these people do no harm to communities, and even contribute to them, why should they be targeted for deportation?
ReplyDeleteI completely understand why illegal immigrants are a problem; however, should not our first priorities be criminals? Being the cause of issues in a country that one has entered illegally is a problem; however, people working hard for an honest living is not the biggest matter that America has to face right now. If innocent Mexicans in places like Veracruz (Ms. Rivera’s home state) are being slaughtered by gangs, would it not be safer for her and her family to remain in the United States? Also, not to mention the small ranch that Rivera would return to, just to live in poverty. In a location like Hampton, where most of the white population is dying or moving away, immigrant populations “have helped revive their downtown squares and transform their economies”. Roberto, a Mexican man shown in the video from Aljazeera.com, worked as an air conditioner repairman in the United States for years, had been current on all his taxes, had no previous criminal record, and got stopped by police for a broken brake light. Soon after, he was deported. Even he says that he understands that not all immigrants are good and honest people. However, the undocumented in many instances are not causing problems for America, so should they really be targeted so severely to return to their home countries? Should every illegal immigrant in America right now be deported, many small businesses would shut down, and many companies would find that they are missing many of their employees (specifically with manual labor or “odd jobs”). It seems that Trump’s new approach is very uptight and rigorous, specialized to focus on the American and America. On the other hand, former President Obama was more lenient with his policies towards immigrants, foreigners, the LGBTQ+ community, the poor, disadvantaged, disabled, and many other groups in America. Some wholeheartedly support our new President’s beliefs, but personally I think that he should try to focus on other, more apparent threats, other than undocumented immigrants who are not criminals. After examining situations more closely, some might find that they develop empathy for the people stuck in desperate situations between two worlds, and acknowledge that mass deportation of every illegal immigrant (even without a criminal record) may not be the right path to take.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think we should focus on all illegal immigrants. It Is right in front of us. It's Illegal and the United States can't only send back criminals but not the so called "innocent" immigrants. That would only cause more problems because illegal immigrants would get the wrong idea and continue to try and come into the United States if we let Illegal Immigrants, knowing they are illegal stay. Also, these people yes may have come here since they couldn't stay in their own country but they know what they are doing is wrong. The mother may have needed a job to raise her kids but when she flees our country she does it in fear of going to prison since she entered illegally. Therefore, she knew what she was doing was wrong. Deporting not only criminals but all Illegal Immigrants will possibly stop from more coming and show people from other countries that they can't just come in illegally. I believe Trump thinks that this will improve our country and maybe decrease crime rate and I believe Obama did this because he promised to do so when he first came into presidency.
ReplyDeleteIllegal immigrants are often characterized as bad people who don’t help America and cause trouble and conflict. The U.S. has been changing the deportation laws on illegal immigrants with Trump as President. Some Americans see illegal immigrants as the type of people you wouldn’t want in your country because they can harm others or be a threat. However, on the other side of the illegal immigrants, there are the people who want to help the country. Some people come to the U.S. trying to start over and pitch in with helping the country. For example, as seen in the story of Edith Rivera, she came to the U.S. to work and live the life she wanted to live, however with her illegal status. This occurs for not only Edith but for many illegal immigrants as well. People like her flee to the U.S. to create a better lifestyle for themselves and their families. Their homeland may not be the best place to start a life in, resulting in coming to America. These immigrants who come can be very riskful doing so, by crossing the border illegally. However, they would be up to taking jobs and positions most Americans would pass up. These immigrants would even learn English and try to learn new skills to create a better future for themselves. This population of people would take the jobs that many Americans would not want to take, with little pay involved. Relating back to Mrs. Rivera’s story, many immigrants in Iowa clean out livestock pens for as little as $10- $15 an hour. Immigrants can be capable of building a better life for themselves by crossing the border (illegally), showing that not all immigrants are “bad people who we don’t want in our country”. Like really, why should we kick out people who are helping our country doing no harm? I can see the “criminal” being deported, but why deport all illegal immigrants including the helping ones? I strongly disagree with deporting all illegal immigrants, because it is totally unfair for the ones who work and fight to live in America. How would you feel if you were deported from where you raised a family and created a living? I can see how the “criminals” can be a major issue but think about the ones who leave their countries due to unpleasant situations like wars and poverty. If they would return, it would just cause more chaos for them. Many immigrants take place of people who can no longer work and can help bring back work in many locations, such as the Hampton. Many illegal immigrants are not causing trouble, so why should they be forced to flee back home? They are doing no harm for the U.S. if they are being civilized with others. This issue can have many good and bad sides but in my opinion, I feel like Trump can keep illegal immigrants in the U.S. as long as they do no harm, cause no violence and are a contributing part of the community. This topic can make an immigrant be in the situation of having a healthy, good life as an illegal immigrant or be sent back to their hometown in poverty or unlivable conditions. Although some citizens may be illegal immigrants, doesn’t mean they should suffer more than they already had in their past. Therefore, Trump should focus this issue as a whole group not just as “criminals”.
ReplyDeleteDiscussion question-
What would you do if you were in the shoes of an illegal immigrant who was in this situation?
The problem with many Americans is that we think, because criminals are not good people means that all immigrants are automatically at fault and aren't good either. However, the fault in this type of thinking is that all countries contain criminals. Whether they are natural born-citizens or are those who immigrated. There are probably as many criminals in America as in every other country. As reported and examined by Reuters out of 32 cases, "22 involved immigrants who, according to their attorneys, had not been in trouble with the law since their cases were closed." This means that the majority of immigrants are innocent and do not move to another country with the intention to cause trouble. Instead, we should focus on getting rid of the few immigrants who are felons rather than all immigrants. Also, just because we live comfortably does not mean we understand their situation and have the right to accuse all or many immigrants of being malevolent people. We do not know their actual intentions, as most immigrants move to another country for better opportunities and in hopes to help and support their families. We do not understand the fear that these people live in. However, they would much rather live here in America, full of fear rather than their home countries, starving and in terrible conditions. I think that many immigrants are a help to the US. There are enough jobs here for people who need and are determined to look for work. I think that Obama understood this and that's the reason why he dismissed these cases. On the contrary, President Trump thinks that kicking immigrants out of the country will make America a better place. He thinks this is the best choice for America. It is a greedy and selfish choice, but it could be the right one. Or maybe it will result in more conflict. Only the future will tell.
ReplyDelete