Reach out to the poor and broken, end injustice to build peace, and find the joy in all of it. – Pope Francis
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has an increased emphasis on border security, immigration enforcement, cybersecurity, and improving law enforcement. Blaming immigrants for the problems in America is a distraction from the two central issues of our time. Ignoring the climate emergency and spending $700 billion in FY2018 on military and “easy to use” nuclear weapons threatens life on Earth. Economic inequality with false tax reform, warfare on indigenous nations and the poor, the elimination of environmental and financial protections, are irresponsible abuses of the current administration to repay political contributions.
Unless you are a member of an Indigenous Tribe, your family came from immigrants. Let me use NPA to mean “determined new people coming to America from every corner of the world hoping to become US citizens.”
Immigration lies
Using lies, slurs, and deceptions, Trump and the GOP have painted a false, distorted picture of our brothers and sisters. Trump told Congress during the State of the Union, “undocumented immigrants are a drain to taxpayers.” False, Trump made it up to create hate, division, and resentment. Most NPA, like all other people living and working in America, are taxpayers. NPA collectively contribute an estimated $12 billion to state and local treasuries per year, with a combination of sales and excise, personal income, and property taxes. IRS provides an Individual Tax Identification Number for people without a Social Security Number. The IRS and the US Army do not discriminate!
NPA are here on a mission to assimilate, learn, and contribute to the economy, while caring for their families. NPA file their taxes on time without creative deductions or off-shore bank accounts. NPA have an incentive to follow the laws and be good neighbors and behave as model citizens.
Trump says NPA have taken American jobs and promises to bring them back. False. NPA are hard workers willing to do jobs Americans won’t – in agriculture, construction, and hospitality.
Overstaying a visa is not a crime. Unlawful entry is a misdemeanor. NPA have most Constitutional rights and all protections in the Bill of Rights.
ICE is not the solution
In addition to the Border Patrol, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement “enforces our Nation’s existing immigration laws to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security and public safety,” says DHS.
Trump has distorted detention and deportation tactics. As of April 2017, there were 49,000 ICE agents, many hired without careful screening. According to court records, “dozens of agents and contract guards have been arrested and charged with beating people, smuggling drugs into detention centers, having sex with detainees, and accepting bribes to delay or stop deportations.” Trump wants to hire 10,000 more ICE agents, part of the $78 billion FY2018 Homeland Security budget.
For profit Detention Centers
ICE is responsible for the detention and removal of undocumented immigrants. Their target lists are NPA accused of committing a crime, but ICE raids demand documents from all people detained.
With ICE detention, no counsel is provided, no bail bonds accepted, and no date for deportation. $1 a day “voluntary” labor and excessive phone and commissary charges. There is no external, independent oversight. ICE has full control and abuses are common.
Adelanto is the largest ICE private detention facility in California, holding more than 1,900 people. A June 2017 report says, “In 3 Months 3 Immigrants Have Died.”
Get inspired
Be kind to others, reach out, your friendship may change their lives.
Buy a copy of America the Ingenious: How a Nation of Dreamers, Immigrants, and Tinkerers Changed the World. Find new ways to change the world today.
Please visit Global Minimum (GMin.org) a charitable international organization that encourages young innovators find solutions to problems affecting their communities.
Please visit the American Civil Liberties Union (aclu.org) and learn how to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
Dr. Luis Contreras
Trump calls Jeff Sessions Mr. Magoo, Trump says Sessions is timid and shy.
Jeff Sessions needs a new nickname; he is cruel and vindictive, a soft-spoken, mini-Trump. Let’s call him The Weasel, a mean, sneaky, scoundrel
Sessions first action was to give Detention Centers and prisons to private for-profit companies like GEO.
Jails are a growing industry. Are these the jobs Trump promised deporting immigrants?
https://www.nlg.org/nlg-review/article/sessions-reversal-of-the-private-prison-phase-out/
For $100 million to the Trump campaign, detention centers are for-profit prisions owned and run by GEO and other private corporation. Prisions are a fast growing industry
These are not correction facilites, these are human warehouses for people waiting for a court hearing
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/23/private-prisons-back-trump-and-could-see-big-payoffs-new-policies/98300394/
California farmers are already having a labor shortage
Mass deportation is a half-baked idea and a violation of human rights.
Trump’s cruelty and ignorance are a deadly combination for America’s standing in the world.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-02/california-fruit-is-going-to-die-on-the-vine-after-ice-raids
Mass deportation will make America’s produce rot, and farmers will revolt.
Tom has a plan but he knows more about weapons than strawberries. We will find out in a few weeks. The peak harvesting season in California runs from April through June, when up to 10 million pint baskets of strawberries are shipped daily. California harvests 83% of the strawberries grown in the U.S. on approximately 24,500 acres.
“Republican Tom Cotton of Arkansas, the Senate’s leading nativist, says he has an answer: Robots. “I think it’s certainly critical that we reduce unskilled and low-skilled workers,” he told Vox. It can’t simultaneously be true, Cotton said, “that we need both more unskilled and low-skilled workers” and that “robots are going to take all the jobs.”
“The U.S. agriculture jobs remain demanding work for low pay. By working about 200 days or 1,600 hours a year at $10 an hour, long-season and full-year farm workers can earn $15,000 to $20,000 a year.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-03-08/tom-cotton-s-robots-won-t-replace-immigrant-farm-labor-soon