Tag: immigration

‘Language as a weapon’: In Trump era, immigration debate grows more heated over what words to use

The following article by David Nakamura was posted on the Washington Post website January 21, 2018:

Supporters of “dreamers,” the protected undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children, demonstrate outside the Capitol on Jan. 19. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post)

Lars Larson, a conservative radio host in Portland, Ore., who supports President Trump, uses the phrase “illegal aliens” on his nationally syndicated talk show to describe immigrants living in the country unlawfully.

“I think it’s a way to define a problem,” Larson said. “We’re a nation of laws.”

Cecilia Muñoz, a longtime immigrant rights advocate who served as President Barack Obama’s domestic policy adviser, calls those words “pejorative” and prefers alternatives such as “undocumented immigrants.”

“Aliens, in the public mind, are not a good thing,” Muñoz said.

Their disagreement over how to describe an estimated population of 11 million people might seem like minor semantics in the tempestuous, decades-long debate over how to overhaul the nation’s immigration system. But people on both sides say the yawning gap in language has come to symbolize — and directly contribute to — the inability of Congress and the general public to forge consensus. An impasse on immigration was at the center of the budget fight that led to a shutdown of the federal government Saturday. Continue reading “‘Language as a weapon’: In Trump era, immigration debate grows more heated over what words to use”

Debunking the Lie that Dreamers Can Wait

The following article by Tom Jawetz was posted on the Center for American Progress website January 19, 2018:

Protesters hold up signs during a rally in support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, near Trump Tower in New York, October 5, 2017. Credit: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

As the Trump administration and Congress continue to drive the country toward an unnecessary and chaotic government shutdown, there appears to be substantial confusion about whether Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients are already losing their protections or if Congress has until March 5, or later, to address the issue. The answer to this question is important, as well as simple: Dreamers are losing protections now, and many more are losing their DACA status each day that Congress refuses to act. That’s why bipartisan groups in both the House and the Senate are pushing right now for legislation to provide permanent protections to Dreamers and address various other aspects of the U.S. immigration system, including border security. Continue reading “Debunking the Lie that Dreamers Can Wait”

Trump calls the U.S.-Mexico border ‘extremely dangerous.’ It is — but not for Americans.

The following article by Alex Horton was posted on the Washington Post website January 17, 2018:

A U.S. Border Patrol team uses a dog in a search for undocumented immigrants near the U.S.-Mexico border Dec. 9, 2015. (John Moore/Getty Images)

“The border” is an evocative concept. A majority of Americans do not live near it, and their encounters with the roughly 2,000 miles that separate the United States and Mexico have mostly been art emphasizing lawless badlands — in the form of Cormac McCarthy books and films such as “No Country for Old Men” and “Sicario.”

You can add President Trump’s Twitter feed to that. On Tuesday, the president wrote: “We must have Security at our VERY DANGEROUS SOUTHERN BORDER, and we must have a great WALL to help protect us, and to help stop the massive inflow of drugs pouring into our country!” Continue reading “Trump calls the U.S.-Mexico border ‘extremely dangerous.’ It is — but not for Americans.”

Trump’s false claim that alleged terror suspect brought two dozen relatives to U.S.

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website January 17, 2018:

Three times, the president has told a story that falls upon close inspection. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

“This man that came in, or whatever you want to call him, brought in, with him, other people. And he was a point – he was the point of contact, the primary point of contact for — and this is preliminarily — 23 people that came in or potentially came in with him. And that is not acceptable. So we want to get rid of chain migration.”
— President Trump, remarks at a Cabinet meeting, Nov. 1

“Twenty-two to twenty-four people came in through him. He’s a killer. He’s a guy who ran over eight — many people — eight died; 10 to 12 are really badly injured. So I really think that a lot of people are going to agree with us now on that subject.”
— Trump, remarks at a bipartisan meeting on immigration, Jan. 9 Continue reading “Trump’s false claim that alleged terror suspect brought two dozen relatives to U.S.”

Donald Trump doesn’t understand Haiti, immigration or American history

The following article by Chantalle F. Verna, Associate Professor of History and International Relations, Florida International University, was posted on the Conversation website January 14, 2018:

After Haiti signed its Declaration of Independence from France, in 1804, the U.S. started a nearly 60-year political and economic embargo that hobbled the young nation’s growth. Wikimedia

Donald Trump’s denigrating comments about Haiti during a recent congressional meeting shocked people around the globe, but given his track record of disrespecting immigrants, they were not actually that surprising.

Despite campaign promises that Trump would be Haiti’s “biggest champion,” his administration had already demonstrated its disregard for people from this Caribbean island. In November 2017, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would end the Temporary Protected Status that had allowed 59,000 Haitians to stay in the U.S. after a calamitous Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake. Continue reading “Donald Trump doesn’t understand Haiti, immigration or American history”

Evangelical Immigration Table: Statement on the President’s Reported Comments and Bipartisan Progress toward a Solution for Dreamers

The following statement from the Evangelical Immigration Table was released January 14, 2018:

Immigrants from various countries within Africa as well as from Haiti, El Salvador, Norway, and every country in the world have contributed to the greatness of this country. We have brothers and sisters in Christ who are integral parts of the universal Church within and from each of these nations, each of whom the Bible tells us will one day gather around the throne of God in worship. The Scriptures teach us that each human person— regardless of their country of origin—is made in the image of God, with inherent and infinite dignity. Jesus emerged from the despised and disregarded town of Nazareth, a reminder that we ought never pre-judge any person based on his or her community of origin.

These biblical values inform our national values as well. The United States was founded upon the conviction that all people are created equal—though, as Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded our country, we have not always lived up to that truth. Continue reading “Evangelical Immigration Table: Statement on the President’s Reported Comments and Bipartisan Progress toward a Solution for Dreamers”

Trump heaps more misery on vulnerable immigrants

The following article by Ishaan Tharoor was posted on the Washington Post website January 9, 2018:

During his annual address to ambassadors at the Vatican on Monday, Pope Francis once more bemoaned the hostile climate in the West toward refugees and migrants. He decried politicians who demonize foreigners “for the sake of stirring up primal fears” and urged greater global action to help asylum seekers. “In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the history of salvation is essentially a history of migration,” said the pontiff.

That’s a message that clearly doesn’t register with President Trump, who has loudly staked his politics on rejecting immigrants and sealing borders. On the same day as the pope’s speech, the Trump administration announced that it would terminate provisional residency permits for about 200,000 Salvadorans who have lived in the United States since 2001. Trump had already ended such arrangements for Nicaraguans and Haitians, and will likely follow suit later this year with Hondurans. The Salvadorans who have received what’s known as Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, now have until September 2019 to either obtain another form of legal status or leave the country. Continue reading “Trump heaps more misery on vulnerable immigrants”

Why Trump is consistently anti-immigrant

The following article by WIll Drabold of Mic.com’s “Navigating Trump’s America” email January 9, 2018:

Credit: clipart-library.com/

President Donald Trump’s tweets about his own “genius” have led many to question whether he is mentally stable. The White House now wants to pivot conversation away from the dialogue that has led to days of pundits and politicians questioning Trump’s fitness to be president.

Monday, however, showed that the Trump administration remains far from erratic, with its continued commitment to controversial, isolationist policy.

More than 200,000 immigrants from El Salvador were informed Monday that they will lose their protected status in the United States in September 2019. Many of these immigrants have lived in the U.S. since 2001, when an earthquake struck the small Central American country.

Continue reading “Why Trump is consistently anti-immigrant”

In a politically perilous move, Trump will demand funding for the wall in exchange for DACA

The following article by Emily C. Singer was posted on the mic.com website January 2, 2018:

President Donald Trump looks set to demand funding for the border wall between the United States and Mexico in exchange for codifying the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program into law. This could be a politically perilous move, which could tank any potential deal to shield undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors from deportation.

Dan Scavino Jr. — Trump’s social media manager who is the only one authorized to tweet from the @realDonaldTrump account besides Trump himself — tweeted Tuesday morning that, “There is no DACA – without the WALL being BUILT.” Continue reading “In a politically perilous move, Trump will demand funding for the wall in exchange for DACA”

Donald Trump says he’s just enforcing immigration law. But it’s not that simple.

The following article by Inés Valdez, Mat Coleman and Amna Akbar was posted on the Washington Post website November 7, 2017:

In this file photo, international passengers arrive at Washington Dulles International Airport after the U.S. Supreme Court granted parts of the Trump administration’s emergency request to put its travel ban into effectin Dulles, Virginia, U.S., June 26, 2017. (REUTERS/James Lawler Duggan/File Photo)

From the moment he rode down the Trump Tower escalator to announce his candidacy in 2016, Donald Trump has emphasized that he was determined to enforce U.S. immigration law. Five days after taking office, President Trump issued executive orders about enforcing those laws within the U.S. and at the border. He has since pushed legislation that would raise penalties for migrants who’ve been deported before; punish cities that declare themselves sanctuaries for migrants; and reduce legal avenues for immigration. Most recently, he ended — by executive order — the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA).

All along, Trump has claimed his goal is enforcing the law. Speaking at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Trump said that he “ordered federal employees to enforce the laws as they are currently written.” Secretary John Kelly, while still heading the DHS, put it even more simply, saying, “the law deports people. Secretary Kelly doesn’t.” Continue reading “Donald Trump says he’s just enforcing immigration law. But it’s not that simple.”