I thought I would try to stay out of politics, but I am processing my thoughts from the last few days and decided to go ahead and post them.
While I typically lean to the right in US politics, I am also a never-trumper. I just couldn't bring myself to check the box for him, and voted third party for the first time in my life.
After the election, I was hopeful that he might do some things I agree with, and he has.
He's also said a TON of stupid things. Sometimes I have felt the outrage was over the top, and sometimes I've felt it was justified.
I do feel our immigration system is completely screwed up, and is the cause of our problems with illegal immigration - if we had a better system, we wouldn't be where we're at today. We need to find a way to let in the huddled masses yearning to breathe free while protecting ourselves from crime and terrorism.
But here we are with the events of the last few days, and I'm sick to my stomach.
The story getting the most press are his "shithole" tweets. I don't care if it's true or not that there are countries that are shitholes. This isn't the way the supposed leader of the free world should be talking, and he should apologize immediately, unequivocally, and most importantly, stop talking like this.
Yes, I understand he was in a private meeting. Yes, I understand he'd just been talking about Norway. Yes, I get the point he was trying to make that we should be encouraging immigration of those who bring talent to our workforce. But I see only three possibilities here:
- He's an utterly inept communicator
- He's a racist asshole
- He is purposefully trying to stoke the flames of division by saying incendiary things in the most incendiary way possible.
Feel free to debate which you think is most likely - personally, at this point, I'm going with a combination of all of the above.
But the issue that has caused that nausea mentioned above is the rescinding of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for the refugees from an earthquake in El Salvador in 2001. While his words are awful, it seems to be easier to latch onto those ugly tweets rather than try to comprehend and deal with the magnitude of this other, less-talked about, idiodicy.
The TPS was extended multiple times because of the dangers of El Salvador even after the repairs were made. Right wing pundits are trying to spin this by emphasizing the "temporary" wording and that it's only been a little more than a decade.
Some people must not have been in class on the day rounding was taught, because 17 rounds up to 2 decades, not one. And while something should have been done sooner to either send them back home with help or give them a path to citizenship, I believe that that ship sailed long ago and deporting them is neither just nor moral nor the heart of our country.
People who fall under this criteria cannot have a felony or more than two misdemeanors. They cannot have any involvement with terrorist activities.
Many of these people have spent the last two decades building lives, businesses and families here. They were here legally, and told over and over they could stay. They've had children who have spent their lives in America. Older people have worked and paid into their retirement. Were they just supposed to put their lives on hold for 17 years?
I weep for parents who are panicking right now at the thought of rebuilding their lives in a dangerous country. Of children terrified of leaving everything they've ever known to go to a foreign land. People nearing the end of their lives who may end up on the streets as they lose what they've worked for. It would likely have been better to have never allowed them in than to inflict this on these innocents now.
Is there a legislative discussion to be had to make sure future refugees don't end up in a similar long term limbo like this? Absolutely. Should temporary actually mean temporary? I think so. As a country, the US should be able to decide to offer either temporary or long term aid at our discretion.
But these people have done nothing wrong. I'm all for a discussion about illegal immigration, but this is not it - these people aren't illegal immigrants! This is an attempt to look strong on illegal immigration and roping utterly innocent refugees into it.
This is viciously cruel. This isn't America. Stop worrying about the tweets for now and figure out what we can be done to stop this travesty unfolding.
What can we do?