Immigration and Refugees

Immigration and Refugees

Big Picture

Big Picture / Human Society / Social Organization/Change / Immigration & Refugees

DACA: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

    
Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American by Wajahat Ali
The Naked Don’t Fear the Water: An Underground Journey with Afghan Refugees by Matthieu Aikins
Silence Is a Sense by Layla AlAmmar

also

Eventually, We Will All Be Melting Pots of Each Other

Big Questions

Why are honest asylum seekers dismissed as liars?


Who Gets Believed?: When the Truth Isn’t Enough by Dina Nayeri

Can a well-organized and managed, fair, equitable and humane immigration system help defeat inflation?

  • If so, isn’t that incentive enough for Congress to make this a top priority and get this done for the Common Good in a balanced way,
    • holding firm to our principles and laws governing border security, while
    • treating immigrants and refugees with humanity?

Who is the real threat to the United States and the American people?

  • a nonviolent family trying to find a safe place in the world? or,
  • a violent member of an international drug cartel?
  • (I think we know the answer.)

The basic legal premise of asylum is that the migrant must have a valid claim to be the victim of persecution in his or her home country due to race, religion, nationality, political affiliation, or membership in a protected class.

Do walls dehumanize us?

Walls SEPARATE Nations

Walls physically and emotionally block and dehumanize good people, but the far more destructive edge of this sword is that walls separate whole nations. To spend billions of dollars to try and keep out a few bad actors at the cost of separating us from an entire nation, is a terrible trade-off and a fool’s calculus. We put up walls in fear, hate, and war. We take down walls in confidence, love, and peace. What kind of society do we want to live in?

sp

Walls physically and emotionally block and dehumanize good people.

Is separating immigrant and/or refugee children crossing our border from their families in effect weaponizing children for a political policy objective?

  • We Can Do Better: When the early pilgrims and pioneers came across the Atlantic to seek religious, political, and economic freedom in the United States, they came over as intact families and were not separated from each other when they arrived. As immigration increased throughout the decades from many corners of the world, there were occasional times when a father (or mother) came over first to find a job, but the children stayed with their mothers and grandparents and when they came later they were not surprised upon arrival that they would be separated from their parents. As we moved west to explore and settle this great United States, we did so as intact families. Separating kids from parents at such a critical moment in their lives is simply an abomination and a gross transgression of American values. No amount of political spin or religious pontificating can change that fact. (sp)

Do immigrants and refugees have to arrive self-sufficient, or is it enough (as it always has been) to come with $1 in their pocket and a sincere desire to work, take care of their family, and pursue the American Dream?

  • It’s Not About You: There will always be native peoples that came before us, and there will always be new immigrants and refugees that will come after us. The belief that we were here first and no one should come after us is selfish, misinformed, and a lie that discriminates and harms generation after generation. (sp)


Sin Nombre

Are sanctuary cities overall good for America? Or, do they erode the rule of law?

Instead of squalid shanty towns, can we plan our refugee settlements to transform into livable towns?

As the seas rise, crops wither, and wars and violence erupt, we have become a survival-seeking world on the move. We need to help each other out, not fight each other.

How worried should we be about alleged criminals crossing the U.S.-Mexico border?

top

Get a Grip!!

If you’re worried about criminals crossing the border between Mexico and the United States, thousands of miles away, don’t bother, because you should be more worried about:


getting struck by lightning
getting broadsided in your car
being gunned down by a well-armed american angry person
getting covid, heart attack, cancer, stroke, dementia, Parkinson’s
getting whacked by a tornado, hurricane, wildfire, mudslide or
divorce, depression, alcoholism, suicide, so


Get a grip, man!!

Immigrants and refugees are the least of your problems.

sp

top