Trump’s Broken Promises. (Part Three – Immigration)

Of the thousands of falsehoods and misleading statements Trump has made since declaring his candidacy, some of the most notorious concern immigration. For example:

The Wall: When he announced his candidacy for president, Trump promised to build “a great wall on our southern border and have Mexico pay for it.” Instead, US taxpayers are paying $11 billion for the wall at the cost of $20 million per mile. The wall will dissect wildlife refuges, the National Butterfly Center, Native American lands, farms, and golf courses. And, if completed, it will block US residents from accessing much of the Rio Grande. The final cost of the wall could reach an estimated $21 billion.

Illegal Immigration: Trump promised to end all illegal immigration. (In reality, illegal immigration had steadily declined since 2000.) But there was actually an uptick in 2018 despite Trump’s “Zero Tolerance Policy.” Under that policy, Trump ordered a ban on virtually all Muslim immigration. His administration ripped children, including infants and toddlers, away from their parents. It placed immigrants, even toddlers, in cages without enough room to sleep and without access to water and the basic needs for hygiene. In addition, Trump purposely slowed the process of reviewing the refugee status of immigrants forcing most to stay in dangerous camps along the border.

At the same time, Trump labeled African nations and other predominantly black and brown nations “shithole” countries and wondered aloud why we couldn’t have more immigrants from countries like Norway. (In other words, he expressed his preference for immigrants that are white and Christian.)

Foreign Workers: Trump promised that Americans would stop losing jobs to foreign workers. Yet, until the media reported on his own hiring practices, his own resorts continued to rely on undocumented workers. And, even after dismissing many long-time workers, he continues to rely on foreigners. Mar-a-Lago is a case in point: Despite receiving hundreds of applications from US citizens, Trump instead hired foreign workers to help maintain the property and to serve his guests.

DACA: Despite promising to immediately terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Trump said that “we’re going to show great heart” toward DACA recipients. Again, after taking office, Trump stated that “they shouldn’t be worried. I do have a big heart.” Nevertheless, shortly after making that statement, he announced that he would terminate the program. To date, most of the more than 700,000 DACA recipients remain in limbo not knowing what to expect. And some DACA recipients, including US military veterans have been deported to the countries they left as children and scarcely remember.

Removing Undocumented Immigrants: Trump promised to remove all of the more than 11 million undocumented workers from the US. Unfortunately, this is one of the promises he has tried to keep. But, if he actually succeeds, the impact on the US economy will be devastating. In addition to the cost of removing them, which is estimated at $103.9 billion, the loss to our GDP will be roughly $1.6 trillion per year as estimated by the Harvard Kennedy School – money that is distributed throughout our economy. In addition, in 2014 it was estimated that undocumented workers contributed $38 billion in federal, state and local taxes.

Moreover, if he chooses to remove all immigrants who have illegally worked in the US, he will have to deport his third and current wife, Melania, who worked as a model before obtaining a green card.

Chain Migration: Trump promised to end so-called chain migration – the practice of legal immigrants bringing their families to the US. He hasn’t. And, if he had, his wife’s parents would not have been permitted to immigrate to the US.

Destruction Of The US. (Part Five – Immigration)

From the very beginning of colonial times, the US has been a nation of immigrants. Indeed, the only people who are native to the US descended from those who survived the Indian Wars and genocide.

The horrors we inflicted upon the original residents aside, immigration has always been our nation’s great strength. The US is a culmination of the talents, efforts and cultures of the original inhabitants and those who immigrated to our shores legally, illegally and, in the case of enslaved Africans, involuntarily. We have benefited from the influx of immigrants from Europe, Mexico, Scandinavia, Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Australia, New Zealand and more. It was enslaved Africans who built much of our Capitol and whose labor was responsible for our economic growth. And it was Chinese workers who built many of our railroads.

Many, if not most, of our innovations have come from immigrants. That’s why our ancestors proudly proclaimed America as the great melting pot. But, in a generation – indeed in a single four-year term of this president – that could change.

Trump ran on a platform of racism and hate against Mexicans claiming he would end illegal immigration across our southern border. Instead of welcoming and helping those seeking asylum from horrific political and economic conditions, he has ordered their entry blocked and placed many in detention in conditions that, in a declared war, would constitute war crimes. He has ordered children to be ripped from their parents’ arms placing them in cages and, in many cases, placing them in the foster system for adoption without their parents’ knowledge. When a few immigrant detainees from India went on hunger strikes to protest their incarceration and conditions, his appointees ordered them to be force-fed. (The only other recent example of that occurred at Gitmo when some of those being held as al-Qaeda terrorists went on a hunger strike.)

He unconstitutionally ordered travel bans from all Muslim countries. When that order was overturned by the courts, he ordered a work-around that essentially accomplished the same thing. He announced that he was ending DACA, the program that gave legal status to those undocumented immigrants who were brought into the country as children by their parents – people who have grown up in the US and have little, if any, knowledge of their country of origin. And Trump made it clear that he only wanted immigrants from predominantly white nations like Norway, and not from any “shithole” countries of black and brown people.

The Trump administration has deported veterans of our armed forces who were promised a path to citizenship if they served. It has refused entry to translators who risked their lives to help US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The administration even refused entry to a US Marine from Belize who was returning to the US for a scheduled citizenship test.

Trump has ordered ICE to round up undocumented workers regardless of how long they have lived and worked in the US, despite the fact that his own company has long hired undocumented workers, and despite the fact that his third wife worked in the US without proper documents. His administration gave notice to patients in the US legally for life-saving medical treatment and to their parents that they would have to get out within 30 days! That includes a 24-year-old with a rare condition who was recruited as a child to participate in a medical trial. If carried out, her deportation will be a death sentence.

And, if all of that isn’t bad enough, Trump says that he intends to end birthright citizenship in obvious contradiction of the 14th amendment. And the administration has taken the position that those born outside the US to American citizens, including military personnel, should not be considered US citizens.

In other words, if we continue to allow Trump to have his way, America will no longer be America.

The Difference Between The Facts And The Truth.

Since President Obama’s Executive Order on immigration, various news organizations have been crawling all over each other to “fact-check” the president’s statements. Predictably, they found a number of things that were at odds with the “facts.”

What those news organizations fail to recognize is that the facts don’t necessarily represent the truth. So I’ll do their job for them. The truth is that illegal immigration, and the resulting influx of undocumented workers, has been a large problem for many years. As a result, President Obama has overseen the greatest expansion of border security in history in addition to an unprecedented growth in deportations. In addition to the “fence,” we now have 21,000 border patrol agents. We have at least one agent for every half mile of the border. Combined with slow job growth (as opposed to a slow economy), that has resulted in a net loss of illegal immigrants.

The fact is that many immigrants have crossed our southern border. The truth is that 40 percent of undocumented immigrants entered the US legally through our airports, bus stations, and seaports and they have overstayed their visas. Building a bigger fence and stationing more agents at the border will do nothing to stop these immigrants.

The fact is that an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants work in the US. The truth is that these workers do not take American jobs. They do the work that very few Americans will. For example, despite advertising for American workers to pick his fruit, a fruit grower in Georgia could not find a single American to do what undocumented workers will.

The fact is drugs are still being smuggled into our country illegally. The truth is that most of them are being smuggled into the US on airplanes, in freight cars, in boats. Few are being brought in by human mules.

The fact is that some criminals cross our borders illegally…drug smugglers, human smugglers and gang members. The truth is that these people represent a very small percentage of illegal immigrants.

The fact is that we pay to educate the children of illegal immigrants. The truth is that these children grow up to contribute far more to our society than their education costs. It is also true that illegal immigrants cannot receive food stamps and welfare benefits. Neither can they vote.

The fact is that many immigrants came across the southern border in search of a better life. The truth is that these immigrants had little choice. Many came to the US as refugees in the 1980’s when the Reagan administration was supporting dictators and death squads in El Salvador and Nicaragua. (Remember Iran-Contra?) Many were small farmers who were put out of business by our large corporate farms that dumped low-priced corn into Mexico and Central America as a consequence of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement).

The fact is that thousands of children recently crossed our southern border. The truth is that few tried to sneak across the border. Most simply turned themselves into Border Patrol officers seeking asylum from the violence in Honduras and El Salvador.

The fact is that our border security has greatly limited the number of illegal crossings. The truth is that is has also greatly limited the billions of dollars in trade between Mexico and the US. 6 million US jobs depend on exports to Mexico and the US receives nearly $9 billion per year in tourism from Mexico. Yet despite being on the border, thanks to SB1070, Arizona ranks 21st in exports to Mexico behind Wisconsin and Minnesota!

The fact is that millions of undocumented workers are employed in the US. The truth is that most of these workers pay federal and state income taxes, sales taxes and licensing fees. They also contribute approximately $7 billion per year in payroll deductions to Social Security and Medicare even though they will never benefit from these programs.

The fact is that we need comprehensive immigration reform. The truth is that Republican politicians have used the issue of immigration to promote racism and fear in order to be elected.

The fact is that President Obama acted alone in an attempt to solve the immigration crisis. The truth is that the US House of Representatives had more than 500 days to vote on the Senate’s bi-partisan comprehensive immigration bill, but Speaker Boehner refused to bring it to a vote. Republicans also refused to negotiate the issue with Democrats. The president was left with no other option than to act by Executive Order.