Fareed Zakaria: Trump is right, America faces an asylum crisis and Dems must address it

[True Dough]

I respect Fareed and think he has much to offer on many topics. He's not defending the way Trump is handling the asylum seekers (nobody could), but is he right in saying that reforms are needed to the asylum process?

[VarryOn]

2. i think this will be the #1 2020 issue...

We need a plan

[Buzz cook]

3. Trump shits the bed and dems have to clean it up.

This refrain gets repeated in the media constantly, repus fuck up, so dems need to do something.

What he should be saying is help us Obi Wan you're our only hope. But if you actually do something we'll stab you in the back because everyone knows the daddy party is better and stronger.

[dem4decades]

6. Just because the Republicans refuse to do a thing, it's our fault?

So sick of this bullshit. Are Democrats responsible for all Republican failures?

[bdamomma]

16. they break it

and the Democrats have to clean it up. BS on that, that McConnell can rot in hell.

[napi21]

4. From what I've read, Orangeman isn't having people processed the way the current law dictates.

The [people applying for asylum aren't supposed to be confined and separated from their kids. Their application is supposed to be reviewed and they are given a date to return for their hearing. HE decided if they were confined and families were separated, it would discourage others from coming here. HE WANTS the people here already to suffer and tell others not to bother coming. I don't dispute that the laws we currently have need improvement, but before any changes can be made, we need the current laws to be obeyed!

[larwdem]

5. bull shit

trump made this fucking problem

[True Dough]

7. Did you watch the video?

Trump is responsible for a 140% increase in asylum seekers since 2014? How so?

[gratuitous]

13. And we have long had a plan in place

But Trump decided that we need to arrest, incarcerate indefinitely, and hold anyone coming across the border (well, by "anyone" I think you know *who* I mean) in detention facilities without counsel, charge, or hope to access the immigration system.

[Karadeniz]

8. Trump made seeking asylum a crime demanding incarceration rather than the previous release procedure

(99% compliance) of release to family, friends with a hearing court date. Obama was going to try having immigration branch offices in the immigrants country, but trump cancelled that idea. A lot of the money sent to the countries goes to improving our intelligence capabilities there, not helping the people. There's probably a lot we could do to improve this fiasco.

[True Dough]

14. This is informative

Thanks for posting!

[AJT]

9. Because of the horrible conditions in central america

the number of asylum seekers on the southern border has exploded. With these numbers, there definitely needs to be changes, but what is happening to asylum seekers now is an atrocity. Yes, dems will have clean up a mess that republicans have made.....again.

[Azathoth]

10. Serious problems can't be solved while working with unserious people

Trump is also right that healthcare in this country is a "disaster" and that China has been taking us to the cleaners on trade, but he's completely unserious about actually addressing those issues. He's only interested in throwing red meat to the dumbest of the sieg-heiling Tucker Carlson audience.

Dems shouldn't deny these problems exist. Instead they should hang them around Trump's neck and hammer away at how he has made them so much worse. Turn his perceived "strengths" into his biggest weaknesses.

[wiggs]

11. wasn't a bipartisan immigration bill already passed in the senate and

didn't go anywhere. Has the problem already been solved and is waiting action?

[Crunchy Frog]

12. How about we fix the Central American countries that we totally fucked up.

Make them habitable so people no longer feel the need to leave.

Why do we as a country never take any responsibility for the messes that WE made?

[True Dough]

15. There ought to be a sense of responsibility for that

But "fixing" countries is a tall order indeed. Sometimes the "fix" proves to be worse than the original problem.

[mcar]

17. Why was there no such crisis during Obama?

Republicans created this mess but now they and the media whine that Democrats must solve it.

[JCMach1]

19. It wasn't promoted/publicized, but Obama majorly ramped up

Enforcement during his eight years.

The key differences are he kept it on the DL and never used 'cruelty' as public policy.

[MagickMuffin]

18. Fareed darling, even if the Democrats fix it in da house

Mitch McConnell will make sure it dies in the Senate. The republicons are not going to participate. They are PARTISANS to the nth degree!!!


NOW WHAT???

[ripcord]

20. The biggest problem is that the majority of Central Americans don't qualify for asylum

Less than 30% of people who apply are granted asylum, the reason for their being persecuted have to be based on one of 5 criteria, race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Unfortunately fleeing gangs and other forms of street crime doesn't qualify. 70% of asylum seekers are have to return to whatever forced them to flee in the first place, the UN definitions of asylum seekers and refugees must be updated.

[True Dough]

21. Also informative

I appreciate your input on this.