Don't Debate Immigration on Trump's Terms - The Bulwark

[Nevilledog]

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Brian J. Karem
@BrianKarem
Quit letting Donald Trump frame the argument when it comes to Immigration. Like everything else - he got it wrong. Please read and share:

Don’t Debate Immigration on Trump’s Terms - The Bulwark
They distort the moral and political realities of the issue.
thebulwark.com

https://thebulwark.com/dont-debate-immigration-on-trumps-terms/

Donald Trump tried for four years to convince America there was a crisis at the U.S. southern border, so that he—along with his chief racist zealot Stephen Miller—could effectively close our borders to anyone but white people. Trump’s promise to build a border wall helped get him elected in 2016. (To quote an undocumented worker I interviewed last year, “Anyone who thinks building a wall will solve this problem never saw a ladder.”) And immigration remained an important issue for his base in last year’s election.

Trump so effectively framed the argument about the border that even today, many journalists still report on a “crisis” that doesn’t exist. What we have at the border is a monumental Trump screw-up regarding a decades-long problem—a screw-up that the Biden administration is trying to undo.

The problem begins in Latin and South America where governments and infrastructure are failing, problems exacerbated in some cases by actions of our own government and private companies. In a White House briefing last week, Roberta Jacobson, a former U.S. ambassador to Mexico who is now the Biden administration’s coordinator for the southern border, announced that “the border is not open”—but stressed that the administration will work with civil-society groups and nonprofit organizations to try and help those in distressed countries because some governments cannot be trusted. That’s a step in the right direction. Some governments south of the border are too corrupt to deal with directly. Any money sent their way will, as has happened in the past, simply disappear.

I first stepped foot outside of the United States to cover these issues 35 years ago. We did have a crisis then. The Mexican oil economy had crashed, the peso was devalued, and each day saw thousands of families trying to relocate to the United States, hoping for any kind of work and better pay. Then, as now, there was seasonal work for agricultural, construction, and other workers—and that added to the numbers. Before the Simpson-Mazzoli Act in 1986, it was illegal for these workers to come across the border without visas but not illegal for American companies to hire them. Today some companies still hire undocumented workers, often without consequence.

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[SWBTATTReg]

1. Don't debate anything on trump's terms. It's a waste of time, he's totally incompetent

to discuss anything or deal w/ anything anyways, after all, look at the immigration issue that seemingly popping up...I thought rump handled it / immigration? Why is it being an issue? Perhaps all trump did was ignore the issue so it might go away, it didn't. Moron.

[dutch777]

2. So many related issues here and so few creative solutions. Trump's approach was just red meat to

...the base. Stephen Miller had a racist bent and Trump used SM's approaches because it played well at MAGA rallies. There was no real care for helping the states impacted by border issues nor anything other than "the wall" to staunch illegal immigrants. Nor was there any notion that without seasonal immigrant labor in many places farmers and the harvest suffered. The wall was a big visual...just like Trump Tower and Trump understands built PR visuals.

We don't like nation building much and pretty much we have failed at in the last few decades even when we tried. So, us trying to "fix" the Central Americas and Mexico is a non starter here and given their opinion of us, much thanks to Trump, a non starter south of the border. But I wonder, and I think this was done in places in Mexico, if one couldn't come up with economic zones that allow foreign businesses to set up operations that are significantly staffed by the locals, pay above average wages, contribute via taxes and good paying jobs to the host country, have tax advantaged operations and imports to the US (as an incentive to businesses to take the risk) and can benefit many all while giving folks a reason to stay in their own country. I realize in countries with death squads and marauding drug gangs, there is more than economic reasons to head to America. But there has to be a way to do better. And I agree with the comments that when we simply give money to governments, it only minimally helps the people who really need it, maybe even funds the death squads who prey on the most vulnerable.

This is a tough nut. Trump took the PR road that really addresses nothing except his reelection and grifting interests. And I worry that a major focus on this before the 2022 midterms will spread the Biden admin and legislative Dems too thin. We have no lack of problems to solve.