September 22, 2019

What Exactly Is An Immigrant?

A column by Pete Riva; a couple of excerpts:

If you look at precedent (legal eagles always use precedent to prove court cases) as well as US law history, immigration has varied from wide open (give us your huddled masses), to “we can throw you out if you’re not born here,”

Is a woman and child watching from across the Rio Grande breaking the law? Not yet on US soil, no law broken even if you could say the intent is clear. If she sees a Border Patrol agent and deliberately crosses asking for protection and refuge, is she breaking the law? Up until 2017 she was not, now she is and can get separated from her child and thrown across the border with or without her child. You read that right with or without, usually without, her child. Why do we do this? Ostensibly as a deterrent. Does that work? Possibly, but it certainly works to deter the rest of the civilized world from having any respect for our pontification as being “the land of the free.” To quote one French commentator, “Land of the Free” has come to mean “free to mistreat humans and deny human rights.”

On the subject of ICE:

It may sound fair to say you are protecting innocent children from unscrupulous traffickers by taking them into custody but you discard any credibility when they are kept in filth and locked in chain-link cages.

The whole column.

September 22, 2019

A trip to Agua Prieta, Mexico

Abe Villarreal, columnist and assistant dean at WNMU writes about his student trip. A couple of excerpts:

And through the bumpy unpaved roads of main streets, between corner taco stands and panaderias (bakeries), there are people just like you and me. People that want a better life.

Isn’t it funny how that phrase seems like it only belongs to foreigners coming to the United States? Most of the people I know, red-blooded flag-waving Americans, also want a better life. Doesn’t that make us the same?

Even after you think about it for a moment, we still feel so different, and it’s because we have an obsession with focusing on our differences. They are poor; we are rich. They are foreigners; we are citizens. They speak Spanish; we speak English. They, we, they, we, the back and forth goes on forever.

Before the weekend ended, we visited a migrant center. In the courtyard, the men played basketball. Mothers breastfed. Kids chased each other. Most had smiles, and then the mood changed. We were taken inside to hear the stories of several migrants who had been traveling thousands of miles from several Latin American countries.

A younger woman began to tell us how she was in medical school when her professor accused her of spreading ill will about her country’s administration. She was forced to flee, leaving her family and a dream career. Her words were few because she could barely speak as she held back tears. She’s not sure where her journey will take her.

The whole article

On the other hand, Yvette Herrell, defeated by Xochitl Torres Small for NM-02 (but running again) releases this BS:

Going forward, the wall will serve as the foundation for future progress, enabling law enforcement officers and policy makers alike to take a more proactive approach to securing the border now that there will be fewer open areas along the border to breach.

It’s been a long, slow march in the face of constant Democratic obstructionism, but President Trump is keeping one of his most important promises to the people of New Mexico and America: He’s securing the border and keeping our communities safe.

Here's the rest, if you can stand it