Immigration is without a doubt a constant topic of discussion and debate in today’s world. Whether we are reading newspaper articles, watching a debate on t.v, or even talking about it within our own social circles we are surrounded by the topic of immigration. The topic has become even more of an issue since President Trump has taken office, his talk and attempts to build a wall along the U.S/ Mexico border, or even just comments that he has made has made immigration a rising issue.
According to the New York Times, the number of immigration arrests has gone up by 40 percents since President Trump has taken office. Unlike former President Obama, who was more focused on arresting serious criminals and recent arrivals, President Trump has declared that anyone living in our country illegally is a target for arrest and deportation. Trump's plan for arresting and deporting any and all immigrants takes aways from local PD and sheriff's offices ability and focus from arresting criminals with more serious crimes such as assault, burglary, rape and murder.
On November 25, 2017 the New York Times published an article titled ‘Please, God, Don’t Let Me Get Stopped’: Around Atlanta, No Sanctuary for Immigrants by Vivian Yee. In this article, we follow multiple stories from immigrants in Atlanta who were arrested and detained in an immigration center and who are now awaiting deportation for something very minor as failure to signal at a right turn, driving without a license, or even having a broken tail light. As we read the article, we learn that these arrests are less about routine traffic stops and more about local PD’s and sheriff's offices helping crackdown on illegal immigrants. Also in this article, we learn about a man named Mario Guevara, a reporter for a Hispanic newspaper who updates local immigrants about ICE activity in the neighborhoods and surrounding areas. Guevara is on the opposite side of the immigration battle and we get an insight on his stance and opinions. Many of the people of the community he reports to consider him family and are grateful for the things that he does.
After reading the article, my stance of the topic was very clear. I believe the way Obama handled immigration was the better way of doing things. We should deport the immigrants with the more serious crimes and the new ones who have come over without attempting to gain citizenship. As for the immigrants who have already been in our country for years, I believe that they should have to provide from of employment, and be given an opportunity and a time frame to gain citizenship. Most people in the article that I read, were stopped when doing daily things like talking their children to school or going to work, proving that all they are trying to do is make a better life for themselves and their children by coming to a country that would allow them to do so. AS mentioned earlier in the article, by making immigration high on the priority list we are taking away chances for real criminals to be stopped. Along with taking away time from law enforcers, we are taking away money from our government that is being spent on deportation centers and holding immigrants in local jails, when that money could be used towards other things like education and healthcare. Not to mention the space we are taking up in local jails and prisons that leave less space to house real criminals. Overall, the crackdown on immigration seems a bit extreme to me and I feel we are more focused on the people coming in from other countries rather than focusing on the own criminals and lawbreakers in our own backyard.
On Saturday, November 25, 2017, Valerie on her blog titled Valerie's Views wrote a commentary blog post dedicated to the current immigration debate in our society. Valerie, she compares how the Obama Administration dealt with immigration to how the Trump Administration is dealing with it. Furthermore, she provides insight into how the Trump Administration's actions on the immigration debate have come to affect the immigration community and elaborates how it has also come to affect the criminal activities within our own nation.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, Valerie argues that Trump's plan for arresting and deporting any immigrants takes away time and effort from local PD and sheriff's offices to have the ability and focus to go arrest criminals with more serious crimes such as assault, burglary, rape, and murder. To support her claim, she makes a reference to an article titled, ‘Please, God, Don’t Let Me Get Stopped’: Around Atlanta, No Sanctuary for Immigrants by Vivian Yee, revealing how Trump’s plan to arrest and deport any immigrant has come to have a nerve-racking and fearsome impact in the immigrant community. Seeing that they are getting arrested just because of minor car failures, like having a broken tail light or failing to turn on their turn signal or simply because they don't have a license. Thus, demonstrating that making immigration high on the priority list it takes away the chances for real criminals to be stopped. Seeing that the local police department is wasting their time arresting immigrants on minor things when they could just give them a ticket or warning like any other American citizen. When instead they should be out there protecting their communities and arresting the real criminals who impose danger.
After reading this insightful blog, I absolutely agree with Valerie on her stance about how as a nation we should focus more on the lawbreakers and criminals in our own backyard, given our current domestic terrorist attacks these past couples of months as well as her standpoint on immigration. Seeing that Obama’s plan was way better than Trump’s because they were focused on actually detaining immigrants with criminal offenses. But unfortunately, Trump’s plan found a loophole that would consider any immigrant who came illegally as a criminal offense. Thus, affecting the lives of innocent immigrants who came to the United States to be able to provide a better life for themselves and their families. Overall, Valerie does an excellent job on providing information that supports her claims by giving insight into how past and current Administration's plans deal with immigration and how Trump’s current plant has not only affected the immigrant community but our police department. Seeing that they’ve prioritized immigration over trying to keep their communities safe from the dangerous criminals.