If you don't like Donald Trump, that's fine. Just be adult enough to admit it and stop trying to blame things on him that simply aren't his fault.
I did not like Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton -- or most of their administrations. I still don't. I think they're snakes, and I think we're really just starting to see all the awful, and illegal things they did while in office. But I never tried to pin things on them they didn't deserve. I never attributed things to them they didn't create, or wasn't their fault. I don't like them, I think they were bad at their jobs.
This whole "separating the children from the parents" thing is just ridiculous. RI-DIC-U-LOUS!
First, a little research will show you that Presidents don't create or establish immigration laws. They don't establish any laws, really, but that's beside the point. Only Congress can create immigration legislation. And then that legislation gets sent to the President to sign into law. A President can propose legislation to Congress, via strong suggestions, but after that, really all a President can do is to mandate how strictly his administration enforces those laws as they exist.
Further research will show that there is no such law requiring immigrant families to be separated. It does not exist. Clinton or Obama didn't pass one, and neither did either Bush president, and Trump didn't either.
Here is a link to a good article from the National Review that explains the situation, including the Flores Consent Decree that was passed under the Clinton administration in 1997, and gives some relevant ideas on how to fix the whole problem.
If you take all the immigration laws that DO exist, and boiled them all down in a pan, what you would have left over is this: It is against the law for immigrants to come into this country without registering at a federally mandated checkpoint to so.
End of story.
It is illegal for non-US citizens to enter the United States without either the proper documentation, or by going through a United States checkpoint. If one enters this country any other way, they are -- according to the laws of the United States already on the books -- a criminal. Our current immigration laws have been on the books primarily since at least 1987, when Ronald Reagan signed into law what was at the time the most sweeping immigrant legislation up to that point. There have been tweaks and twists added since, but the bottom line remains the same. If you try to enter the US illegally, you are a criminal, no matter your reasoning for coming here.
Now, every President since then has basically chosen how strictly to enforce those laws. Generally speaking, even though each party talks tough about immigration when they're campaigning, Republicans have enforced them more strictly, and Democrats more loosely. But all have enforced it to some degree.
Which brings us back to the children. In this country, when you are arrested for a crime, generally speaking, if you have children, those children are taken away from you and put into our foster care system until the case plays itself out. At some point, you might get your kids back, or if you turn out to be a real slimeball, you probably don't.
It happens hundreds, maybe thousands of times every day in the United States. Has for two centuries. Rapists, murderers, drug dealers, burglars, thieves, et al, if they get arrested and have kids, their kids get taken away from them.
Happens. Every. Day.
Nobody really seemed to care until our news media, in their latest attempt to smear the Trump campaign, decided to start reporting that it's now happening at our borders with illegal immigrants. Immigrants, when caught at the border, if deemed to have attempted to cross illegally, are then arrested, according to the law. If they have family, that family is separated and the children are taken into the ICE version of foster care. And the case plays out...
The media have reported this in such a fashion as to make us believe that Donald Trump, and he alone, has started the practice. But the truth is that it's been going on forever. Every President has, to some degree, been enforcing the practice, some more than others.
However, here's what's also true: Democrats need not only minority voters, but illegal immigrants, to win elections. Any election. Doesn't matter. Check the polling numbers. They cannot win elections without them. (It's why they're so against Voter ID laws.) Obama was not only the best example of this, but also embraced the concept as a part of the larger Democrat platform, and as such, virtually did everything within his power to open the borders and all but instructed his administration to cease enforcing any of the immigration laws on the books. Sure, as all candidates do, he talked tough about immigration before he was elected, but once he took office, he opened our borders to unprecedented levels.
And here's what else he did: He demonstrated that if you, as an immigrant, came to the border with a family, you were far more likely to get to cross, no questions asked. You see, for decades, the vast majority of border crossers were single males. They would cross, legally and illegally, hope to get established here in the states, and then send for their families when they could reasonably hope to get them across safely.
Because of the threat of capture and incarceration -- and the subsequent breakup of their families -- they simply did not try to bring their families across the border that often. It just wasn't safe.
But Obama changed all that. For the first few years of his administration, he prosecuted illegals -- and took the kids away from the criminals -- just as Trump is doing now. But once he adopted the policy that the more immigrants in the country, the better for Democrats, he halted the policy of breaking up the families of those who cross illegally. He simply told his border agents to stop enforcing it. And as word got out that if you brought your family to the border, you would likely be allowed to pass unchecked, then the flood gates opened.
All of the sudden, the flooding did indeed happen. By the hundreds and the thousands, illegals started showing up at the border with their wives and children, and for the past several years, have been flowing into the US and basically disappearing into the crowds.
By now, you know Donald Trump's position on immigration. He campaigned heavily on fixing immigration and stemming the flow of illegals into the country, even demanding the building of the now-infamous Wall. It's something that desperately needs to be done, of course. Everyone knows it. But most people don't have the stomach for it, and Democrats can't win elections without them. So the fight was on.
Trump, who has done little else but tick off one campaign promise after another since being elected has continued his fight to fix the problem. He cannot, however, enact any immigration legislation without Congress, and Congress, the boneheads, refuse to do it. So Trump is left with two options: Pass some Executive Orders, and enforce the laws already in place.
Initially, even Trump was reluctant to enforce the policy of breaking up families at the border, but as he realized the problem wasn't getting any better, he re-instituted the policy. He basically told his border agents to start enforcing the law. And that law requires that if you are arrested for a crime -- as some illegals are -- then you get your kids taken away.
Of course, it's happening far less than the news wants you to believe. The latest figure I saw in a New York Times article last week is that roughly 2700 kids have been separated from their families since the policy was reintroduced last year. When you contrast that with the hundreds of thousands who have attempted to cross in that time, and the fact that most families have multiple kids, the number is relatively low. It remains to be seen whether the policy will stem the overall flow.
But here's the real problem: Nobody -- and I mean NOBODY -- cared until Trump's name got tied to it. Nobody cares that it happens hundreds of times everyday all over the country with law-breakers. And nobody cared that it's been happening at the border for decades. They only cared until the press told us it was all Donald Trump's fault.
I have never seen a person, let alone a President, so vilified as Donald Trump. Never has a man been so maligned for trying to serve his country. It's absolutely atrocious and sad. But beyond that, it's just wrong.
Much has been written about Trump's past indiscretions. Everybody knows about them, and nobody can change them. But this immigrant issue now is just another example of the kind of unfair political bias that has virtually wrecked our American political system.
I'm so disappointed in my friends -- people I know to usually be smart, fair, and loving people -- who have chosen -- yes, chosen -- to pile on to somebody and perpetuate lies against someone simply because they don't like a guy. It's unbelievable to me.
Who am I? Well first, I'm a father. I get it. You don't think I can imagine how tragic it must be to have your children ripped away from you? For those who witnessed me raise my boys, and watched me work with youth in my life, you think I don't have a heart and compassion for children? I'm offended at the notion. I don't like that children get ripped away from their families.
But I'm also a regular guy, who wants the laws of our country enforced. I'm not a scholar of anything. I don't have any special powers. So why is it I can do a little research on the internet and find the truth about something and you can't? It's absurd.
You don't like Donald Trump? Fine! You don't have to. Nobody is going to make you. In the end, it's only your loss if you refuse to see the things he's fixing in this country. But have the guts, and be adult enough to stand up and say so without having to make up lies about him.
If you didn't give a rip about children being separated from their families -- legally -- and you only do now because you found out it was all "Trump's doing," than you are being highly disingenuous, and you should be ashamed.
I have no problem telling you where I stand. And I'll do my best to back up my stand with facts. Sometimes I get it wrong, and I've had to eat a lot of crow over the years when I was wrong in my opinions. But at least I try. And you can rest assured I won't perpetuate -- or worse, create -- a lie about someone just because I don't like them.
What's happening at the border right now is tragic. For a whole variety of reasons. Mostly because our Congress won't act and fix the problems and give the President something he can get behind. Also because we have laws on the books -- passed by both Republicans and Democrats -- that our previous President chose to ignore, and ordered his administration to not enforce, even though he took an oath of office to defend and protect the laws and Constitution of the United States.
I don't like some of these laws. I think they should be changed. But I would rather my President see to it that the laws we do have are enforced, than to ignore them altogether. I would like to think you would want your President to do the same. It's infuriating to me that some of you don't.
And even more infuriating that the only reason you don't is because his name is Trump.
But Obama changed all that. For the first few years of his administration, he prosecuted illegals -- and took the kids away from the criminals -- just as Trump is doing now. But once he adopted the policy that the more immigrants in the country, the better for Democrats, he halted the policy of breaking up the families of those who cross illegally. He simply told his border agents to stop enforcing it. And as word got out that if you brought your family to the border, you would likely be allowed to pass unchecked, then the flood gates opened.
All of the sudden, the flooding did indeed happen. By the hundreds and the thousands, illegals started showing up at the border with their wives and children, and for the past several years, have been flowing into the US and basically disappearing into the crowds.
By now, you know Donald Trump's position on immigration. He campaigned heavily on fixing immigration and stemming the flow of illegals into the country, even demanding the building of the now-infamous Wall. It's something that desperately needs to be done, of course. Everyone knows it. But most people don't have the stomach for it, and Democrats can't win elections without them. So the fight was on.
Trump, who has done little else but tick off one campaign promise after another since being elected has continued his fight to fix the problem. He cannot, however, enact any immigration legislation without Congress, and Congress, the boneheads, refuse to do it. So Trump is left with two options: Pass some Executive Orders, and enforce the laws already in place.
Initially, even Trump was reluctant to enforce the policy of breaking up families at the border, but as he realized the problem wasn't getting any better, he re-instituted the policy. He basically told his border agents to start enforcing the law. And that law requires that if you are arrested for a crime -- as some illegals are -- then you get your kids taken away.
Of course, it's happening far less than the news wants you to believe. The latest figure I saw in a New York Times article last week is that roughly 2700 kids have been separated from their families since the policy was reintroduced last year. When you contrast that with the hundreds of thousands who have attempted to cross in that time, and the fact that most families have multiple kids, the number is relatively low. It remains to be seen whether the policy will stem the overall flow.
But here's the real problem: Nobody -- and I mean NOBODY -- cared until Trump's name got tied to it. Nobody cares that it happens hundreds of times everyday all over the country with law-breakers. And nobody cared that it's been happening at the border for decades. They only cared until the press told us it was all Donald Trump's fault.
I have never seen a person, let alone a President, so vilified as Donald Trump. Never has a man been so maligned for trying to serve his country. It's absolutely atrocious and sad. But beyond that, it's just wrong.
Much has been written about Trump's past indiscretions. Everybody knows about them, and nobody can change them. But this immigrant issue now is just another example of the kind of unfair political bias that has virtually wrecked our American political system.
I'm so disappointed in my friends -- people I know to usually be smart, fair, and loving people -- who have chosen -- yes, chosen -- to pile on to somebody and perpetuate lies against someone simply because they don't like a guy. It's unbelievable to me.
Who am I? Well first, I'm a father. I get it. You don't think I can imagine how tragic it must be to have your children ripped away from you? For those who witnessed me raise my boys, and watched me work with youth in my life, you think I don't have a heart and compassion for children? I'm offended at the notion. I don't like that children get ripped away from their families.
But I'm also a regular guy, who wants the laws of our country enforced. I'm not a scholar of anything. I don't have any special powers. So why is it I can do a little research on the internet and find the truth about something and you can't? It's absurd.
You don't like Donald Trump? Fine! You don't have to. Nobody is going to make you. In the end, it's only your loss if you refuse to see the things he's fixing in this country. But have the guts, and be adult enough to stand up and say so without having to make up lies about him.
If you didn't give a rip about children being separated from their families -- legally -- and you only do now because you found out it was all "Trump's doing," than you are being highly disingenuous, and you should be ashamed.
I have no problem telling you where I stand. And I'll do my best to back up my stand with facts. Sometimes I get it wrong, and I've had to eat a lot of crow over the years when I was wrong in my opinions. But at least I try. And you can rest assured I won't perpetuate -- or worse, create -- a lie about someone just because I don't like them.
What's happening at the border right now is tragic. For a whole variety of reasons. Mostly because our Congress won't act and fix the problems and give the President something he can get behind. Also because we have laws on the books -- passed by both Republicans and Democrats -- that our previous President chose to ignore, and ordered his administration to not enforce, even though he took an oath of office to defend and protect the laws and Constitution of the United States.
I don't like some of these laws. I think they should be changed. But I would rather my President see to it that the laws we do have are enforced, than to ignore them altogether. I would like to think you would want your President to do the same. It's infuriating to me that some of you don't.
And even more infuriating that the only reason you don't is because his name is Trump.
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