Immigration and Border Security

๐ˆ ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐š๐ ๐ž ๐œ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ฅ, ๐›๐ข๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐š๐ง ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐œ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ.
โ€œ๐ˆ ๐ฆ๐š๐ฒ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐š๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐š๐ฒ, ๐›๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ˆ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ž๐Ÿ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐š๐ฒ ๐ข๐ญ.โ€
This quote has long been attributed to Voltaire, but it seems to have first appeared in a book in the early 1900s. With the importance of free speech to democracy, I have always considered it a wonderful expression with the intention of inspiring open thought and truly hearing the viewpoint of others with the goal of understanding rather than disagreement.
As long as I can remember, people in the United States have discussed the need for immigration reform and better enforcement at the southern border of the United States. Bill Clinton signed an immigration bill into law in 1996, George W. Bush discussed illegal immigration on numerous occasions including laying out a comprehensive plan in his 2007 State of the Union address, and Barack Obama signed an immigration reform bill in 2013. ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ข๐๐ž๐š ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐จ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐ž๐ง๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ž๐œ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐›๐จ๐ซ๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ง๐ž๐ฐ.
As Donald Trump has returned to office, he has taken aggressive steps against immigrants. However, many of this administrationโ€™s actions have been aimed at people who have entered this country legally, following the steps outlined by the federal government. It makes sense to tackle the real issues of illegal immigration, ๐›๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ง๐ž๐š๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐œ๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐จ๐ซ๐๐ž๐ซ.
This week, a student at Tufts University was detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. The video of her arrest can be easily found online and is rather disturbing; she was taken in by plain clothes ICE officers in masks, and she was immediately moved to a detention facility across the country. This student has committed no crime; she did not destroy property, she did not attack anyone, and she did not support any sanctioned international organizations.
She was detained and had her legal immigrant status revoked for speaking in support of Palestinians; Secretary Rubio has suggested another 300 visas have been similarly revoked. The fact that she is here on a student visa should have no bearing on her constitutionally protected right to free speech. ๐“๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ž๐ง๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐œ๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐›๐จ๐ซ๐๐ž๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ž๐œ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ซ๐ž๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ.
Since the new Trump Administration has come back into the Executive Branch, there have been numerous reports of tourists being detained within the United States. This includes a German tourist who was detained for several weeks in San Diego, a Welsh backpacker who was detained at the border and held for nearly three weeks in Washington State, among others.
As a result of these detentions of people in this country legally, numerous European governments are understandably updating their travel advisories related to the United States. ๐Ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐š๐ ๐š๐ข๐ง, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ž๐ง๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐œ๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐›๐จ๐ซ๐๐ž๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ž๐œ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ซ๐ž๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ.
The Trump Administration has stripped hundreds of thousands of immigrants of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) that was granted by the Biden Administration. These immigrants came to the United States legally from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela as they faced hardships in their homelands.
Whether the decision to grant TPS to these people was a good decision or not, they followed the protocol of the United States Federal Government and were admitted to under a legal pathway to residency. In addition to these countries, President Trump is reportedly also expected to revoke legal residency to Ukrainian refugees who have fled the Russian invasion of their country. ๐๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐›๐จ๐ซ๐๐ž๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ž๐œ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ซ๐ž๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ.
As I have mentioned before, Donald Trumpโ€™s executive order allowing ICE to conduct raids on schools is a troubling move. Schools now are being forced to consider their best, legal options for dealing with the possibility that immigration agents come to their schools to take away individuals on their grounds. Moreover, students will potentially witness another student, parent, or school employee be taken by force. With the Executive Branch revoking legal statuses at will, people taken away could have been here legally. ๐€๐ ๐š๐ข๐ง, ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐ž๐œ๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐›๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐ž๐ง๐ก๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐›๐จ๐ซ๐๐ž๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ž๐œ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ.
As we see these many immigration policies that work only to harm people who have worked to come into the United States on legal grounds provided directly by the federal government, I continue to question what exactly Congress has to say about these issues. Unfortunately, I hear almost nothing from my representation; I will write again today to my Senators and Representatives and ๐š๐ฌ๐ค ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐๐จ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ข๐ซ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐š๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐œ๐ก๐ž๐œ๐ค ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ:
๐‚๐ก๐ฎ๐œ๐ค ๐†๐ซ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฒ โ€“ (๐Ÿ“๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“) ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐Ÿ–-๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ’๐Ÿ“
๐‰๐จ๐ง๐ข ๐„๐ซ๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ โ€“ (๐Ÿ“๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“) ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐Ÿ’-๐Ÿ’๐Ÿ“๐Ÿ•๐Ÿ’
๐™๐š๐œ๐ก ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐ง โ€“ (๐Ÿ“๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“) ๐Ÿ’๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ-๐Ÿ–๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐ŸŽ
Thank you for reading.
Sources:
Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts Student, Is Detained by ICE – The New York Times
Rubio says any foreign student found causing a ‘ruckus’ will have visa stripped | Fox News
Lockups of European tourists at US borders spark fears of American travel | AP News
European countries, Canada issue advisories for travelers to U.S. : NPR
The prospect of immigration agents entering schools is sending shockwaves among communities : NPR
U.S. to revoke legal status of more than a half-million migrants, urges them to self deport – CBS News
As protections expire, Ukrainians who escaped war face an uncertain future : NPR
Trump weighs revoking legal status of Ukrainians as US steps up deportations | Reuters
President Bush’s Plan For Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 – Wikipedia
Remarks by the President on Comprehensive Immigration Reform | whitehouse.gov
Biden admin announces sweeping deportation shield for nearly 1M migrants
Trump Immigration Policy Ending Protection For 1.8 Million Immigrants
Trump plans to revoke legal status of Ukrainians who fled to US, sources say