Time for Trump To Do the Right Thing on Immigration
By John Kiriakou, Reader Supported News
23 November 18
As Thanksgiving approaches, Donald Trump has sent 5,900 troops to the border
with Mexico, ostensibly to protect it from a hoard of undocumented migrants,
to keep out "rapists and drug dealers," and to ensure the security and
safety of American citizens. That's preposterous, of course. The only thing
that's going to happen is 5,900 people are going to miss Thanksgiving with
their families because Donald Trump decided to use them as political pawns.
Besides, Trump hasn't even mentioned the so-called immigrant caravan since
the election. It was all just a political prop.
Similarly, the House Progressive Caucus met last week to lay out its
legislative agenda for the coming year. The caucus has grown by 20 members,
thanks to Democratic victories in the midterm elections, and many of those
new members of Congress campaigned on a promise to abolish Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE). But when the new caucus chairman, Rep. Mark Pocan
(D-Wis.) was questioned about caucus priorities, he said they were
healthcare, creating jobs, and fighting corruption. Reporters pressed him on
immigration and abolishing ICE, and he responded, "We are absolutely going
to be pressing that. However, I think our main goal of getting out of the
gate is going to be the issues that we all ran on across all districts,
around healthcare, around good paying jobs, around dealing with the culture
of corruption." So the caucus is not "absolutely going to be pressing that."
And the progressives also used immigrants as a political prop.
The issue of immigration is an important one for me. My grandparents came to
the United States from Greece in 1931 (my father's parents) and 1934 (my
mother's parents) fleeing political upheaval, poverty, and foreign
occupation. They had to deal with the same bigotry that other ethnic groups
did when they arrived in the United States. They had to deal with the same
fearmongers we see today trying to conjure up images of dark-skinned weirdos
raping white women, taking jobs away from white men, and polluting the gene
pool. On my grandparents' immigration forms, their race is written as
"Greek," not "white."
The truth about almost all immigrants, a truth that the mainstream media
generally ignores, is that they simply want a chance to flee violence and
deprivation in their countries, work to earn a living for their families,
and happily pay their taxes. That describes my cousin Angelo.
Angelo was a member of the Greek Merchant Marines in the late 1960s. One day
his ship docked in the port of Norfolk, Virginia. To hear him tell the
story, his captain said, "Angelo, I don't trust any of these other sailors
to remain at their posts. I think they'll jump ship. So I want you to take
guard duty tonight." Angelo stood watch until the sun went down and then he
promptly jumped ship, swam to shore, and made his way to a Greek coffee shop
in Richmond, Virginia. At the coffee shop, a friendly compatriot contacted
my grandfather in Farrell, Pennsylvania, and told him that Angelo was in the
country. My grandfather wired enough money to get Angelo onto a train and he
soon arrived in Pennsylvania.
I was four years old when Angelo arrived at the house. It only took a few
days for immigration officers to arrive. Even as a little kid, I remember it
like it was yesterday. Angelo hid in the broom closet in the kitchen while
my grandfather went to the front door. He opened it and, although he only
spoke about 20 words of English, he looked the officers in the eye and said,
"No warrant? You no come in."
Like I said, most immigrants just want a chance to earn a living. They're
happy to pay their taxes if given the opportunity. Angelo waited things out.
There was an amnesty eventually, as there often is. Angelo got his American
citizenship. And for the next 30 years he operated the barber shop inside
the Pentagon - a swarthy, threatening "illegal immigrant" inside the center
of world military power. He ended up buying a beautiful house in
Springfield, Virginia, marrying, having a son, and living happily ever
after.
That brings us back to Donald Trump's immigration policy. It's morally and
ethically bankrupt. The Central American migrants who are a part of the
caravan are not a threat to the US or to the American economy. We actually
need them to take jobs that Americans won't take. How many people do you
know who are willing to pick fruit or vegetables, clean houses, or slave
away in restaurant kitchens? And at the upper end of the economy, Dr.
Muhammad the neurologist is not going to take your job.
Instead of sending troops to the border, the Trump administration should do
what the George W. Bush administration set out to do before the September 11
attacks killed it: Issue seasonal work visas, let everybody into the country
who wants to come here, let them pay their taxes, and then let them go back
home until the next season. If they respect the rules for a period of time
to be determined later, they should be eligible for a permanent visa or for
citizenship. It's not a difficult concept. It had broad bipartisan support
in 2001. It could again. But there's no indication that Donald Trump or
either political party have the guts, the desire, or the political
wherewithal to give it a try.
In the meantime, the Trump administration is fighting an ACLU lawsuit that
would reunite immigrant parents who have been forcibly separated from their
children, an appalling policy that shocked even hardline immigration
opponents. And all the while, Donald Trump employees Eastern European
"temporary workers" at Mar-a-Lago and his many golf courses. It's the height
of hypocrisy and does not instill optimism.
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John Kiriakou is a former CIA counterterrorism officer and a former senior
investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. John became the
sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage
Act - a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a
result of his attempts to oppose the Bush administration's torture program.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission
to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader
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