The War on Illegal Immigrants Coming into The U.s.

Republicans and Democrats have always been divided on issues especially immigration. As the United States becomes more divided so do the political sides that we choose based off our own beliefs. Also, with the divide in what each side believes there is a divide in conditions that the immigrants get put through. Now immigrants get separated from their families and put into a custody where they are held. Not only are they are being put in custody and being ripped from their families they are being put through horrific conditions. With both sides wanting very different policies, and outcomes with immigration, it is no surprise that there is a very big difference with the conditions that immigrants must go through while under a democratic and a republican president. As more events unfold in the United States, especially with immigration, it is no surprise that the two main sides keep getting pushed to two different extremes on what to do about the issues that stand in front of this nation.

Immigrants are now being put into horrifying conditions under the policies of President Donald J. Trump. These conditions are ones that no human being should be put under. Children are being forcefully being ripped from their parents which is known to cause many psychological damages to the children “Child trauma expert Ryan Matlow at Stanford University says toxic stress in children is associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress syndrome, heart disease, cancer, and even early death.” Children are being traumatized by the country for no reason. There is no reason to separate children from their families after this study. It just causes unnecessary trauma that can be irreversible. While President Barack Obama was in office, he also deported a lot of people, but the circumstances were completely different than how President Trump is now. Obama was more focused on deporting criminals and immigrants that just came into the country, while Trump is more focused on deporting all illegal immigrants that are in this country “She argues that Obama prioritized deporting people convicted of serious crimes and recent arrivals who had no criminal records. 'If you're not targeting and focused on people who recently arrived, then the border is effectively open,' Muñoz said, adding: 'It is more humane to be removing people who have been here two weeks than it is to be removing people who have been here for 20 years and have families.' Trump, by contrast, she said, has rejected the policy of focusing on new arrivals and criminals and instead wants to deport as many people as possible.” While both Presidents deported people, it is very important to understand the difference between the situations, and context/policy between each president. While all of this is happening, there is a constant war on immigration going on. In the past (1880-1920) there was a fear of spies sneaking into the country and conducting espionage missions to relay information about the United States to their country’s leaders. There was also an increase of crime, and the spread of disease (1951-1970), while in more recent times the main concern is more terrorist and security breaches.

With the horrific conditions that immigrants go through if they get stopped at the border, it is easy to relate it to the past where minorities had to go brutality in the era of Martin Luther King Jr. During that Era minorities were being brutalized by police for simply doing nothing against them and wanting equal rights. While immigrants are getting thrown into custody and going through equally bad or worse conditions in their time in custody. Minorities being wrongfully imprisoned trying to peacefully protest and gain their basic human rights, while immigrants are being thrown into conditions nobody should be having to go through and being ripped apart from their families with no contact, causing potentially permanent psychological damage to their young children. With the United States politics being so divided it is no surprise that the issue of illegal immigrants varies wildly from side to side. In the past with Barack Obama as president taking an approach that didn’t target the families that have been making better lives for their loved ones for multiple years, focusing on the ones with criminal records, and the ones who are just entering the country. Then present day with President Donald Trump where he wants to deport everybody who is illegally in this country no matter their background.

Bibliography

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2. King, Martin Luther. 1984. Letter from the Birmingham City Jail. New York, Harper & Row Press, Associated.
3. “The U.S. Has Held a Record 69,550 Migrant Children in Government Custody in 2019.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 12 Nov. 2019, www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/u-s-has-held-record-69-550-migrant-children-government-n1080486.
4. Tichenor, Daniel. 'The Political Dynamics of Unauthorized Immigration: Conflict, Change, and Agency in Time.' Polity 47, no. 3 (2015): 283-301. www.jstor.org/stable/24540285.
5. Wolf, Zachary B. “Yes, Obama Deported More People than Trump but Context Is Everything.” CNN. Cable News Network, July 13, 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/13/politics/obama-trump-deportations-illegal-immigration/index.html.