In many ways it does the opposite, for reforms to work you need to build coalitions from all political segments of society, vilifying political opponents (the ones that believe in some kind of immigration control and do not support fully open borders) does not build that coalition that is need to fight the unethical and illegal acts. Instead it puts people on the defensive and further divides the nation ensuring no reform can happen at all
Today it seems if you believe in anything other than fully open unrestricted borders then you are considered to be a racist authoritarian from mid 1940's Germany
1. All persons that are not a danger to others and can prove financial viability (i.e they have a job sponsorship, or other means of self support with out needing social welfare) should be allowed to immigrate on a temporary basis
2. The Immigration process should be limited to only establishment of ID to clear a person from known dangers (i.e medical, criminal or other things that pose a danger to the US population) and financial viability
3. Social Welfare programs should be limited to Citizens Only. Persons can apply for Citizenship after they have lived here for 3 yrs under the temporary immigration program.
As far as Separating a person from their family. We do that to citizens every day. If you break the law you will be separated from your family. That argument does not hold any weight with me, nor does it make a person a racist.
Do you believe people with children should be immune from criminal prosecution?
As to "keeping children in cages" I have been opposed to those programs for as long as they have existed, which is going on at least 3 different presidents now. Where were you when Obama as doing this? Or are you going to pretend that these ICE conditions just magically appeared under Trump like most democrats try to?
And related to breaking the law and separation from your family, the kinds of crimes you need to commit for that to happen are usually much worse than immigration without a permit. Also, I wasn't thinking of the general idea of deporting someone who has children, but specifically to the cases of families who immigrated illegally, had a child in the US, and are now being deported while leaving a small child without care and with little hope of ever reconnecting with their parents. And the solution is not necessarily to let the parents stay, but to allow them to take their child with them.
Otherwise, your immigration policy sounds pretty nice. I am assuming you would also carve out exceptions for asylum seekers, but apart from that, it sounds positively utopian compared to anything like current practices, from what I've read.
However, the deportation process must be humane. You can detain people who are to be deported in conditions that respect their human rights. You can allow parents of small children with US citizenship to take their children with them (assuming both parents are deported), or to make other arrangements.
The two alternatives are not (1) open borders or (2) concentration camps for illegal immigrants.
How to you handle underclass, i.e. people who become disabled or injured, move into a recession, can't meet the initial requirements, or some reason to not comply. With your requirement #1, #3 seems cruel. In most countries a work permit gets you basic access to the same welfare and worker protections (usually statutory retirement, unemployment insurance, health care) for this exact reason.
> If you break the law you will be separated from your family
Really depends what law you have broken, doesn't it? Under US immigration law crossing the border at the wrong place is punishable by $250 fine (8 U.S.C. Section 1325, I.N.A. Section 275). Many traffic violations have stricter penalties.
In early 2017 the Trump administration stopped accepting asylum applications at ports of entry and required asylum seekers to apply in the country (contrary to law). In April 2018 ICE started separating families of asylum seekers who had committed the grievous act of a) crossing the border b) requesting asylum from the first US official they encountered (a condition explicitly allowed in US asylum law)
> keeping children in cages ... 3 different presidents now
I think that's a false equivalency. The fucked up stuff ICE got away with under Obama is not the same as the fucked up shit Trump has given the green light to. The Trump admin is actively violating US immigration law to for no other apparent reason than a simple desire to be cruel to asylum seekers. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/688/the-out-crowd
The only vilification happening here is your misrepresentation of the critics of ICE, many of whom do not advocate for "open borders".
ICE is not equivalent to "border security", which should be obvious when you consider that this agency was only created in 2002.
ICE doesn't even work at the border. That's the Border Patrol (and customs, and the Coast Guard).
ICE exclusively works within the US. Since illegal immigrants have little protection, it acts much like any unchecked police force, at least according to its critics.
There were 1,200 complaints of sexual assault in ICE custody[0], for example. Less than 2% of these were investigated[1], proving the point about them acting "largely unchecked" that I somehow felt the need to qualify with "according to its critics", above, before looking this up.
From 2012 to early 2018, ICE wrongfully arrested and detained 1,488 U.S. citizens, including many who spent months or years in immigration detention.[2]
Since it isn't particularly hard to find illegal immigrants in the US, ICE also has a lot of liberty to decide who to go after. That's a recipe for arbitrary enforcement, and there have been complaints about individuals, families, neighbourhoods, or cities being targeted or a variety of reasons, none of which fit most people's idea of justice, from shakedown collecting money from individuals in exchange for sparing them harassment to cities being targeted after incurring the wrath of the current government.
[0]: https://theintercept.com/2018/04/11/immigration-detention-se...
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_E...
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_E...
Children covered in lice, bodily fluids, without showering for weeks to months. Newborns being taken care of by 5 year old detainees with no relation. They are denied food and water. They are forced to drink water from toilets. They're scared to ask for food and water [1].
Then, let me introduce you: The Mexican Repatriation Act of 1929. If your argument is that citizens need to be protected, I remind you that in 1929, the US government took US-born children of Mexican heritage (technically, US nationals), put them in buses, and sent them to Mexico. In total, up to 4,000,000 Mexicans and their US born descendants were victims of this.
It is possible that some the families being detained and separated are descendants of US citizens. But nobody cares, you know why? because it's not about citizenship and immigration. It has never been about that. It's about making bullshit excuses for racism and ethnic cleansing. Before the Mexican annexation it was done to the Native Americans, and for them there were other excuses as well.
The US has set a strong precedent about not giving a flying fuck about borders, immigration and sovereignty. What did American immigrants in Tejas, Mexico do? or Alta California, Mexico? or the Kingdom of Hawaii? or countless other territories? They were given land grants and instead of being grateful, they revolted, declared independence and then joined the Union because they were not allowed to have slaves, or because they saw themselves as entitled to those lands. Lands that they had no connection to whatsoever.
Before the US existed, their predecessors, the British empire, had other races to discriminate. Basically every other nation including other nations in the British Isles. That mentality led them to invade 99% of the planet and kill millions of people through wars, famine, etc.
In contrast, the ancestors of the families being detained are the populations that have inhabited North America for 10,000 years. Not a couple of centuries. 10,000 fucking years.
Almost all the vocal critics of ICE I am aware of are Social Democrats that want Open border, Free Everything for Everyone, and curtailment of capitalist systems. They use ICE as an easy target to push their other agenda which is replacing capitalism with Socialism and open borders
>ICE exclusively works within the US.
Actually they work in 53 nations, and has a active role at many ports of entry but that really is not relevant
>>Since illegal immigrants have little protection, it acts much like any unchecked police force
Given the context around this discussion I would be hard pressed to pain ICE any worse than every day police
Law Enforcement in this nation need MASSIVE reforms, ICE include, as do every level of Law Enforcement.
Police Abuse is rampant and not simply a domain of illegal immigration enforcement.
>>There were 1,200 complaints of sexual assault in ICE custody[0], for example. Less than 2% of these were investigated[1]
lol, your "2 sources" are all the same source... They all reference the same intercept story which is very biased and highlights the problem with Wikipedia today
Further The Intercept does not claim that only 2% of the reports were investigated it says that the OIG only shared investigations on 2% of the cases with intercept as s result of the FOIA request, that does not mean there were not investigations on the other 98% only that the investigations were not released under FOIA. That can be for a number of reasons.
>From 2012 to early 2018, ICE wrongfully arrested and detained 1,488 U.S. citizens, including many who spent months or years in immigration detention.
I would like to know the actual total that spend months or years in detention "many" is a subjective term used to incite an emotional reaction. Not a data driven analysis to understand the scope of the problem
That said 1 is too many as as I have said before we need police reform
Unfortunately we are at a political impasse for any-kind of real accountability reform because the Social Democrats block any reforms that do not involve complete amnesty and open borders including full access to tax payer funded social welfare for all immigrants. That is a non-starter for most people. I will support open borders in the absence of social welfare, or I will support social welfare in the absence of open borders but I will never support both at the same time as that is not economically feasible.