donald trump WANTS YOU TO HATE. . .PART I: IMMIGRANTS

For the last 10 years, donald trump has been continually gaslighting the American people on immigration.  We’re being invaded!  We’ve had an OPEN BORDER!  Immigrants are Rapists!  Murders!  Thieves!  What’s more, “those countries” are sending us their rapists, murders, and thieves!  They’re emptying out their insane asylums!  They’re eating the cats and dogs!

We had an OPEN BORDER! AN OPEN BORDER for God’s sake!  Anyone could come in, no questions asked!  Anyone!  No one was stopped!  No one was sent back!

And all “those people” vote democratic!

If there’s any group of people that you need to fear, to avoid, to scapegoat, and more than anything else, to HATE, it’s immigrants.

These claims are, to be charitable, lies.  I could use a lot of other words here, some of which would begin with the letter “f,” but I won’t.

Trump learned a long time ago that if any single issue could get people enraged, fearful, hateful, and more likely vote for him, this would be it.

So if you’re someone who’s already made up your mind, someone who wants to marinate in your hate and shut off your brain, stop reading now.  Go back to facebook, X, or (gag) truth social, and immerse yourself in trumpisms.

And continue to hate.

For the rest of you who might actually be interested in a reasoned discussion on immigration, its impact today, and where we’re headed in the future, here we go.

America, of course, is a nation of immigrants.  We all came from somewhere.  The Protestant English hit town first, and established their own order.  Pretty much everyone else was denigrated, at least at first.

Germans were stinking kraut eaters.  Irish were illiterate.  Italians were diseased.  Chinese were good enough to build railroads, but then needed to go back.

Over time, all of these groups were able to amalgamate.  They learned English.  They worked.  They thrived.  They became successful.

But they all had to overcome enormous prejudice.  And many came from desperate circumstances.

The Irish arrived in the midst of the potato famine that obliterated their population.  For many, it was escape to America or starve.  For Italians, it was the political and economic upheaval around the turn of the twentieth century.  For Jews, Mennonites, Hutterites, and Amish, it was brutal repression.

Were they all model citizens?  Of course not.  Witness the organized crime elements that existed in every immigrant group.  But this was a decided minority.

Immigration to the U.S. peaked around 1920, fell off as racist laws were implemented aimed at non-whites, then picked back up in the 1960’s.  Along the southern border, people went back and forth to Mexico, regardless of citizenship, doing business (no, capitalism doesn’t recognize borders).  Through it all, though, non-Caucasians were subjected to a higher level of suspicion.  Enter the U.S. on a visitor’s visa and overstay?  No problem if you’re a European.  More significant if you’re not.

Along the way, the U.S. has established quotas for entering the country and legally becoming citizens.  The pathway can be long, arduous, sometimes impossible to understand, expensive, and frequently demanding of legal counsel.

U.S. policy has also long recognized that there will be those who face discrimination and death in their home country, and will seek political asylum in this country.  This has been the case for decades (look up the Cuban boat lift).  But no longer (unless you’re a white south African).

So what’s happening now?  Those seeking entrance to the U.S. are overwhelming confronted with an antiquated and dysfunctional immigration system.  As a result, more people are seeking entry without documentation.

Who’s fault is this?  Republicans blame Democrats for “letting too many get in” so they’ll presumably vote Democratic (evidence?). Democrats blame Republicans for refusing to reform an overwhelmed system because they’re looking for a cause célèbre to win elections, and an “invasion” of immigrants fills the bill.

So let’s look at some facts.

CLAIM:  WE HAD AN OPEN BORDER UNDER BIDEN!

FACT:  Nice try, but there was widespread apprehension of immigrants at the border from 2020 to 2024.  According to the Department of Homeland Security, trump deported 2 million undocumented non-residents during his first term.

Biden? 4,675,000.  Too many?  Too few?  Think whatever you want.  But it doesn’t spell “open border.”

To pacify trump supporters, I’ll even call them illegal, if you want.  It doesn’t change anything.  But if it makes you happy and you continue reading—fine.  Just so you’re also thinking.

CLAIM:  THIS IS AN INVASION!

FACT:  No.  Call immigrants whatever you want, but they aren’t invaders.  Look it up:  Invasion—“the incursion of an army for conquest or plunder.”  Looking for a better life may be something you disagree with, but doesn’t qualify as an invasion.  At its peak, immigrants may constitute 4 million per year—roughly 2 million documented and an estimated 2 million who are not.  Approximately another 2 million are apprehended at the border and sent back.   

Do the math.  In any year, that’s about 1 percent of our population.  It’s the main reason America is growing, and most Western countries aren’t.  At present, an estimated 11 million undocumented people live in the U.S.—barely 3 % of our population.  Hardly an invasion.

And despite the growth in our country’s overall population, the number of undocumented is lower now than it was in 2007, when it peaked at 12.3 million.

CLAIM:  BUT ILLEGALS ARE CRIMINALS!  THEY’RE VIOLENT!  Trump SAYS SO!

FACT:  Wrong again.  All authenticated data indicate that U.S citizens commit violent crimes more than twice as often as illegal immigrants, and property crimes more than 4 times as often.  Using this as a benchmark, in order to make America safer, we should deport all the citizens and keep the immigrants (Note: I tried to check these data on the U.S. Justice Department website, but the page that discussed this was listed as “unavailable.”  Gee, who would have thought?)

CLAIM:  OK, BUT THEY’RE STILL ILLEGAL!  AND TRUMP ONLY WANTS TO GET RID OF ILLEGALS!

FACT:  That’s not what Trump said.  He didn’t say illegal, he just said things like “invasion” “rapists, murders.”  He painted all immigrants with a broad brush.  Those immigrants he lied about and said were eating cats and dogs?  All legal. 

CLAIM:  FINE, BUT trump ONLY WANTS TO KICK OUT THE VIOLENT CRIMINALS!

FACT:  I wish.  So far masked, armor-wearing, rifle-toting ICE agents have arrested plenty of undocumented who have no criminal record in the U.S.  A U.S. citizen was arrested in California, his only “crime” seemed to be because he was Hispanic.  While in custody, he saw agents high-fiving and congratulating each other.  Right. Real tough guys.

Let’s get something straight.  An agency of the U.S. Executive branch has been weaponized in a way that allows it utter immunity.  Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, despite massive spending by their dog-killing leader Noem, have picked up darned few violent criminals.  But they’ve rounded up plenty of defenseless workers, along with anyone who tries to speak up and protest. We’ve never seen an internal threat to our freedom like this before.

White House staffer Stephen Miller, who’s made no bones about his openness to Great Replacement Theory, a racist idea that says only people of European ancestry should be citizens, has stated he wants to round-up and deport 3,000 people a day.  He’s nowhere close.  And he hates it.

What to do?  Change the rules.  Change who’s “really” an American.  500,000 refugees from such places as Afghanistan (some who served beside us in wartime), Venezuela, Cuba, and Haiti have had their status revoked.   They’re hard-working and law abiding.  But now Miller sees them simply as red-meat for his 3,000 a day quota.  And if they’re killed when they’re sent back?  Miller doesn’t care, so why should you, right?

Miller, Noem, and company are demanding massive increases in funding for ICE.  More troops (that’s basically what they are, even though some attacked officers on 1/6), more weapons, more jails, more money.

And don’t get me started on Noem’s new jet.  Maybe should could get one from the Qataris.

SO WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?  WE JUST LET ANYONE IN?  OPEN BORDERS?

No.  I’m saying we deal with immigration logically and not stupidly (which is what the Trump is doing right now).  Reform immigration.  Establish realistic numbers for immigration, based on something other than “them Mexicans is gonna replace us!” 

I’m saying we need to identify and arrest violent criminals JUST LIKE WE WOULD CITIZEN VIOLENT CRIMINALS and deal with them.  Streamline and simplify the process for legal immigration. 

I’m saying don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.  Go after violent offenders, but leave workers alone.  Give them a chance to apply for citizenship through a more effective process.  Suddenly remove over 8 million workers?  The economic consequences are going to be enormous.  They already are.

Democrats need to recognize we need better border security.  Republicans need to understand that it will never be perfect.  Build all the ridiculous walls you want, and some will still get through.

Demilitarize ICE and return it to its proper role.  Get rid of this 3,000 a day bounty nonsense.  It’s cruel, and it accomplishes nothing.  If anything, its impact is negative, because it encourages agents to go after non-violent immigrants over the violent ones because they are easier targets, and it will boost ICE’s numbers. 

Get back to the work of nation building.  Work to boost trade with countries that immigrants are leaving.  Even far-right Italian President Meloni is working to boost African economies (the source of most of their illegal immigration) in an effort to reduce the number of people trying to flee.

Would that work here?  Not if we’re building trade barriers with the world.

So you’re really serious about immigration?  These are the steps we must take.  It will be hard.  But it will have a lasting effect, and be much more effective than a bunch of high-fiving ICE arrests.

This is what we need to deal with.  But it will be easy to look the other way.  We’re in the midst of going to war with Iran, pouring money into Isreal, erecting trade barriers, implementing tariffs that will skyrocket inflation and destroy jobs, destabilizing the world economy, and making the world much more dangerous than 6 months ago. 

But the immigrant issue will remain with us.  Before we can deal with it, though, we have to stop hating them.