Majority Of Public Disagrees With Trump About Refugees

Donald Trump has done his best to demonize the refugees from Central America -- those who turn themselves in at our Southern border seeking asylum. Trump has separated families, caged children, and refused to allow them to enter and ask for asylum. He wants Americans to consider these desperate families as criminals who want to hurt this country.

Fortunately, the public is not buying his racist hate-speech against these refugees. Instead of being convinced by Trump, the opposite is happening -- more are being convinced that the U.S. should allow these refugees to enter this country.

In December, only 51% said those refugees should be allowed to enter. That has now climbed to 57% -- a significant jump of 6 points. And that increase in. wanting them to enter has grown in all political groups -- Democrats (from 82% to 85%), Independents (from 52% to 58%), and even Republicans (from 14% to 24%).

Trump's vicious actions and hate-speech may work for his deplorable base, but it is not impressing the American public.

The charts above are from The Gallup Poll -- done between July 15th and 31st of a national sample of 3,038 adults, with a margin of error of 2 points.

What Americans Think Of The Refugee "Caravan"

These charts are from a new Monmouth University Poll -- done between November 9th and 12th of a national sample of 802 adults, with a margin of error of 3.5 points.

In an effort to instill fear in voters, Donald Trump relentlessly denigrated the refugee caravan hundreds of miles from our southern border. He tried to convince people that the members of the caravan were dangerous people -- composed of gang members and terrorists.

When you look at the two poll questions above, it might seem that he was successful (even though voters rejected the Republicans). About 86% said they had heard about the caravan. And 53% thought it was a threat to the United States (29% a major threat and 24% a minor threat).

But when you look a little deeper in the poll, you see that's not really true. As the charts below show, only 26% thought the caravan should be stopped and sent back, while 70% thought they should be given the opportunity to show they deserved to be let into the country (that they were persecuted and had no criminal record).

In addition, only 38% thought it was at least likely the caravan contained terrorists, while 50% did not think that was likely.

Trump did his best to scare voters, but they aren't as stupid as he thought they were.

U.S. Court Makes A Humane Immigration Decision

(Cartoon image above is by Bob Englehart in the Hartford Courant.)

Recently, there has been a lot of publicity about a few thousand Central American children who have come to this country and turned themselves in at the border. They were seeking asylum, because the violence in their own countries has put their lives in danger. The really sad part is that too many Americans simply don't care about these children (or whether they live or die). Polls show a majority want them deported (the quicker the better), and the federal government is doing that -- sending them back into danger and death.

But these children are not the only ones we are sending back into danger and death. A few thousand Central American women (many with small children) have also asked for asylum for their own safety. They are the victims of serious domestic physical abuse, and have been unable to get any help in their own country. The long and dangerous trek to the United States is their final effort to get some help.

Unfortunately for these women, the United States does not grant asylum to victims of domestic abuse -- even if sending them back obviously puts them in danger of being killed. And sending them back to their terrible and dangerous situation is exactly what the government has been doing. That seems to me to be a very hard-hearted policy for a nation where at least 98% of the population is either immigrants or the descendants of immigrants, and in direct opposition to the U.S. claim to be a nation supporting basic human rights. What human right is more basic than the right to live?

Fortunately for these women in dire peril, there is an immigration court that understands -- and thinks those in danger should be granted asylum. Last Tuesday, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) made a landmark decision that could open the way for women whose lives are in danger from domestic abusers to receive asylum and stay in this country. Here is how that decision was described in Mother Jones magazine:

The case involved a Guatemalan woman who ran away from her abusive husband. "This abuse included weekly beatings," the court wrote in its summary of her circumstances. "He threw paint thinner on her, which burned her breast. He raped her." The police refused to intervene, and on Christmas 2005, she and her three children illegally entered the United States.

Before Tuesday's decision, immigration judges routinely denied asylum to domestic violence victims because US asylum law does not protect people who are persecuted on account of their gender. The law only shields people who are persecuted because they are members of a certain race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or particular social group. Tuesday's ruling, however, recognized "married women in Guatemala who are unable to leave their relationship" as a unique social group—giving the Guatemalan woman standing to make an asylum claim. . .

Tuesday's decision is a sharp departure from a 1999 ruling, in which the BIA found that Guatemalan women who cannot leave their marriages are not a protected class. That decision was vacated by then Attorney General Janet Reno. Rody Alvarado, the applicant in that case, won asylum in 2009, 14 years after making her plea. . .

The Guatemalan woman at the center of Tuesday's ruling, identified by the court only as A-R-C-G-, does not earn asylum as a result of the decision. Instead, the BIA sent her case back down to the immigration court level. Because there is a backlog of nearly 400,000 deportation cases pending before US immigration courts, a final decision could take years.

But the implications of the decision extend well beyond her case. The ruling will affect some 300 women who have appealed their domestic-violence asylum cases to the BIA. In almost all of those cases, according to Frydman, the applicant is a Central American woman who sought asylum after being apprehended near the US border. The women then went before an immigration judge who believed the facts of their cases, but ruled that they didn't belong to a protected group that could claim asylum.

It's about time this country decided that human lives are more important than ridiculous laws supported mainly by racist haters who have forgotten their own heritage. It's time we put xenophobia behind us and start living up to our claim of being a beacon for human rights in the world. We can't be a beacon with just big talk -- it requires action. And a good start would be to grant asylum to those whose lives are in danger (even if they happen to have brown skin).

Killing Children To Satisfy Right-Wing Immigration Fears

(The cartoon image above is by Pat Bagley in the Salt Lake Tribune.)

Much has been made in the media recently about the 50,000 or so children from Central America who have turned themselves in to Border Patrol in the last 9 months. And right-wingers have seized upon this story as "proof" that there is a massive invasion of illegal immigrants flooding into this country -- encouraged by the "lax policies" of President Obama. It is not the truth, but then truth has never meant much to these right-wingers. They're much more interested in propaganda that supports their hard-hearted approach to immigration.

And their propaganda attempts seem to be working with a large segment of the American population -- in spite of the fact that undocumented immigrants are at the lowest point of growth in many years (including the growth during all Republican administrations. This is due to a lack of jobs in this country and increased border security. President Obama has put more agents on the border than any previous administration -- and in spite of right-wing claims, President Obama has deported more undocumented immigrants than any previous administration (of either party).

The right-wing fear-mongers have demanded these border children be deported as quickly as possible. They have ignored the pleas from these children that their lives would be in danger if deported -- or they just don't care. And sadly, president Obama is giving in to their mean-spirited demands and beginning to deport these children. And even more sadly, it is turning out that these children were telling the truth -- that their lives really were in danger. Here is part of a Los Angeles Times article on the subject:

"There are many youngsters who only three days after they've been deported are killed, shot by a firearm," said Hector Hernandez, who runs the morgue in San Pedro Sula. "They return just to die."

At least five, perhaps as many as 10, of the 42 children slain here since February had been recently deported from the U.S., Hernandez said.

Immigrant aid groups and human rights organizers say the Honduran government is ill-equipped to assist children at high risk after they have been returned.

San Pedro Sula had 187 killings per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Honduras' overall homicide rate was 90 per 100,000 in 2012, the highest in the world, much of it fueled by gang and drug-trafficking violence.

Unaccompanied children from Honduras "come from extremely violent regions where they probably perceive the risk of traveling alone to the U.S. preferable to staying at home," the report said. . .

Valdete Wileman, a nun who runs the Center for Returned Migrants in San Pedro Sula, said about 80% of the children who had been returned from the U.S. had been seeking to escape the gang violence.

Wileman said she was particularly concerned about children who once served as gang lookouts.

"Some of these children are threatened with their lives," she said. "And now they are being forced to return to the same place."

Other children head for the U.S. after the rest of their families have been killed. Although some of these deportees move to other neighborhoods here, many don't have the money to relocate. And the gangs, with ties throughout the country, could track them down anyway.

Wileman said she has neither the resources nor the means to help, because the government barely funds the center.

Frankly, I am shocked that in a country filled with immigrants and the descendants of immigrants, so many Americans are willing to send these children to their deaths. And even more amazing is the fact that most of these people claim to be christians. Do they think Jesus was just joking when he gave the Sermon on the Mount? Was he just auditioning for a comedy club when he said to love your neighbor and take care of the poor and underprivileged?

These children came here to save their lives -- and we are sending them to their deaths. All Americans should be ashamed. The blood of these children are on our hands.

House GOP Engages In An Orgy Of Hate Before Recessing

(The cartoon image above is by David Fitzsimmons in the Arizona Daily Star.)

It has always amazed me that those who proclaim the loudest that they are christians often engage in the most unchristian behavior. And nowhere is this more true than among the Republicans elected to serve in Congress. These GOP officials campaign proudly as being christian, and believing in christian values -- but when they get to Washington, the only values they support are hate and bigotry. And in the last few days they compounded this sick behavior by directing their hate at children.

In the last nine months, about 50,000 children from Central America have shown up at the border and turned themselves in to Border Patrol officers. They say they are fleeing the violence in their own countries, and are just trying to save their own lives -- and most of them have relatives living in this country. The corporate media, encouraged by congressional Republicans, have tried to paint this as a major border crisis -- but it isn't. The numbers of these children are just a drop in the bucket compared to the millions of undocumented immigrants living and working in this country.

The president asked Congress for the money to feed, house, and clothe these children while investigating their claims of being refugees. This reasonable action would allow those found to be true refugees to stay in this country, while the rest would be deported. But that wasn't good enough for the congressional Republicans, falling far short of satisfying their hate for brown-skinned people (even children trying to save their own lives).

After a few days of arguing, the House Republicans came up with their own "solution" to the situation, and passed it on a party-line vote. But that "solution" was far from a christian one. They began by overturning a law that guaranteed immigrant children the right to a court hearing before being deported (a bill signed into law by Republican George W. Bush). This would allow those children to be deported as quickly as possible -- without any regard to their safety.

Their bill also authorized some spending -- $400 million for more border security (even though Homeland Security has already given our border security its top rating, and the growth rate for undocumented immigrants has dropped to zero), $20 million to speed up the deportation process, and $270 million to send National Guard troops to the border (even though they are not properly trained for that duty). The bill also contains some money to house the children during the small window of time they would await deportation. The Republicans simply don't care about the danger many of these children would face when deported.

That would have been bad enough, and worthy of their enshrinement in a hall of shame -- but the Republicans didn't stop there. They doubled-down on their hate and passed a second bill. This second bill overturns the president's executive order stopping the deportation of "Dreamers" (children brought to this country by their parents when very young, and who have contributed by staying out of trouble, serving in the U.S. military and/or attending college). Even though these Dreamers have lived in the U.S. most of their lives and are doing their best to contribute to this country, the hate-filled congressional Republicans want them deported -- because they happen to have been born in another country (and have brown skin).

Now the Republicans will go home and brag to their racist teabagger base that they have solved the "border crisis". The truth is that they have done nothing but publicly display their very unchristian hatred and bigotry. Fortunately, this ridiculous bill has no chance of passing the Senate, and if it somehow did, President Obama has promised to veto it.

Those congressional Republicans probably think they have done what the people want -- but they haven't. They have just shot themselves in the foot one more time (feet that were already riddled with bullets). They have once again done just the opposite of what most Americans wanted -- and given voters one more reason (among many) to vote against them in November.

The charts below were made with information from the Public Religion Research Institute. Their survey was done between July 23rd and 27th of a random national sample of 1,026 adults, and has a margin of error of 3.1 points. As you can see, most Americans think their refugee claim might be true -- and don't want those children deported unless that claim can be proven to be false.