Years before Trump became president of the United States, right-wingers would use “illegal immigration” to hide their bigotry. I knew it was because they didn’t like brown people. It’s not to say they wouldn’t be fine with some brown people, but the thought of their being more brown people than white people here, is more than the right-wingers can bear. As Trump’s horrible immigration policy has been going on, Trump supporters have had to come up with all sorts of reasons to excuse such disgusting policies. Instead of seeing the policy of separating women and children as disgusting, Trump supporters said the immigrant parents should not have brought their children to the border.
But the veil has long since been lifted, and with Trump in the White House, racists don’t have to code their language anymore when discussing the rise of a brown population in this country. According to NBC News, led by White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, the administration plans to limit the number of immigrants allowed to gain legal status each year, and it would not need the approval of congress.
NBC writes of what would result from the proposed policy:
immigrants living legally in the U.S. who have ever used or whose household members have ever used Obamacare, children's health insurance, food stamps and other benefits could be hindered from obtaining legal status in the U.S.
If this policy were to be implemented, Immigration lawyers and advocates, along with public health researchers say that this would impact the lives of 20 million immigrants, making it “the biggest change to the legal immigration system in decades.” What makes this policy insidious, is that immigrants pay billions of dollars worth of taxes, and that even undocumented immigrants pay taxes, even though they’re paying for benefits they won’t use.
IRS data, from 2015, reveals that immigrants paid 4.4 million for Social Security that they do not have. According to Vox, “The IRS estimates that unauthorized workers pay about $9 billion in payroll taxes annually.” Meanwhile, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that $11.7 billion dollars a year of taxes in both state and local taxes, are collected from illegal immigrants.
But to those who care about immigrants, and understand the hypocrisy of the rhetoric by the right, Trump and the Republican National Committee has a message for you mother fuckers. Over the weekend the Republican National Committee sent an email saying “Democrats are pledging to erase America’s borders and let MS-13 run wild.”
Not only is that immensely false, but it’s completely misleading. It turns out that Customs and Border Protection hasn’t done it’s job at figuring out the costs and the overall game plan for building a wall along the souther border.
The Government Accountability Office have just completed a study, where they mention a few problems about the current plans of a wall:
Without assessing costs, consistent with leading practices for capital decision making, C.B.P. does not have complete information for prioritizing locations to use its resources in the most cost-effective manner. [The Department of Homeland Security] faces an increased risk that the Border Wall System Program will cost more than projected, take longer than planned or not fully perform as expected.
Texas Democrat, Rep. Filemon Vela sums up the situation:
The report shows us what we already knew: The Trump administration put almost zero thought into the construction of this wall other than how it will play in the news cycle.
There is more than the macro-news regarding immigrants and immigration. Their was also a micro-event that proves the racist bigotry that has engulfed the right utterly-completely.
In the Sacramento area, a 50-year-old Sikh, Surjit Malhi, was putting signs out an about for a politician in Stanislaus County, California. Upon returning to his truck, attackers threw sand in his face and yelled for him to “Go back to your country.” He told a local news outlet that his “turban” saved him, and that he’s “American 100%, no doubt, so they say, go back to your country? This is my country.” Surjit Malhi was planting campaign signs, when attacked, for a Republican congressman.
The irony of the right’s views on brown immigrants, and their hatred for them, is that these very immigrants often live the lifestyles that conservatives supposedly stand for. To work hard, to not complain, and not look for handouts. Conservatives like to spread the idea that Democrats let them in to get votes. Their can surely be truth in that, but unfortunately, for the right, their actions make it so that the Democrats don't have to put in a lot of effort in to getting the votes from immigrants. The right could get votes from immigrants, but they're just so goddamn racist...
I forgot to mention that the Sikh attacked in the Sacramento area had his truck spray painted with the words "Go back to your country," and a white nationalist symbol.
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