Stumbled on this comment stream posted in our local newspapers article regarding border asylum-seeking family separations. I was looking for protests to attend.
With little exception, most commenters support the hateful, traumatizing policy. I was taken aback, quite frankly. There is little to no emotion in the responses. No outward racism, hate, or anger.
Are the commenters emotionally dead inside? Perhaps this is an insight to their thinking. I find their “heartless adherence to the letter of the law” lacking in in mercy and compassion.
It was this rigid mindset that justified genocide and nazism.
The comments:
-
How about they simply follow the law and migrate legally?? Hundreds of thousands do ti every year. Try going to virtually any other coturny in the world and demand to have illegal *citizenship*...You would be thrown in jail. Period.
-
First of all, it's not that simple to just come here legally. Not by a long shot. And many aren't coming here asking for citizenship...they're coming looking for asylum...for protection. It's easy to justify anything if you classify someone else as not really being human. That's what happens when people point fingers and say "you're a criminal" or "it's your own fault." How does that justify ripping kids away from their parents? Does that make it okay that we're essentially putting little children in jail? Does it justify the United States building a tent city behind barbed wire to place kids? What about the 1500 kids our country placed with sponsors and lost? Where are they? No one knows. Look, everyone has a right to their own opinions. But I'm very deeply troubled that in a state like Utah, where people are so proudly Christian and talk about the importance of family, we have some trying to justify breaking up families and putting kids in jail.
-
Here in Utah we also uphold the law of the Land. It is still illegal to stay in this country without citizenship. These parents are endangering their children when they illegally stay in the USA.
-
Arresting and deporting women and children in the middle of the night is undoubtedly a nasty business. It's also sometimes necessary… As harsh as those measures may be, they are consistent with the law and send a strong deterrent signal. Despite the outcry, backing off now would reinforce the misperceptions in Central America that helped create this problem -- and undermine public support for legal immigration in the U.S."
-
What's wrong with being a Christian and also believing in a strong boarder? Obviously no one likes "breaking up families", but there are consequences to breaking the law. Everyone must be accountable for their actions both religiously and according to the law of the land.
-
If people want to come here they need to do it legally period.
-
Pionee47 - You seem to be using the word "simple" in a different way than Wildhog. The process itself is long and grueling. But, to initiate the process, you 'simply' file paperwork. Immigration was never intended to be "easy" or "simple" it was designed to weed out people who shouldn't be granted admittance and/or citizenship to the United States (or any other country). I'm not sure what your overall point is in your second paragraph. I'm not aware of many people classifying these people as not "human" or even "criminals." But, people are suggesting it is "criminal" (unlawful) to enter the United States at unauthorized crossings. Such an assertion cannot be disputed - the law speaks for itself. As to your third paragraph, please supply additional information--if these 'sponsors' are valid US entities and/or citizens, then that would be a very serious allegation and crime. But, you need to supply evidence to back your statement. In response to your last paragraph, I'm not sure what one's religious affiliation has to do with immigration. You're also cherry-picking religious factors, i.e., support families being together, yet ignoring [the Bible's] expectation to follow the law. Does one outweigh the other? I'd certainly leave that to each individual to decide. I'm not trying to justify anyone going to jail. But, I do not support the idea that we have a moral responsibility to shelter every person that comes to our border. Apply for citizenship, follow the proper legal channels and become a legal citizen. I'm deeply troubled by the constant rhetoric that the United States needs to 'open our borders' and allow people to enter more freely. I'm also deeply troubled by the assertion that being affiliated with a particular religious ideology forbids and/or prohibits me from demanding people enter the country legally.
-
Brawno asking for asylum is legal. Crossing the boarder without a visa or permission is illegal, and they are not doing that. Separating those families to discourage others to file for asylum is illegal and unethical. It violates international law. Get your facts straight.
-
Pioneer47: It actually is as simple as requiring oneself to obey the immigration laws of another nation. If they can prove that they are actually being personally hunted by the state as political dissidents, then they can claim asylum. If they're just coming and claiming to be escaping gang violence...that even exists in Salt Lake City and Ogden and isn't grounds for asylum. As for families supposedly being "ripped apart" after breaking the law: nobody is telling these people that they can't stay together as a family. What you have here is people refusing to follow that deported family member, for whatever reason, completely by their own choice. Legal citizens of the US have all the right in the world to try and immigrate to another country. They can't have their cake and eat it too (getting here illegally by breaking the law, refusing to stay together as a family when one is deported, and then trying to use the argument that families should remain together as long as the family is allowed to remain together in the US.)
-
The law is the law.....if one starts to rationalize one law then why not other laws.
-
You know many of these family's being separated are doing it legally. It is %100 legal to claim asslym.
-
Exactly zero families who are legally entering and requesting asylum are being split up. Only those who have entered the country illegally are finding themselves split up. Don't want to be split up? Don't break the law.
-
@USEYOURBRAIN: Asylum seekers, according to the 1967 Immigration protocol on Asylum, many arriving at the border are then detained and can only seek asylum as a defense to their removal from the United States. Thus, they are subject to being split up. Men and Women are typically not 'housed' together, women and children are typically kept together. There are obvious reasons for these separations, family or not. You are misusing the term "100% legal." You're correct they can legally seek asylum, but that does not equate to them being the country "legally." I could even argue the term "100% legal to claim asylum" is a stretch. They have the RIGHT to claim asylum, and use it as a defense to their removal from the United States, but I wouldn't take it as far as a legal right to simply claim asylum. Asylum seekers are still residing in the United States illegally until their case is presented to an immigration judge, but during that time, they will not be removed. Also, those who demand asylum at the border must use it as a defense to their removal. Defensive Asylum: "A person who is in removal proceedings may apply for asylum defensively by filing the application with an immigration judge ... as a defense against removal from the U.S." (Source: American Immigration Council).
-
I think many people give their opinions in complete ignorance. Of course it's ideal that people come with a legal visa. The truth is that people apply for visas and they are denied year after year. And many don't have the money to apply for visas. Applying for a visa is a very expensive and long process. Most people that come here legally are from well to do families. This way, the poor are excluded from the opportunity to have a better life. I'm not saying illegal immigration is right. I'm saying it's not easy as saying " just apply for a visa." I hope people reading this comment learn compassion for those that are poor and caí not even apply for a visa.
-
Who is going to take these immigrants jobs? This is going to hurt businesses and increase the price of every day goods as well. Add the trade war on top of that...expect to pay double or triple for everyday goods.
-
If what you say is true, owners would need to increase wages to attract workers. Those costs are passed along to consumers... Wait a second! Isn't that just like increasing the minimum wage? Sneaky.
-
You keep forgetting to add a word, the word ILLEGAL is the factor that changes things.
-
Seeking assylum is legal immigration.
-
Have we become such a paranoid country that we are willing to rip children from the loving arms of their parents in order to protect ourselves? Using children as scapegoats is shockingly inhumane.
-
Come here leagly and this would not be an issue. Obey the law.