Immigration Court

I want you to think for a moment. For the parents reading this, what was your kid like when they were between 2 - 10 years old? What were you like?

Did you understand complex legal terms and processes? How did you deal with people in authority? How well did you communicate with language, let alone a foreign one?

I ask this due to the latest news of the problems happening at the immigration courts. Imagine if you can, a 3 year old standing in front of a judge. This 3 year old has to understand why they are there and defend themselves against a federal prosecutor.

You see, there are no guarantees of legal representation in Immigration Court. Unless you can afford one, you are on your own. You have to an understanding of the complex immigration laws that will determine you fate.

Now I don't remember much about my early childhood. I have vivid memories from about 6 years old and beyond. I can tell you that understanding complex concepts like Asylum, judicial procedure, and confrontational defense were way beyond my understanding. I'm betting they were beyond yours.

At the age of three, my daughter had a hard time speaking certain words that we take for granted. Now imagine her having to answer in complex terms about why she should be granted asylum. Let alone understanding what it means.

This is why we don't try children without a parent or a guardian. But this is what the Trump administration wants. Heck, they want to eliminate the entire concept of due process.

If your argument is that "too bad, they came here illegally" then you need to check a few things. First, SCOTUS has ruled that everybody, citizen and alien alike, are due equal protection under the law. Thank you 14th Amendment. This means that no matter your legal status, you are due your day in court.

The other thing you need to check is your humanity. A child is an innocent. They were brought by their parents or other family members. Most of these kids were removed from their families. We must treat them with care and love.

So, how to end this rant? I could go on about the court ruling that say all kids under 5 have to be returned to their parents within 14 days or that all kids must be back with families in 30 days. (2 days have already have passed.)

Instead I will say this, is this the country you want to leave your children or grandchildren? Is this how you want to be remembered? Or do you want to leave the country and the world in a better place than you found it? You decide.

Immigrant Children

I’ve been thinking about the immigrant children situation over the past month. I have been thinking about my feelings over this situation and of those ordering this situation. Also, I have been examining what can be done to change the situation.

First, a little transparency... I am the father of a 5-year old daughter. That is all you need to know about me. Anything else from politics to religion does not matter where this is concerned.

For those living under a rock for the last few months, let’s review how we got here. On April 6, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced at the border that the United States would be taking a “Zero Tolerance” stand against illegal immigration. He also announced that he was sending extra federal prosecutors and immigration judges to try people for a federal crime. Normally this is a misdemeanor. As a federal crime, you can’t apply for a visa or legal immigration status, and it hurts your asylum request.

On May 6, AG Sessions stated in speech in San Diego, that they would be making it miserable for people to come here. He also stated that the government would be separating children from their parents, if they crossed the border illegally. Now to be honest here, most people thought that this was nothing more than hyperbole. Speaking to the base. Boy, were we wrong.

Between April 6 and now, the President (and his mouth pieces/supporters) kept claiming that the harsh enforcement was due to a Democratic laws and they were just obeying it. This is wrong. There is no law that states this rule of enforcement.

Unfortunately, the separation of children from their parents did not start getting noticed until social media picked up on the missing 1500 kids. Officially, they are not missing. The people caring for them just did not answer the phone when HHS called to check on them. Right, and I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale too.

Of course, this woke up the politicians along with the media. The video of the Senator trying to get into the private detention center has made the rounds. Senator tries to get in with camera crew; gets told to go away; police are called; and Senator gets a ticket. It would be funny if wasn’t so concerning.

Before we go any further, let’s talk about why people are coming here. In Central and South America, there is a wave of violence and crime. People are facing violence at unprecedented levels since the 1980s (Remember the Death Squads in El Salvador and Nicaragua?). Drug cartels, gangs, revolutionaries/terrorists and even some government officials. These are what people are fleeing from. Extortion, murder and rape are just a number of the reasons people are coming here. They are asking for asylum. They are not coming here illegally.

Now the law state that people seeking asylum have to present themselves to the authorities, make the request, and wait for an immigration judge/official to make a ruling. Nowhere does it state that children are to be separated from their parents.

Now think about the kids for a minute. The children range from 18 months to 12 years old. Think back to when you were a kid. How old were you on your first sleep over or trip without mom or dad? Did you get homesick? It has been reported that some of these kids have been separated for up to 4 months. Some parents have committed suicide over the despair and belief that they will never see their children again.

As I have stated earlier, I am a father of a 5-year old girl. She has a strong personality and will. But even so, to the parents reading this, can you imagine the terror in your child’s face if they are taken from you? How would you feel? What about when your child is asking for you? What is the answer that is given? I know that if someone were to try to take my little girl, I would be in jail right now for a variety of violent charges.

Small children need adults to interact with them. Talking, touching, and just plain play. The Trump administration has admitted that the current facilities are overcrowded. How many people are caring for the children? Infants and toddlers need more care and attention then pre-teens. And what about the long term psychological effects on these kids? Will the government aid with mental health needs? I doubt it.

With the overcrowding and more on the way, the Trump administration has announced that they are planning to create tent cities on military bases in Texas and New Mexico. For those that have served, you know what those tents are like when they are not air conditioned. Do you think that infants, toddlers, and preschoolers should be in that type of environment? And let’s call it what it really is. They are Internment Camps. Ask people like George Takei about their memories of these camps. (I won’t call them concentration camps, but it is getting damn close.)

Thursday (June 14), the AG started quoting from the bible that it was OK to separate the children. In case you are wondering what verse it was, check out Romans 13:1. Shortly thereafter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, at the daily press briefing claimed “It is very biblical to enforce the law, that is actually repeated a number of times throughout the Bible.”

As a daughter of a Minster, I would think that Ms. Sanders would get this right. And yet she screwed it up. It only appears in the bible three times. The first we have mentioned. The others are Titus 3:1 and 1 Peter 2:13. But as a government official, she should know that there is a strict separation between religion and the government. Using the Bible as a justification to imprison children is nothing short of what a ruler in a certain warm place would do.

The next question is: where are the family values Republicans and evangelicals during all of this? Is this what Jesus would do? Are the current batch of Republicans so afraid of being primary-ed out that they refuse to stand up against an evil? It would appear so.

What can you do change this situation? There is only one way. You have to contact your elected representatives. Call the Capital switchboard, they will connect you to your Senator or member of the House. The Phone number is (202)224-3121.

But that is not all you have to do. You have to call your Governor, your reps in your local statehouse, and your city/town leaders. Every elected official needs to get a call from you. Don’t sign some on-line petition or send an E-mail. Those have a nasty habit of getting lost or deleted. But jamming the phone lines gets their attention, especially if they can’t call their bookies, mistresses, or campaign contributors. Have your friends do the same thing.

In the end only you, the American citizen, are going to change this. Are you going stand against an evil or are you going let this slide with some lame excuse? What you are going tell your grandchildren when they ask about this time in history? And what will you say to that person in the mirror every morning? Time to decide.

Korean Summit

Dear Mr. President,

I have been thinking a lot about your summit with Kim Jong-un. I have been thinking about what you said. I have also been thinking the
deal you made.

Mr. President, you got played. Yes, it was a historic meeting. There is no deny that. But what did you get out of this? Nothing.

Mr. President, lets look at what you promised. You promised an end to the American-Korean war games. These games are to help the American soldiers and Korean military learn to work together in case the North invades again. Your lame excuse about saving money does not pass the sniff test. And agreeing to stop flights of B-52s and B-1s from Guam for the same reason shows a complete lack of understanding of military power.

You also agreed to visit their capital and invited Kim Jong-un to the White House. Congratulations, you have just given this regime the one thing they have wanted since the invasion of 1950. Legitimacy.

By having this photo op and summit (with the ceremonial handshake), you have de facto given the regime political recognition. Kim Jong-un, thanks to you, is now a player on the world stage.

And what did you get? A binding deal of inspections and inspectors? An inventory of their bombs and their locations? Information on how much plutonium and uranium they have along with data about their centrifuges?

Nope. What you got was a vague promise about nuclear disarmament. Nothing binding. In case you missed the history lesson from the briefings you skipped, North Korea has made these type of promises before and never kept them.

Where was your much vaunted deal making skills? Instead of making a deal in the best interest of the United States and the World, you were looking for person enrichment. When does the new Trump Tower open in their capital?

No, Mr. President, you will not be getting the Noble Peace Prize. There was no peace treaty. Maybe you should have let your diplomats set up the treaties before you rushed in to show how much smarter you are than everybody else. Too bad it didn't work.

Signed,
An Informed Citizen.

G7 Summit

So, the President threatens to end trade with the G6. Think about that for a moment. These are the six largest advanced economies on the world. With the U.S. that is 62 % of world's trade and 42% gross domestic products for the world.

Now walk around your house. Start looking at the made from tags. (They may say manufactured in) How many of them say Japan, Italy, or Germany? (Yep, that car counts too.) Need some lumber for that house project, new deck, or swing set for the ...kids? Well, you can just forget that. See, we get most of our lumber from Canada. How's those meds you are taking? And what type of plane did you fly on during that last vacation? All from France. And England? A power house financial country. They own lots of companies and properties here. And that is the stuff off the top of my head. There are many more.

And what about the exports we do to them? How much agriculture will now sit on the fields and rot? How many pigs, cattle, and chickens are going to slaughtered and never make it to market? Think the American farmer is struggling now, just wait until this happens. And all of this impacting the heart Trump country.

On Monday, will the market react negatively? I think so. If it does, say goodbye to those "great" gains to your 401K. You are now going to be working a hell of lot longer in your career. (Well into your late 70s.)

Congratulations, Mr. President. Instead of "America first," you are turning into "America alone."

https://mobile.twitter.com/thehill/status/1005533269855821824

Pardons

Dear President Trump’s Legal team (especially Mr. Giuliani),

This weekend, two events happened that shed some light onto the workings and thoughts behind your defense of the President. While creative, they are fundamentally wrong.

The first is the use of the Pardon. No one (especially me) is denying that the President has the power of the Pardon. It is one of the few areas in the Constitution that has not been affected by an Amendment. The founders wanted the Pardon has a way to correct blatant miscarriages of justice and for quick pardons for treasons/insurrections (See Federalist paper # 74).

Now I won’t go into the tradition and policies since the President is throwing them out the window. However, I will mention that this was resolved back in 1974. Basically the Office of Legal Counsel (Department of Justice) ruled that you can’t be a judge in your own case. And self-pardoning means that you are judging yourself.

What is really sad here is that a number of Republicans who claim expert knowledge of the Constitution are ducking this issue. They are claiming to not to know anything about this issues or are just not answering any questions. One has to wonder about what you will do when he does perform the self-pardon?

Since you know that if the President does perform a self-pardon he would be impeached and removed from office (as stated but Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Christie), I notice you came up with a novel idea right out of the “West Wing.” For those of you that missed it, let me educate you on their work around. You see, the plan is to invoke the 25^th Amendment of the Constitution. The president claims some reason for temporarily stepping down, the VP then becomes acting POTUS, pardons Trump, then he comes back claiming he is better. Hollywood would be proud.

The other problem this weekend was the comment by Mr. Giuliani. Again, for those of you that missed it; Mr. Giuliani stated that if the President were to have shot Director Comey, he could not be indicted. Now I want you to think about that for a minute. What Giuliani is stating is that the President could not be arrested for murder. Impeached and later arrested, but not while President.

This idea, if implemented, would give a president almost absolute authority. Who would stop him. He appoints the court judges, the military leadership, and the Congress is missing action. You? You can’t even get one of your team to shut up about your plans and are allowing him to make threats to people. Want to know somebody who had this type of power? Saddam Hussein, Joseph Stalin, and many other dictators. Heck, you can go watch the video of Saddam seizing power in 1979 on YouTube. Is that what you want?

Here is some advice. First, tell Giuliani to shut up. His rants, coordinated with the President’s, just makes the President look guilty. Innocent people do not need Pardons.

Secondly, who’s running the legal team? Your latest member is Rob Frost. A talented lawyer who helped Bill Clinton during his impeachment. Why is he letting Giuliani act like he is running the show? Is Giuliani in charge? If so, then the President better go to his tailor to get fitted for an orange jumpsuit.

Finally, tell the president to stop acting like a fool and take away his phone. If there were no collusion like he claims, then the investigation will prove it. But the actions the President and you, the legal team, are those of people that are guilty and are desperate to divert the discussion and investigation. A new Congress, the American people, and history will not be swayed.

Signed,

An Informed Citizen.