All part of the zigzagging Trump tactics and lack of comprehensive strategy.
Go with the gut, Donnie. It could only get worse and you can blame Obama.
2
Well, I guess the jig is up.
First, pro-migrant advocates and the left are telling us that migrants need to be allowed in to the USA and given due process to make asylum claims. But most of these people are economic migrants and 80% or more of their claims are denied.
Second, when most get denied, they simply ignore final deportation orders, remain in the US, and violate the law.
Third, when the government threatens to forcibly remove those who have absconded and refused to leave voluntarily, the same pro-migrant and leftist advocates howl about Nazi-like treatment.
And some try to rationally defend this "process"?
These folks should just admit that they support a "policy" whereby anyone who can get across the border and take advantage of weak US asylum laws should be allowed to stay in the USA forever.
If the US government can not deport people who have had due process and been given a final order to leave, who can it deport?
What a mockery for the rule of law.
10
just wait, it'll change it's mind soon. all you've got to do is wait this clown out...
3
Democrats stand up to this racist neo fascist. No compromise. No bipartisanship. Outright resistance is the only path. AOC is spot on when she calls out our concentration camps. We are watching and history will judge you harshly if you play ball with our dictator.
2
If this doesn’t prove how childish & vindictive this president is and how he’s willing to wield his power as president in ways that heretofore are unheard of, against his political enemies so blatantly.
He doesn’t want to be president; he is treating our nation as if he’s an emporer or dictatorship. Why is it not one of our conservatives representatives have the courage to stand up to this mad man in the White House? Roll over
Our founding fathers, this is exactly what they fought to defeat over 200 years ago. Are we really gonna let this charleton destroy our democracy?
2
I don't believe a single article the NYTimes prints on immigration (illegal immigration, but they never use that term). For years they have published antidotes about a sad kid or family that just want to live where and how they want.
Illegal immigration is rampant and is a crisis. It was under Obama, it is under Trump, and the nonsense spewed by the NYTimes as it promotes open borders and embraces diversity is tearing the country apart. Most do NOT want open borders, do NOT want illegal immigrants to stay, and are tired of DACA as the number of those that would be approved went from 800,000 to 2 million in 18 months.
We have a crisis at the border. We have a crisis in our media.
17
Pelosi and Schumer should hold a press conference every day with the video of last year's meeting when Trump claimed he would sign any bill they offered. Democrats offered $25 billion for the wall and border security in exchange for DACA. But Miller and the Freedom Caucus were aghast, and so he reneged. Democrats have offered to work with republicans on the issue, but it is the republicans who time after time, refuse, as they did under Bush and Obama.
Moreover, every day, Pelosi should hold a press conference for a different bill that has been passed but will die in the Senate. Each day for each bill.
338
@dba I totally agree. But Dems always seem to cede the narrative to the GOP.
Dems have yet to learn the value of repetition in seizing the narrative.
35
@dba
If Congress really wanted to enforce the law, it couldn’t recruit or manage an ICE large enough and I wouldn’t want to live here if it was.
But they could still do it by the simple old fashioned expedient of paying bounties. I don’t mean to private bounty hunters but to state and local employees. Even the teachers unions would rat out their illegal students in a heartbeat if there were generous funds flowing into their pockets thereby.
Those same local officials decrying this would organize their own sweep if there were a new sports stadium in it for them.
4
@S
Democrats do not want to give up cheap labor to be exploited. That's why the Democrat super majority in 2009 did not touch immigration.
7
This never-ending loop of creating crises and drama then backing down is unfair to this nation, regardless of your political stripes. It makes this nation looks foolish, and himself look weak-minded and indecisive. He clearly can't administer his office. He has to go.
887
@Mark It's like Obama's red-line blunder repeated ad nauseam. :(
16
@Mark
“Unfair to the nation”? This insanity is what people voted for. The reality TV, carnival barker, con artist president. Great job, America.
82
...and a well timed "distraction" from a very credible allegation of rape. This man-child is capable of both.
29
"But Mr. Trump made clear he planned to use the threat of family deportations to extract concessions from Democratic lawmakers. He said he had delayed the raids “to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border.” “If not, Deportations start!” he tweeted."
In other words, Trump is using these people as "hostages" and "bargaining chips" to try to pressure the Dems to do something. In effect: Give me what I want, and these people can stay.
What a disgusting thing to do!
And let's not forget: In 2018, a bipartisan group of Dems and Republicans DID "get together and work out a solution" to the problems at the border. After saying that he would accept it, Trump rejected it at the last second.
And let's not forget that way back in 2013, The Senate passed Schumer's immigration bill; but the House Republicans rejected it.
The Dems offered Trump $25million for his wall in exchange for fixing the immigration laws; Trump rejected it. Now he's complaining that nothing's getting done?
Disgusting!
16
How did it come to be that one man can cause millions of people to have moderate to severe anxiety attacks by merely stating shoot-from-the-hip policy on his Twitter Feed, most likely while he is in the Lincoln Bathroom at 2 in the morning.
What power the people have bestowed on this man, on this office! Interesting to note that the Trump Exaggeration Algorithm was in full bloom with him saying on camera that "millions of illegal aliens" would be rounded up by ICE on Sunday, when the actual figure is about 2,000.
That figures.
He is delusional in his thought process, and the country better get prepared for a real Constitutional crisis come 2020 if he is voted out of office. He won't leave. I am hoping that the DOJ has a plan in place should that happen.
36
@Len
The purpose of any law is to get people to behave in a certain way. The purpose of law enforcement is to instill fear in lawbreakers. Lawbreakers should very properly fear getting caught, fearthe consequences. This is true of speeding, of bank robbery, of illegal "immigration". The reason we have such a terrible illegal "immigration" mess is there hasn't been enough law enforcement to instill any fear at all since Reagan's mistaken amnesty of 1986.
15
@Kurfco
I agree with your basic premise, Kurfco, that laws curb and influence behavior so that people know there are legal consequences for breaking them.
But rounding up people who are living with their families after they have been here seems Draconian to me.
Our immigration laws have been in need of an overhaul for decades. It's long overdue for our elected officials to do what we pay them handsomely to do: work together to create sound immigration legislation.
3
@Len: I'm sure AG Barr has a plan - to keep Trump in office should he be voted out. Barr is another criminal in this Executive Branch, working against America.
5
I expected this because this is his modus operandi:
Set up an unnecessary crisis.
Make punitive action threats.
Follow through for awhile.
Then stop.
Pretend to be the hero by ultimately calling it off,.
Then blame future problems or repercussions on the other party.
Look at the government shut down for one example. Or the family separation policy. Or the Russian sanctions. Or the Mexican tariffs. Or Iran.
It doesn't have to make sense. It just has to appear to reflect strong intentions. That's is enough for his base.
What I have come to understand is that he doesn't actually care if he wins. He just doesn't want to appear to lose.
281
@Julie Hopson Spot on!!!
13
@Julie Hopson It’s actually worse than that. “Lose” isn’t in his vocabulary. He will lie, cheat, steal, spin, sue, whine and lie some more to concoct another “win” for himself in absolutely any situation. He’s delusional.
3
@Julie Hopson and another chaotic crisis is on the horizon when the federal budget is due to be passed again this fall. He will shut down the government again about his stupid wall funding. Hold on, more US roller coaster disfunction is on its way.
Government by decree & whim—defining traits of a dictatorship.
19
@Henry
He is only proposing enforcing the law passed by Congress—a previous democratic congress—which is in fact his explicitly declared duty under the US Constitution. In what book is that government by decree and definitive of dictatorship?
6
The champion-in-chief Go Fish player has brought his skills to a Poker game.
5
"Look at me, I solved a problem I created!"
43
On again off again Trump. Our country is subjected to Trump's wild whims. He has no earthly understanding of what refuges are or how they differ from Mexicans crossing the border illegally. Furthermore, he does not care. This cancellation effected not only families looking desperately for asylum but state and local law enforcement trying to prepare for the federal onslaught. We cannot afford to stop highlighting Trump's rotten, chaotic treatment of people fleeing from oppressive conditions. Trump and the Republicans cannot win in 2020 with these kind of antics. Their base is too small.
6
Can I say?
To the “we aren’t responsible - he lost the popular vote by 3 million”.
ENOUGH of that!
If Americans can’t care enough go out and vote (perhaps ‘hold their nose’) against this sad specimen of a human being we call D J Trump to overcome his rabid base of bigots and racists by multi-millions of votes and deliver him an overwhelming defeat - yes in the electoral college and the popular vote, then We Own Him.
2
I'm presuming someone (probably from Faux News) painted the picture for Trump of what the optics of these raids would be. Imagine scores of ICE agents -- who always seem to be in plain clothes, who are almost always white, and who, as a result, look like ultra right wing vigilantes -- forcibly removing poor, unassuming parents and their crying young children from their churches, their homes, etc. to put them into prison buses meanwhile surrounded/blocked by hundreds of protesters who will have been mobilized via social media to come on a moment's notice to anywhere ICE appeared. Even Trump would appreciate that optics like this would not be helpful to him.
2
@fact or friction
Actually, according to the NYT, the demographics of ICE agents show them to be 40% Latino in CA. At the Border Patrol Agency, 52% are Latino.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/07/21/us/immigration-enforcement-california-trump.html
Even the accompanying picture to this article shows a white guy and a Latino guy.
1
Holding these immigrants hostage to getting his way: The Art of the Deal.
10
@Nick Wheeler
They can leave any time they want,
straight back across the border.
3
The pattern with Trump is that he
1. Ruthlessly destabilizes some situation (the handling of immigrants and their children; Iran crisis; walking out of the Paris Accords, firing James Comey, etc., etc.), which creates shock and high emotional drama.
2. There is much excitement, outrage and debate by those for and those against whatever unnecessary thing Trump trumped up to get attention. Trump basks in the limelight and casts himself as the Decider--will he or won't he?
3. He then positions himself as the superhero who bursts in to save the day by pulling back from the awful situation he created in the first place.
4. Even people who detest Trump become relieved that another Trump manmade disaster didn't befall us, and to his fans he is perceived as the savior, the hero, and the magical godlike figure Trump imagines himself to be.
Wash, rinse, spin, and repeat
I am so sick of this phony, incompetent, narcissistic, Machiavellian conman, all the mean, unnecessary damage he has done to innumerable people (including small children), and what he has been putting this country through as USA President #45 and Individual #1 in the Mueller Report.
49
@PB:
Concise, and astute commentary.
Well done.
9
@PB - Looks exactly like the structure of a reality tv show, when you put it like that. Unfortunately this is not meaningless manufactured entertainment, it's real life and it has consequences.
8
@Jennifer: It was reported when he was first elected that he told 'his people' that he wanted his presidency to be thought of as a reality tv show and he wanted to be the 'winner' in each day's news cycle. It's all he knows how to do. And it's killing this country spiritually.
3
Okay, let's just come out and say what really happened.
Trump had a bigly Campaign Rally coming up in Orlando.
He needed some new nonsense, to entertain the crowds and get them to show up and cheer.
So he tweets out this "Roundup of Millions" pronouncement during his morning Executive Time.
But he never bothered to tell Immigration and Customs Enforcement about it.
They learn about it, after the media reports about the tweet.
Border Patrol and Homeland Security, learn about it the same way.
ICE has no system in place, to suddenly start rounding up millions of people.
They don't have enough personnel or equipment or detention facilities, to even deal with the detainees that are already in their care.
They immediately tell Trump that they have absolutely no way whatsoever, of implementing his pronouncement.
But Trump waits until after the Rally, to "call off" something that was never going to happen in the first place.
That's what really happened.
It's just more of Trump's 10,000 LIES.
12
Now it's obvious why the idea of ICE performing raids against families this weekend, "leaked" days ago, was announced in the first place: so that Trump could magnanimously call them off, and use that as a pithy bargaining chip to get Democrats to the table.
I don't know where Trump thinks that congress is going to have time in the next two weeks to debate immigration again. They're busy trying to figure out what to do with another artificially created crisis of his own making, that of Iran. If it doesn't sound familiar by now:
1. Tear up an existing arrangement (Iran's nuclear deal / DACA+asylum rules)
2. Ratchet pressure up (Economic sanctions / saber rattling threatening deportation of DACA and other illegals)
3. Create a crisis point (A retaliatory strike prompted by a drone shootdown / announcing widespread ICE raids which would net families, DACA, others)
4. Call off the crisis, painting himself as a hero for doing so
5. Use calling off the crisis, which was created by his action or inaction in the first place, as a pretext to demand concessions
It would be nice if the media would start jumping on a pattern like this and anticipate it, rather than follow along two steps behind over and over again. Look for the points where the president will intervene in situations he's always had the power to stop, to make himself look good and then use that to make demands of others.
432
@R.S. Thank you!
25
@R.S., Your comment is a public service, thank you. Every news article about the president handling anything, crisis or otherwise, should include reference to the pattern you outline. He's lost the right to the benefit of the doubt, and exposing the hand he thinks he's holding takes away his "trump" card. (Ha!)
27
@R.S. Predictable, yes, but do his (let't call them) self-interventions really makes him look good? Maybe to the minority that supports him. Doubt the rest of us are duped.
8
Great reporting by all on an unfortunate story that is an event that we all have to deal with. It makes this nation look ridiculous in the eyes of the world (except for dictatorships).
So these families are now hostages to trump’s irrational action:
“But Mr. Trump made clear he planned to use the threat of family deportations to extract concessions from Democratic lawmakers. “
We need an *intelligent* president who can pull the Western Hemisphere together to solve these problems. Trump has alienated his entire hemisphere. It demonstrates that he is no leader. But this was evident from the way he ran his business.
And Fox Noise is no help in this nation’s quest for intelligent, capable leadership. Believe me, if we get the right person in the White House, he or she can fix our immigration problem by building strong relationships in our own hemisphere. Trump is probably the first president who has made all of the nations in the Western Hemisphere hate him... and the United States.
8
You need to study history. Every President has been hated by the Western Hemisphere. It started in 1823 with the Monroe Doctrine saying that this Hemisphere belonged to the US. Recent examples would be TR fostering a coup so he could build the Panama Canal. The use of the Marines as the United Fruit Company (Chiquita) private army so there could be no land redistribution in Central America. And currently our wars on Cuba and Venezuela.
This is no surprise.
No way would this rabid egomaniac want media coverage diverted from his 'yes, it's all about me' Fourth of July celebration.
When he's finished wallowing, he'll go back to destruction.
16
Does the NYTimes have no shame? To report on confidential, state matters is destructive at best.
These are people that entered the US, were given the chance in court to stay, and then were told to leave but didn't. Many came illegally and were told to leave; they did not meet asylum requirements. To say that they had a child and that child gives the family the right to skirt the laws is wrong.
We've 20+ million illegal immigrants. We cannot sustain this explosion. We cannot survive open borders.
4
"Children" belong with their parents.
The parents of these children belong outside the USA.
They can leave any time they want
-- straight back to the other side of the border.
tous ensemble, tous en famille.
No one in the USA government will stop them.
3
They are not legal until they have proven their supposed claim for "refuge"/"asylum".
They become illegal when their claim is denied or they fail to pursue it.
Pending adjudication of their claim,
they can be -- and ought to be -- detained.
The Dems claim out of one side of their mouth
that conditions in the detention camps are bad.
But out of the other side of their mouth,
Dems refuse to provide funding for detention camps.
What the Dems really want is that anybody who makes a claim -- however spurious --
be allowed to run free inside the USA --
whether or not they pursue their claims,
and whether or not they ever prove their claims.
That is de facto pro-open-borders.
If it walks like a duck and quack like a duck,
it is a duck.
2
We no longer have a bully pulpit. Instead, a bully stands behind our national pulpit. While Teddy Roosevelt may not have envisioned this, our founding fathers did. This is why the first article of the Constitution contains an impeachment clause.
If Dems think conditions are so "deplorable" in refugee camps, then they need to step up and vote for funding for the camps.
But they refuse.
The Dems want the so-called refugees to be allowed to run free in the USA before they have proven their claim for refuge.
1
Foreign citizens who illegally trespass across our sovereign borders are illegal aliens. They are NOT entitled to remain in the country....hence, deportation.
Why is this so difficult to comprehend? It ain’t rocket science.
6
Trump is all talk. He always backs down
2
If you count the many instances trump and the gop have spilled MISERY over EVERYONE that they claimed or perceived as being in their way, the most they should manage to get in an election would be 5.6%.
Let’s see what it is going to be!
2
Mike Pence was on Jake Tapper's show. Pence was explaining the Trump Immigration policy. Tapper countered with facts. Tapper won. The President was on Meet The President, lying over and over again. I can summarize his statements "it was Obama's fault. " On these high-profile interviews, the interviewers need to come prepared. Being polite is not enough. The public is hungry for real information.
3
Once again, Trump resorts to his favorite bargaining tool: Blackmail.
1
The Trump's on immigration.
This time last year, Melamia Trump visited a children's detention center in Texas. She concluded that the children were being detained "as a direct result of adult actions." One adult listened, as her husband signed an executive order to keep immigrant families together while they were being detained.
When asked what she thought of the criticism she was receiving from Fox News for making such a trip, the First Lady merely donned a jacket with the words, "I really don't care. Do U?" emblazoned across the back.
1
I'm sorry to hear Speaker Pelosi and Congressional Democrats took President Trump's bait and begged him to delay his planned and announced "raids" so he could use the threat of raids as a political weapon to get legislation he wants. They should have stayed quiet and called his bluff. Let him proceed with the raids and reap all the ill will and bad press it would generate. But he wouldn't have gone through with it anyway. He was just pulling the chains of predictable Democrats and "bleeding-heart liberals" to make them howl about the inhumanity of child separation, racial profiling, and fascist tactics. They did just what he wanted and convinced more voters that Democrats have no intentions of restricting immigration or securiing the borders. Trump wins again.
3
@abigail49 Reminder: June 2018, Rs hold majority in Congress
GOP leaders reach bi-partisan agreement to hold 2 votes on 2 immigration bills INCL a compromise immigration bill which adhered to 4 ‘pillars’ Trump demanded
Speaker Ryan said Trump would sign the compromise bill
Trump reneged
The two disparaging comments i read are: 1. They need to GO! 2. Trump needs to GO!
1
So, if any of these deportations occur, it will simply be the fault of the "Democrats" - the devil (aka Dems) made me do it. 2020 her we come
1
Trump has taken hostages to get his way. He's holding a gun to the heads of his targets and demanding ransome from Democrats. It's what he did to government employees not so long ago. And didn't we just hear today that money (trade) is more important to him than stopping brutal premeditated murder. When are Democrats going to hold this monster accountable?!
1
What does it take to get a conservative sincere opinion posted here?
I would suggest for all these aliens seeking a different way of life either they flee to some country that wants them or they change their situation where they are at. Not at all unlike the situation where British subjects rebelled here in America in 1776.
News flash: This turning away of immigrants is a nationalist view that is all across the world: Australia Austria France and England .
8
@Pogo From here in the UK, only the right wing.
@Pogo: Unless you're full blooded Native American, you more than likely had at least one ancestor who came to the US fleeing a bad situation in her/his home country. Where would you be now if he/she had decided to try to "change their situation where they are at"?
@retnavybrat
Ancestors were then.
This is now.
1
I don't understand why this needed to be a special event or a mass deportation activity.
These people who have been through the system we have in place and who had their chance before a judge and were ordered deported should have been deported already as a regular matter of course.
That there are certain circumstances which made these particular people even more "worthy" of deportation due to criminal or violent behavior and prioritized over others is making me uneasy.
We should know WHY the deportations were not carried out earlier, simply as a matter of public safety.
I could not care less about the number of their children or family circumstances (which concerns would not be afforded to me in a court of law), they need to be GONE.
15
The fundamental evidence clearly demonstrates that Trump is unfit for office. Terrorizing refugees and separating families, caging babies raw cruelty is his way of bargaining. He is behaving as would a terrorist. “Give me what I want or I will harm these desperate people.” Is a crime against humanity. Democrats can never now to Trump’s demands.
As if to confirm his barbarism, Trump explained that he is more concerned with America’s sales to Saudi Arabia than about the murder of the journalist Khashoggi, during his interview with Chuck Todd. This should stir outrage even among Republicans but they are without redemption, utterly consumed by greed.
5
@Joseph Huben
"Babies" belong with their parents.
The parents of these babies belong outside the USA.
2
This is what tyrants do. Those who lack moral principles, courage and negotiating skills will play with human pawns, because it effectively stops the momentum of reason and keeps the masses in a state of triage. Threatening harm to children and families has always been the go-to of dictators, who have no other goal than to fill the coffers of their bully egos. Trump appears to have no aptitude for governing or leadership, but he sure knows how to throw a punch ... capture and cage kids, shatter family units, deny appropriate healthcare to the most vulnerable, reverse environmental protections, stiff his creditors, bait n’ switch on promises, molest women, and beat down the very workers we need in order bring business back the USA again.
5
If Trump were serious about rounding people up who are here illegally, why would he announce his plans ahead of time? Like all of Donald's manufactured dramas, this stunt is designed solely to keep him at the center of attention. This is nothing more than another fake play to his base.
Trump is only good at two things: lying and sowing chaos. He never follows through with his threats. Walk away, people. There's nothing to see here.
3
Injustice delayed is not justice affirmed.
2
Political spin to begin with to rally his rallies. Then further political spin - now pretty much predictable - in pulling back a terrible idea that his administration in reality can't pull off - but then using it to threaten the political "enemy" to force concessions - and when the predictable response of "shove it" comes from AOC and the more predictable "no, we will pray for Trump" comes from Pelosi - POTUS and his spokespersons will blame the dems for the fact that nothing has happened and the world is just as it was before he started the whole spin to begin with.
Border between the U.S. and Canada is OK. But why is the border between the U.S. and Mexico not OK?
These immigrants come to the U.S. primarily to escape problems in their native countries (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama) which includes a stagnant economy, high levels of crime, political corruption and widespread drug use. There is a legal way to request a green card to enter the U.S., however unlawful mobs entry is not allowed. Shame and disgrace of all these central American countries and their governments who fail to feed their people, to give them medical care, good housing, and jobs. These central American countries and their governments are the ones at fault.
Sorry that your country does not love you anymore. To find true love you need to find and walk on God’s Holy road which will one day open the gate to His Kingdom in Heaven. The road you are currently walking is man made and will only bring you tears and despair, darkness and regrets.
4
You have a legal right to apply for refugee status in America, and to be treated decently while you wait for your case to be heard. Sorry, it’s the law, which Trump is breaking. This isn’t green-card stuff, by the way.
Additionally, it’s rich for any American to pretend that Central America got in its messes all on its lonesome. Our eager drug-buying, our playing with their politics and their economies for over a century, are half their problem.
And I must say, it’s truly revolting to see somebody invoke Jesus and then sneeringly turning their back on the poor and the desperate. I wish I was surprised.
5
Stop covering political stunts.
He has everyone talking about Iran this weekend instead of congressional investigation. Start putting his nonsense below the fold.
Henninger's piece in WSJ is right. We all need neurological relief from this person.
2
There have been children dying in these camps. There have been children( over a thousand according to this paper) who reported being sexually abused. How can Trump even think of holding more kids in cages,when we can't guarantee their well being and safety? What if it were you and your children escaping violence and you end up separated and your child does alone in custody? Where is the outrage and solutions? Write to your leaders!
3
Instability in staffing is often a sign of an operation run by a leader without a clear idea of how to get things done. Instead of long-term plans following a vision, things veer in and out, and plans can be disrupted based on the whims of one person. Family businesses see that more than public corporations, especially after the founder of the family business is replaced by those who follow, and when the new leader is too insecure to deal with strong subordinates.
So this article about an important problem mentions:
- the former acting director of ICE
- the current acting director of ICE
- the current acting secretary of homeland security
Articles about Iran mention the outgoing acting defense secretary and the incoming acting defense secretary, and mention that the one coming in might have to leave the job for a while to be eligible to get officially confirmed for the job.
If we made a drinking game out of finding the "acting" people in very senior roles that our nation needs filled in a stable way, liquor sales would boom.
Our President says it gives him flexibility. That's as good an excuse as any for "I have no plan so why put planners in?"
For people who would like to vote for a Republican in 2020, please consider someone who can carry out things in the order of 1-ready, 2-aim, 3-fire. Not someone who just remembers there are three steps. Or one. Or two.
1
If Senator Graham and Senator Durbin work out comprehensive reform including a guest worker program they will be my heroes forever. This is the worst problem involving human rights we are facing, and resolution would be most welcome. Good luck to you sirs.
4
They'll put in something that looks nice for "dreamers" and then add a paragraph or two allowing the doubling or tripling of the badly abused H1b visas that have been so harmful to American STEM workers. It's what Obama kept trying to do and what was in that bad SB744 that never passed.
Pay attention to the "whole" package they present. It won't be pretty.
And don't hold your breath on them making E-verify mandatory!
3
@Sherry It is most certainly NOT the worst human rights problem US citizens face. And US politicians should firstly be concerned with the problems and challenges of US citizens, not multinational corporations lusting for more tenants, more consumers, and more cheap labor, and not foreign nationals trying to bogart their way into someone else's country.
4
@Margo: Or to hold employers of illegal immigrants accountable.
So, he's giving the Democrats one-last-chance to do something about immigration? Of course they've been the majority party with more than enough time (so Trump's thinking goes). But what about the Republican's two years of control in Congress and the White House where neither considered the matter urgent?
I'm sure no credible journalist has the guts to question him on those pesky facts; and of course, Trump would brush it off as a False equivalence.
5
One thing trump has done successfully is to normalize the behavior of his supporters.
4
You need a warrant to enter a house or a workplace. Thanks to Trump for advising everyone to move.
3
This is not their country. They have deportation orders which they have ignored. They can go now or go later, but leave they must.
14
They should have gone sooner.
5
This article points out a needed change to our immigration “system “. Birthright citizenship. Because we reward line jumpers and over stayers with citizenship kids we force ourselves to be the bad guy by asking people to leave. The law should be changed that if you and your spouse are not us citizens, neither is your kid.
4
@Lilo
A previous NYT article stated that illegal aliens ordered to leave the country are allowed to stay if they don’t commit additional crimes and they meet with ICE monthly. This is why I believe deportees should be taken from the courthouse to the airport and sent back home.
4
We are not at war yet. But this fits the term, War Crime.
3
I do not even have to read past paragraph one to know egregious this is. trump is no negotiator or compromiser, it is his way or no way or he will threaten to rip everything apart and he has a good start at that. he is at war with Democrats especially. What is wrong with him, what is wrong with us, the US, that he is still in my house!
2
Two weeks is not nearly enough time for a polarized Congress to fix our asylum laws. All it does is prolong the terrorizing of immigrant communities and the suffering of asylum seekers in what are now shown to be concentration camps. Sooner or later this brutal administration will have to be prosecuted for crimes against humanity by the International Court of Justice at the Hague.
8
Illegal alien parents should be punished for knowingly and intentionally subjecting their children to the cruelty of this process before deportation.
10
@Janes Constantino You might read the articles on this.
These are people who claimed asylum and who have been in front of our judges who have experience in looking at these cases and who have all the facts possible and who decided that and claim for asylum or request to remain in the country is not valid and then ordered deportation.
These particular 2000 are considered "priorities" because of other behaviors which are harmful to us.
I think I could guarantee that you would not care to have them reside with you in your home so give it a rest and pay attention to the facts.
These people need to leave.
6
@James Constantino
Nonsense.
They are not legal until they have proven their supposed claim for "refuge"/"asylum".
They become illegal when their claim is denied or they fail to pursue it.
Pending adjudication of their claim,
they can be -- and ought to be -- detained.
The Dems claim out of one side of their mouth
that conditions in the detention camps are bad.
But out of the other side of their mouth,
Dems refuse to provide adequate funding for the detention camps.
What the Dems really want is that anybody who makes a claim -- however spurious --
be allowed to run free inside the USA --
whether or not they pursue their claims
and whether or not they ever prove their claims.
That is de facto pro-open-borders.
If it walks like a duck and quack like a duck,
it is a duck.
Trump is a sadist and a terrorist. He's toying with the lives of American citizens - threatening to tear families apart. The children of illegal immigrants born in this country are Americans. We know from his first wife's testimony that he kept Hitler speeches on his bed stand. Perhaps he also had Anne Frank's diary there for fun reading.
5
Reality Check central america should free its people from life crime an evil . Only reason why people want to leave paradise is because evil people who want to ruin it for everyone. America should insure those countrys have fair elections before offering them free aid . Any out side country who interfers with well been of countrys in central america should be pentalized with tarriffs.
1
He’s applying his made-you-flinch strategy to Iran and now immigration. What a bully.
4
The president’s behavior is becoming more erratic and more dangerous. He functioned in a hall if mirrors all of his life, the only ghost reflecting back his brash and destructive impulses and the only one he ultimately listens to.
If the Republicans refuse to disentangle themselves from this incompetent and evil personality, they will have forever destroyed the Republican Party. They have already sacrificed our standing in the world and put self interest over our country’s values by allowing every bill sent to protect our population’s health and economic wellbeing to be buried in McConnell’s graveyard while filling their own pockets.
Are they now willing to continue killing children at our border and, again, across the Middle East? Are we waiting for Canada or the Queen to save us? I want more outrage and more teeth coming from the Democrats, or we might as well call out what it is we are - a Kleptocracy with the spine of a Fascist Regime.
3
This reeks of the despicable Stephen Miller.
4
All theater of terror and danger all the time. Who would do all these raids? ICE at the border? We’re hiring thousands of jackboots? With whose tax dollars? Propaganda and waste, the Republican way. Time to impeach!
4
Congress should not pass the $ 4.5 billion humanitarian aid package. Let the results play out. It’s call hard ball.
Just remember, for profit prisons, e.g., are profiting mighty from DJT’s hissy fit at the southern border.
3
I believe these government resources would be better directed against an even more dangerous and rampant scourge-- speeders. Speeding kills! Reckless illegal driving over the speed limit endangers and kills children and innocent upstanding American citizens. Why is so little done to end this illegal behavior? Instead of putting people who drive over the speed limit in prison and throwing away the key, or at least banning them from ever having a driver's license after getting out, the government has a lame "catch and release" program where illegal speeders just pay a fine and are let back on the streets, to speed again! Rather than more pointless ICE agents, the government should pass a law to triple the number of traffic cops, and catch and incarcerate anyone caught driving 65 in a 55 zone. Don't agree with this? Just ask the good upstanding Americans who have lost a loved one to speeders. Anyone who speeds, regardless of citizenship, is driving illegally, and needs to be punished, and banned from further driving. And passengers in cars that speed should be required to turn in speeding drivers. And while I'm on the subject, anyone who speeds with their child in the car should be separated from that child. Illegal is illegal!
3
@GKR
Do you believe that nations should maintain any distinction between citizens and non-citizens?
Because it doesn't appear as if you do.
The current law for speeding usually means that you'll get a ticket or warning for first offense. If you get too many traffic offenses in a certain time period you will indeed have your license revoked and be banned from driving. And if you continue to drive after that and are caught you will spend some time in jail.
Similarly if you have snuck into my country and are caught the law indicates that you should be returned to your home country. You can of course appeal this as many have done. And most have lost their appeals.
What is your problem with deporting illegal immigrants?
8
I can't understand how anyone thinks Trump will have any chance, whatsoever, of being re-elected. It's almost as if he doesn't want to be re-elected. Forget the national debt clock. It seems as if Trump has already spent more money, more ineffectively, than any other US President... and we have yet to even see all the bills, let alone pay them. Saying that he is out of touch, would be too kind.
4
@Andy Hain. Agreed. But remember, trump doesn’t want ANY of these issues, like immigration, resolved. Their continuation as “issues” enable him to continually stir his sick pot, rally his people, blame others, lie about progress and promise results in next weeks episode. Resolving or fixing anything would be a disaster for him, it’s the last thing he would want.
He threatened? Another threat?
We're being governed by tweets and threats.
Mr. Tweety Bird is a threat to the world.
Get rid of him!
6
These illegal immigrants had orders for deportation, they should be removed as a matter of course like any other country does. Our immigration laws have become at best optional, a joke at worst.
17
My understanding is these deportation orders are a joke. There is no proof that families got the notices, let alone a fair asylum hearing. They call it the "rocket docket" which suggests no due process at all, which they are entitled to. Also, there is no consideration of other salient facts, like, are there US children involved. These may be deportation orders but my guess they were illegally obtained.
1
@Sherry
Your "guess"...
Your "understanding..."
Are you also in favor of US citizens being able to ignore court orders with which they disagree?
Because if everyone starts to do that our country will begin to look more like Mexico, India, Guatemala, etc. And I wouldn't like that.
We can't let one group of people think that our laws are optional without other groups starting to demand similar "freedoms".
6
I don't understand how someone who claims to be a great negotiator and a master artist of the deal is incapable of negotiating even one in the past 2 1/2 years. Anger. Threats. Sneers. Insults. How does that resolve anything? The man is an angry bully who has no business anywhere near the White House.
4
Oh thank you, Magnanimous President Trump! You threatened to expel thousands, maybe millions of "illegal" aliens. We all trembled at your powerful threat.
Then, oh generous Trump! You limited it to those who had missed their asylum hearings. A mere 2000! What sensitivity, what concern for families! And now, marvel of marvel, you have suspended the expulsions altogether. How can we adequately praise your humanity, your charity?
When you could have done something truly terrible, you stepped back and showed us how loving you could be. We should certainly vote for you again, because now you have shown that you truly care!
3
What a proud nation we are when detention facilities resemble pest holes.
5
Republicans wanted to make huge improvements but Democrats were not willing to spend the money because a small portion would be used to pay overtime for ICE agents, employ more immigration judges, and provide better border security. But remember, both Pelosi and Schumer have said that there is no “crisis”. It is all imagined by Trump.
5
I expect that his message to Congress also included a note with instructions to leave a bag of money for him by a park bench outside the White House, or else!
3
“Wow. We are at the end of a yo-yo string,” he said. “It’s incomprehensible.” The whole nation is on the end of a yo-yo string! Trump creates a crises, backs down, threatens more action, backs down again and then claims victory! The simple truth is he is out of his depth, has no idea what he is doing and would rather be playing golf. Unfortunately his incompetence is dangerous and may well lead to disaster for thousands of people the world over, and if you include his idiotic stance on climate change to the entire world population.
4
Editors; this article should be a banner on top. The Trump hawks are running more flak than usual this weekend judging by your three articles above. It's Republican political "Shock and Awe". Keep your ears to the rail. Something is happening.
2
Each and every day families are ripped apart when parents are convicted of crimes and incarcerated.
Like the proposed ICE raids, this disproportionately affects people of color. This is clearly a racist attack on minority families.
These types of assaults on the families of marginalized groups is highly immoral and must stop immediately.
3
And will Trump's Mar de Lago Club and Golf Course be on the list of workplaces that the ICE will raid? Until very recently, Trump had illegal aliens on the payroll at this site. He fired some, but since he lies a lot, how do we know he did not hire new illegal aliens to replace the fired ones?
5
Perhaps Eric and Don Jr. needed more time to hire replacements for the hundreds of undocumented workers who groom the fairways, launder the sheets and wash the dishes in the failing Trump properties and clubs in the US. If Trump believes that someone whose ancestors came to this continent on the Mayflower is going to be changing his diapers, he is going to be disappointed when he hears, "Buenos Dias, Señor Trump, time to freshen you up".
3
Democrats support, enable, and encourage illegal immigration through their sanctuary city and state policies.
Individual Democrats and so-called ‘progressives’ who disagree with Trump should adopt one of these ‘migrant’ families and move them into their house and be responsible for all their expenses.
5
My comment was taken 'seriously' by others. I was simply becoming Trump in tweet land where he threatens to withhold things and doesn't even know how the gov't functions.
My words were as tongue in cheek as his only I'm not the President of the United States!!!
To better keep up the terrorizing anxiety which is a form of psychological torture which is sadistic. Unfortunately no surprise: pleasure in sadism.
3
Democrats still don’t get it here, an ominous sign for 2020.
The majority of Americans don’t support Trump. But they also don’t support treating our immigration laws as merely advisory. The rule of law applies across the board.
If Trump gets another term - I want him out like the majority of voters - it will be due to Dems’ bungling of immigration. I’m sick of expressions of sympathy for people who knowingly come here illegally as though we have no border controls at all.
11
Government by extortion has become a recurring tactic for this administration even though the democrats haven't given in to trump's previous extortionate demands. Giving in to this strategy would only encourage trump making cooperation between the executive and legislative branches almost impossible.
1
These reversals: first on striking Iran and then on canceling the big ICE round-up scheduled for today, show us something very very important about the great white father.
Where there are potential costs to his re-election he will not follow through. He creates crisises and then waves his executive wand over the mess and "saves" us all from his own self-destruction. In the interim it's simple terrorism in shape or another.
His threats are now meaningless and his red-lines in the sand are no longer credible at the outset.
The message sent here and abroad is we have a weak, vacilating, and unstable president who cringes lest he error in such a way that might cost him votes in 2020.
Impeachment proceedings need no further impetus. Hearings ought to grind away for the next 15 months culminating in a massive landslide loss for Donny boy next November.
To those who think Trump has found a heart, think again because his true motives are transparent and have been for one man's life-time.
We must not be distracted from the refugee kids imprisoned on the border and the stench and squalor of their current "living" condition, Call your reps and congress people tomorrow early and unload. Enough is enough and we are way beyond enough.
We don't resemble true Americans at all, if we fail these kids.
This is an American tragedy and a humanitarian emergency. Where is the UN? God up us help these children. Let's pull the plug on Trump this next week.
1
Universe X-33 The Loro Report: Sources have revealed the reason for the president delaying the ICE raids. It turns out every one of his hotels was on the target list.
1
No previous presidents had a "border crisis". Yet with control of the House and Senate and the White House for two years the GOP did nothing but give themselves and the rich a big tax cut. Trump is not interested in a solution. He only is creating a "crisis" for his own political gain.
2
The situation of migrants in the US are worse than those in Bangladesh and the camps in Jordan and the Middle East. The difference - families are kept together and aid workers have access to the refugees. Yes- their situation is dire but caging children in pens and keeping them from their families is evil. Our inhumanity is unconscionable. Our politicians do not have the courage or moral outrage to stand up to Trump. They are too busy making deals. The Democratic presidential candidate are no better. It is a crisis - of conscience!!
1
The current president and the Republicans controlled the executive and legislative branches for two years as well as the number of years over the last thirty they held such control. And now he gives the Democrats two weeks to solve the problems?
George W. Bush started a dialogue during his presidency to reform immigration laws. His party stonewalled him.
2
It would be interesting to know how much of the recent surge of people across the border is the result of the fact that these people feel they still have an opportunity to come here that will be totally done away with by Mr. Trump sometime in the near future.
1
Humans, even those who were not homo sapiens have turned to migration whenever shortages of game, drought caused famine, pestilence, war, made their homelands unlivable. The migrations out of Africa, the Middle East, Central America are the 21st century iteration of this behavior. To punish migrants for migrating, is to punish them for being human and responding in a human way to their situation. I do believe that there are enough people in this world with the brains and compassionto find humane and fair solutions to this phenomenon. Unfortunately those people are not in charge. I have a pretty large vocabulary, but I have no words to express my disgust and despair.
2
@Mary Lou Giles
The migrations out of the Third World, left unchecked, would have the effect of abolishing Europe and the US as we currently know them. There are some who believe this is no big deal or is deserved as punishment but most people are not in favor of turning their country into a different country overnight.
Each country has the right to set limits on immigration. The US already takes in over a million legal immigrants a year. For my money that's more than enough.
1
the "it tears apart families" argument is specious... hiding behind it undermines our justice system of equal protection under the law... the logical extension: don't incarcerate any lawbreakers with children - be they illegal immigrants, murderers, rapists, etc.... just because it's our shy, humble, self-effacing President who's the one advocating law enforcement doesn't make that enforcement any less justifiable
we have a process known as "democracy"... if you don't like the law, change it
7
Art of the deal? I don’t think so!
1
Why does any news outlet even bother to report anything the
Trump person has to say? Everytime he opens his mouth a sewer comes out. It is meaningless drivel and usually ends up costing us tax payers even more in wasted funds. I look forward to seeing him being led out of the White House in handcuffs while we all look on as we gleefully exclaim: "lock him up, lock him up!" (While we're at, throw away the key.)
16
Welcome to President Trump’s latest reality show. Will they strike? Will they not? Stay tuned! Featuring: Your own life.
6
I recall how democrats proposed the increase of immigration judges as the main solution to the immigration crisis. Really? and how do you justify this resistance to any type of deportation.
If you bully yourself in the USA you make it. that’s the true
8
What happened to the undocumented workers who worked for the Trump organization?
11
Trump lied.
There were raids last night, Saturday night.
Perhaps they are planning raids tonight.
His “delay” is proof positive he will say anything, do anything to stay put. BEWARE.
3
Threatening human beings is terrorism. Holding them for ransom is illegal. Locking children up without suitable food and care is cruel. Surely our laws cannot allow a president to commit these crimes. Where are the "moral" Republican voters? Did they ever exist?
6
The lines at the DMV are getting longer as the Future Democrats of America que up to get their driver's licenses/voter cards. Help is on the way for the Dems as reinforcements march in from the south.
18
And more chaos is coming. He will shut down the government again this fall because he didn’t get his full money on the border wall. More chaos is coming, just wait....ugh
3
Pence is scheduled to be in Miami this weekend to launch "Trump for Latinos." Maybe he's trying to avoid some of the heat from the raids since Miami is one of the targeted cities.
2
@Alina
Surprisingly, not all Hispanics support illegal immigration. This is the problem with identity blinders. They don't allow reality to seep through.
3
@Alina
Trump captured 30% of the Latino vote in 2016 and I suspect that percentage will increase in 2020.
2
@AACNY
I'm aware of that. The ones that approve of Trump's immigration tactics have come in legally and resent those who don't go through the same process. I'm still guessing that the majority of Hispanics do not support Trump.
From my PC archives
" . . .Failure to deport illegal aliens has tended to confirm their belief that "Bienvenido! Nuestro pais es tu pais" is official U.S. policy. Nothing short of making current illegal residents uncomfortableill constitute immigration reform is fanciful, at best.
"And if that seems to favor mind and constitutionality over heart and compassion, please consider what our British friends as well as some of their EU compatriots are contemplating: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29799473 “ . . . The UK would not support future search and rescue operations to prevent migrants drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, the Foreign Office has said.
“Foreign Office minister Baroness Anelay has said such operations can encourage more people to attempt to make the dangerous sea crossing to enter Europe . ..”
"Only if a plan that includes the relatively benign provision for temporary legalization followed by mandated self-deportation enforced by E-Verification is signed into law, will there be any hope for a solution to the problems posed by illegal immigration --any favorable treatment will not only perpetuate the very real problems posed by uncounted millions of un-vetted illegal residents, but also encourage all would-be emulators.
4
The hypocrisy is breathtaking! The outrage emanating from Wokesterdom on behalf of the MILLIONS (over 20 million, according to a recent Yale study) of foreign nationals currently residing in our country illegally....while simultaneously beating the drum of environmental protection.
We have a population of almost 350 Million in this country today. Can you wrap your mind around the devastating environmental impact of millions upon millions more impoverished foreign migrants upon our country’s diminishing water resources, disappearing wildlife habitat, increased carbon emissions, overcrowded urban centers? No. Apparently not.
22
@Michaela
With global warming the people of the global south have no alternative. Not having open borders means babies will suffer and die.....many of whom are US citizens who were born in the US if their mothers were pregnant as they crossed the border. No politician can withstand that.
1
Trump is holding these poor people as pawns until the Democrats provide the kind of bill he will accept. This is not negotiation but hard fisted despotism.
2
@Chris535
Foreign citizens who illegally trespass across our sovereign borders are illegal aliens. They are not entitled to remain in the country. What is it about that fact that you don’t comprehend?
8
Call to arms! Impeach Trump. This kind of behavior cannot continue! We must not treat people like this; this is NOT the REAL AMERICA.
Every American must rise up and physically stop ICE from operating and hide Hispanics. This is our WAR. Democrats and Republicans MUST stop this nonsense or you will not be re-elected!
I believe in America and its leadership in the World and in handling everyone with respect and human kindness. Trump is out of control. Impeach Trump NOW!
DJM
4
@DJM-Consultant Yes lets waste time in a fruitless attempt to impeach Trump while offering no bill to counter his actions, then if we finally do impeach we get Pence for the remainder. Ha !
1
@DJM-Consultant
Are you advocating for the obstruction of justice? You do understand that we are a nation of laws? Are you saying your loyalty is to foreign invaders?
5
@DJM-Consultant
"physically stop ICE from operating"
Yes, interfering with armed police operating under the authority of law tends to work out smashingly well for citizens...
Take a look at Ann Coulter's twitter timeline, She is definitely not happy. Her timeline is a bunch of her tweets and retweets and they all boil down to one thing, trashing Trump. Some are very harsh. Ann even tweeted that because of all Trump's lies and flip flops, she believes the most recent story from the woman who claims Trump sexually assaulted her.
With his non-decisions on attacking Iran and deportations, it seems like he's trying to expand his base.
Apparently, he doesn't realize that although he may gain some supporters due to recent events, he's losing the faith of the very people that voted for him.
1
Trump uses fear and hatred of immigrants when it suits his needs for publicity or votes. Caravans of 10s of thousands were storming our shores until they weren't. Millions of criminals are living illegally in the US until they aren't.
Trump's cruel gene melds with Stephen Miller's and comes in useful to keep that base. The 'law of land' applies to the other at all times while being ignored by Trump, Barr and now the fully complicit DOJ.
Children are in fact kidnapped by the Trump administration and kept in filthy cages while the private owners of those cages are getting rich with sweetheart deals for their for profit jails.
The conditions of the Texas border 'facilities' physically abuse and punish children. This counts as 'policy' for Trump et al. Pawns for 'deterence' and bully cowardice.
I would appreciate more articles about the actual conduct of this administration as opposed to the show Trump provides for the cameras.
The Trump administration has no interest in 'working' with the Democrats for bipartisan immigration legislation. The cruelty and tough actions will ebb and flow until the election depending upon the needs of Trump. Nothing else matters.
3
Trump should have gone ahead with the raid. Nancy Pelosi will try and negotiate some form of amnesty for TPS and DACA. Under no condition should any form of amnesty be accepted.
Deportation for all here illegally must be the standard and they sooner ICE starts the raid the better off things will be. Those here illegally should be terrified - they know they have broken the laws and must pay the penalty.
No need to break up families -= nothing is stopping the parents from taking their children with them.
We also should return to the practices vis a vis the health of new arrivals. Back in the Ellis Island days if the people did not pass the physical exam they were sent back on the next boat. We should do that today - if they come in sick with a communicable disease we should return them to their home country for treatment.
15
The president is giving the Dems one more chance to work with him and Republicans to address the border crisis and pass much needed legislation. Having 100's of thousands coming in illegally and staying (hiding) despite deportation orders is absurd. Our laws must be upheld.
15
@MCH
Yes, rarely mentioned is that Trump keeps seeking deals with the democrats.
4
@MCH
The President is giving the Dems one more chance to
work with him.
Remember the other times the Dems worked with him
on DACA and immigration and then he reversed course
after leading them on to believe they had an agreement? Hard to work with an unreliable and capricious negotiator who has a demonstrate record
of lying.
1
Where is the outrage by Congress about Trump's
continued torture of these young innocent refugees who are actually dying because Trump denies them medical treatment, basic sanitary conditions and keeps them suffer by sleeping on cold concrete floors in cages?
Why are these 23 Democratic candidates not making this heinous crime against humanity, the signature issue of their campaign?
What has America become?
3
@JM
The migrants experienced a lack of sanitation, food, water, and poor sleeping conditions on their trek from Central America to the US border (a trip their parents chose to undertake), and they are getting more of the same at the detention centers. This is how it is. Are you willing to put them up at the Four Seasons hotel?
2
So the deportations are delayed until July 4th weekend?
That's how Trump is going to celebrate (in addition to coopting the Washington celebration with his partisan speech)?
5
We already have the inhuman detention centers where children are housed in conditions unfit even for cattle.
According to the CBS report 2 weeks ago, very girls were attempting to take care of a sick two-year-old boy who was in filthy clothing without a diaper, and children said they were being fed uncooked frozen food. They had gone weeks without bathing.
And Trump wants to crowd more people into inadequate facilities that would shame even many third world nations?
5
Note to Trump: Trying GETTING THE FACTS, talking with people who UNDERSTAND the facts, and then making a decision.
You know, good governance.
3
Trump says he’ll delay deportation operation
Aimed at undocumented families
That’s good information to hear, for those families
I think I have an explanation
Like someone like Forrest Gump, Mr Trump may not be able
To walk and chew Gump at the same time
This leads to exasperation
Or he may not be able to see the Forrest for the trees
This begs the question, if you please
Is it time to dump Trump?
3
Trump’s really good at pointing fingers and blaming others. He’s not so good at accepting responsibility. If people like Trump didn’t profit by giving illegal immigrants jobs, instead of paying fair wages, we wouldn’t have a problem. But yeah, let’s blame the employees, not the boss, because that’s how it works in Trumpworld. It’s always somebody else’s fault.
5
Trump, as usual, is full of it and is trying to save face. ICE is too incompetent to deport “ millions of families” - they don’t even know where thousands of children are, and forgot to look at the rules when deporting veterans- and there is too much resistance from major cities. Trump knew they’d have a hard time rounding up anyone. The whole thing would have been a fiasco- and will be one again in two weeks.
6
Donald likes power. If he ever decided to stop terrorizing people and be "presidential," he might even win the election.
But alas, being presidential is not something you do, it's something you are. And he isn't.
3
Rarely is it mentioned that these deportations will be conducted for individuals with "final deportation notices". What do people think should happen when that point is reached?
I'm glad Trump will now use this as a negotiating tool with democrats. They need to get their act together and address the problem, and they certainly need to stop encouraging more asylum seekers, etc., with their anti-Trump/open border efforts.
11
@AACNY, They passed a bipartisan immigration reform bill in the fall of 2017 already, but Trump vetoed it and McConnell refused to override his veto. Look it up if you didn't know.
1
Today, President Trump announced he was shelving for the foreseeable future a $10 billion supplementary budget request to deploy nationwide countermeasures to prevent dinosaur de-extinction. "My staff was all for it," he said on Twitter. "I ALONE decided it was not a proportional response to the problem."
2
On an emergency basis, it was proposed to spend 4.5 billion dollars as humanitarian aid on border facilities. This is needed to improve the temporary living conditions for the monthly arrival of 100,000 immigrants across our southern border.
Presumably, a large percentage of these will then be released to spread randomly into country. The bulk of these are penniless and have no skills or education. Soon, we will see stories that they are homeless, and jobless.
The low skill job market is finite. The market will saturate, depressing wages and leaving many jobless. Tent cities and slums will expand under the burden of new arrivals.
Billions will be sought in a noble attempt to avert humanitarian crisis. The overload will cause the core of our social safety net will collapse. Too few tax payers and too much national debt.
Where are the adults in Washington ? This is a obvious outcome.
6
Trump certainly does change his mind a lot. It's almost as if there's not a lot of thought put into his decisions.
6
As I watched local TV news, none mentioned that the persons to be deported lost their cases in Court, failed to show up for a hearing, or committed crimes. I wonder why that was not important to report.
14
@Richard Bourne
The Times has an agenda, and, unfortunately, it fails to inform its readers of items that don't support it. Remember how surprised its readers were to find there really was a crisis at our border. No surprise since The Editorial Board had previously denied it.
8
I am not kidding when I suggest that the immigrants released to await court be fitted with a bracelet containing a chip just like the one in my credit card. Then let’s put Master Card or Visa in charge of monitoring. If VISA can know within seconds if I am buying gas in a neighborhood that I don’t frequent or a foreign country, they can manage a few hundred thousand asylum seekers far better than ICE raids will ever do.
10
We are a nation of laws- except when enforcing the laws might impact the Democrat's ability to gain political power. Then we are a nation of compassion.
11
@willt26, I notice you don't care about the laws the president has broken and continues to break. Why is that?
3
Separating American children from their undocumented parents must be a violation of the kids' Constitutional rights. It is appalling that our current administration is contemplating such a move.
One, deprivation of life, liberty and property without due process (Fifth Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment). These young American citizens are being deprived of all three when they are taken from their families and placed elsewhere without a judicial hearing to determine the consequences of separation. If their parents were citizens separation would require investigations and hearings. As far as the children's well-being is concerned this is no different.
Two, these kids, who are not criminals, and not the targets of the administration, are yet being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment by separating them from their parents. Child psychologists really need to forcefully speak out about this (Eighth Amendment).
Since Congress has become a pretty meaningless part of our government all state governments and non-profit groups in the US concerned with civil rights and child welfare must make this their top priority. Courts all over the country must be asked to issue injunctions on behalf of these children who are citizens of the US. This abomination must be stopped dead in its tracks.
3
@EMiller
No one is forcing the children to be separated. The illegal immigrant parents can take them with them back to their home nation.
2
@EMiller
This is silly. By your standard if a husband and wife US citizen insurance fraud duo are convicted and sentenced to prison it is a constitutional violation to separate them from their children.
That makes no sense. American children are separated from their parents every single day when a parent goes to prison.
2
Trump's policies seem to come from the last person he speaks to. Thank goodness it was Speaker Pelosi. I think he actually respects her, I certainly do.
1
Even though this is only a delay
I would like to say
I applaud the decision without derision
I’m thrilled to death
Can we expect similar decisions like this in the future?
Don’t hold your breath
1
If I consciously remember that what we're experiencing here is not a presidency or an administration, but a reality television program, then these last minute decisions and reversals make sense. Trump is not playing to the majority of us. He is working for ratings from his 40+% base. Everything he does is either to impress them or one of the authoritarian world leaders that he so wants to be. Trump throws in the suspense and changes in plans to keep his followers oohing and aahing. It is, of course, no way to run what once was the greatest country in the world, but, for Trump, it is great reality television and he is the star.
24
It is the same thing over and aover and over again: Trump makes an outrageous remark. Then he waits for all the media to jump in, and then he retracts it (the remak). It is such a tired, old schtick.
People break the law, stay in a country illegally, and it's Trump's fault?
You do know he's been president for 5 minutes, and we've had these immigration issues going on 30+ years.
For an educated reader base, not much in the way of critical thinking.
38
@Sam: you may have missed the point - the presence of illegals is not directly his fault - and this is not the point of the article. Of course, on the other hand, if it was Obama’s fault, then it is also Trump’s fault. Furthermore, the increased pressure driving immigration from below may still be increasingly a result of Trump’s failure to engage with failing economies in Central America.
PS the US always makes more money out of them than the other way round.
4
@Sam Jabr There's not much in the way of critical thinking in the syllogism you've drummed up that sweeps from law breaking people through Trump to issues spanning 30 years. (Then there's the dangling modifier in your final sentence. . . .)
2
@Sam Jabr Liberals hear Trump’s name and go ballistic. The irony of course is that not only has Trump deported fewer people than Obama but that these detention issues coming to light existed under Obama. Few in the media brought it up.
9
Maybe asylum days are over.
Maybe we should just admit we‘ve failed in our quadrant of the globe; just like Europe has failed in its quadrant. In America, it’s the land-boarder problem and in Europe it’s the sea-boarder problem. They (the downtrodden) all just keep coming north!
Forget which political affiliation you‘ve attached yourself to, wether socialist, capitalist or something in between—it didn’t work! We need a new plan and that plan should be local, because like it or not we are at war with poverty and subjugation and rolling out a red carpets at the gates of those golden-paved streets of Europe and America (which don’t exist) are just going to move the problem around a bit.
BILLIONS of people would come to Europe or America at the drop of a hat! Get your head around that number and realize what has to be done.
It should not be about keeping people out, rather making them part of the club...where they are.
That would, of course, require lots of brains which we are lacking at the moment.
27
Maybe, but no.
We need immigrants.
We've now seen what Americans look like, and often the Immigrant is the better choice.
3
@William Perrigo It would also likely involve the invasion and government replacement of many corrupt dictatorships in order to improve the lives of the locals, something that would invoke fury from many ( except Bolton I imagine).
2
@William Perrigo
It is likely that in 25 years most of the world population will live in the US and Europe because of the temperate climate. There is plenty of space and the native born are dying out. As an example Nigeria alone has more births than all of Europe in a year and the global north needs every one of them. Global warming is making the southern climes uninhabitable for large mammals. It is becoming a migrate or die situation. What we should do is prepare for this by building housing and infrastructure to accomodate this global change. The sooner we open all borders the earlier we will be able to prepare.
1
Threats of hostage-taking and deportations to get what Trump can’t otherwise obtain from Congress.
There is nothing too low for the band of criminals in the White House. I won’t bother naming the thugs where we’ve seen this sort of thing in the past, but this is a familiar playbook.
17
Sigh. Look, Democrats, Trump's M.O. is to make vicious threats to win concessions. Do not fall for it. If Trump's deportation raids ever actually begin, the optics will damage him more than the government shutdown did. Do not fall for it.
19
This is a shame. Criminals must be punished for their crimes. It will likely be impossible for Trump to deport as many people as Obama did, but he has to start somewhere.
22
Does that include cheating on your taxes or not obeying traffic signals?
3
@ Jake-
I agree. Criminals MUST be punished for their crimes. So let’s throw Trump in prison for the traitor he is to the Constitution.
4
@jake: what criminals? These people are on average more law-abiding than citizens...
2
These aren’t “things”, they’re people. Human beings.
Human beings who have been through the U.S. justice system, lost their cases, and now refuse to obey the law. It’s time for them to be sent home.
If they face no consequences from breaking the law, then nobody should.
Convicted of speeding or DUI? No problem.
Don’t pay your taxes? That’s okay.
Shoplift from a store? Don’t worry, we’ll call it “unauthorized long term borrowing”.
The U.S. is either a nation of laws, or it is not. It’s increasingly unclear what we are.
19
@John Obtain election assistance from the Russian government? Violate the emoluments clause? No worries.
4
@John
“unauthorized long term borrowing”.
Brilliant! Best comment so far!
Or who knows? Maybe if the laws are unfair and unjust, then it's one's duty to disobey them. Like, I don't know, the "Stamp Act"
We are all humans and we all deserve a shot at the "Great American Dream". And anyway, as someone pointed it out, how else would you have cheap strawberry if there were no hopeless, desperate, vulnerable people willing to do anything for ridiculously low pay. And they do it voluntarily! Don't even need overseers or slave drivers. I think the system is well designed.
4
@John: now go back and read the article - these people have not done any of the things that you write about - they are simply in the US illegally. As a group, they actually commit crimes at a lower rate than citizens.
So, get your facts straight, stop demonizing, but by all means argue for deportation. They did break that law...
3
The immigrant deportations are coordinated with the current Iran spectacle. It now appears to me that the Oil Tanker attacks were an inside job knowing timing and the benefits Trump gained. Were the tankers even American? Trump is taking over our nation by force and using the international drama to empower himself to claim national security and he intends to accuse any opposed. Do you understand me? He is taking over the nation and I'm not chicken little. I match my wits to his weapons, which are many.
10
@SHAKINSPEAR One was a Japanese tanker. None were US.
7
Once again democrats fell into the trap. The outlandish over the top reaction by democrats to protect illegal immigrants ordered deported, including gang members, is on record. You better believe this will be a campaign talking point especially the next time an illegal commits a crime.
The one that really got me was the governor of Illinois, to great democratic and left applause, signed an order outlawing private prisons as detention centers. Yet private prisons can continue to operate with deplorable conditions and hold American citizens. Illinois has still not apologized or held accountable the torture house used by their police.
The behavior of the democrats has been appalling and you can bet many voters did not like it. Once again they are living in their insulated bubble. I just know this former Democrat will make it a point to not vote for any Democrat and shock them back to reality.
26
Maybe if people like the president would stop hiring them?
4
@Hellen, I worry much more about the law breaking "gang" in this current administration. Why you do not, is telling.
4
Democrats have the possibility of taking away one of the weapons used by autocratic nationalists: fear regarding immigrants. Liberals everywhere should realize that immigration is driving the insanity seen in the United States, the UK, Hungary, Italy and other countries.
If the new strategy of illegal immigrants is to declare asylum, this loophole needs to be fixed. Or risk another four years of Trump.
15
Just let them all in.
All 7 billion of them.
Olly, olly oxen, all in free.
Never mind jam-packed housing, highways, hospitals, schools and parks.
Never mind heavily overloaded water and sewer systems and other infrastructure.
Just let them all in.
31
@sam finn
Remember when they claimed they didn't use public benefits, live in public housing, didn't drive without licenses and would never receive tax funded financial aide to send their children to college. Not only do they receive all the above but the parents can make sure they qualify because they get to hide or self attest their income.
All of this has been exposed and I can't wait to see democrats upholding this on the national campaign. Democrats are going to lose in a landslide.
24
@Hellen I live in a state that grants driver licenses to documented citizens or undocumented residents. Many here think it is better for every driver to be licensed and to carry insurance than to have an accident with an uninsured driver.
6
@Hellen I remember when racists typically kept their opinions to themselves, rather than shouting “ Jews will not replace us” in the streets. It’s rather obvious which side you’ve taken.
2
The pro-immigration crowd talks DoubleSpeak.
They condemn Trump for "family separation".
Then they complain about detention and deportation
when Trump detains and deports the whole family.
The only the pro-immigration crowd wants is massive uncontrolled immigration.
31
@sam
Spot on. What would these folks have us do?
Build hotels all along the border to accommodate the foreigners crossing the border illegally?
They are taking advantage of a giant loophole in our laws. We don’t deport kids, so when they cross, and get arrested, they are in the system, which means they are held for 20 days and released into the US with a court date they will never show up for.
And you could thank Obama for opening the Pandora’s box when he issued DACA, and hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied migrant minors came streaming through the borders in 2014 and 2015. Since we don’t deport kids, they all made by it, and parents got wise, so they are dragging kids with them. The only way to stop this madness is prevent them from stepping foot on US soil. And the only way to do that is finish the barriers along the border. These family units with little kids aren’t scaling existing walls. They are simply walking around them.
27
Wow - the trolls are out today... is it daytime in Moscow, or are some good old boys getting their internet access in rest homes somewhere...
I am joking (I think) - but please try for some civility in discussion. There are immigration problems, but it is up to the whole of society to decide what to do. The illegal immigrants actually are net donors to the economy. I doubt that any of the commenters would like to spend the summer picking fruit... Remember what you owe these immigrants and treat them with respect... even if as a society you decide to deport many of them.
3
@Daniette. And it is precisely the grey zone the " refugees" exploit, and the media reports. However, we either live in a country of laws, or not. No grey zone here.
1
The parallels between these atrocious acts of family separation and instant forceable removal that are happening today with the owners and traders separating children and parents and removing them south during the days of slavery are incredible. 180 years have passed and here we are.
7
@Susanna
It is incredible and insulting that you would compare this to slavery. During slavery people were brought here in chains, their children were born into slavery and slave children were beaten and worked to death right along with the adults.
They could not voluntarily leave, they lost limbs or life if they tried to leave and they didn't have a court to appeal to for their freedom.
If democrats and the left continue to compare this to slavery then you will have an even bigger exodus of black votes. You can truly kiss a 2020 victory goodbye. Hillary Clinton tried to prove she could win by not canvassing for black votes and took them for granted. Obviously democrats still haven't learned.
4
@Susanna
SLAVERY???
This discussion has really jumped the proverbial shark.
During slavery no one had the opportunity to press 2 for Akan or 3 for Ibo. No one could demand that US official documents be translated into Mandinka.
Slaves were initially kidnapped and brought to this country. Then they and their children and children's children and so on for 250 years were kept in bondage with no rights that any white man or white woman had to respect. Slaves didn't have the ACLU to sue over living conditions or friendly judges to issue nationwide injunctions against excessive whippings. Slaves could be beaten or murdered for the crime of reading or for the crime of sassing a white person.
Get it through your head--slaves did not sneak into this country willingly. Slaves were not immigrants. Comparing the treatment of illegal immigrants to African-American slaves is so profoundly misguided and offensive that further words fail me.
2
The Democrats should do precisely "nothing' . Who negotiates under threat of extortion
Oh I know criminals , kidnappers, and The Mob'.
Let us hope as a country we have as yet not reached quite that low.
16
Maybe the parties should make a deal along the following lines:
-build the wall
-no targeted large scale actions against undocumented immigrants
-make everyone who has been in the country for 8 years or so and did not commit any crime a legal immigrant in 2026 to celebrate semiquintcentennial
-strictly enforce immigration rules from then onwards
5
@Peter I believe the first Bush did something like you propose but it still did not stop people from seeking asylum. When your country is in an undeclared war and has been thanks to US destabilization for decades, you are still going to try to find a more stable and peaceful country in which to live and raise your family.
2
@Peter: good points in general (although it involves amnesty which is anathema to many). Building the wall is actually not cost-effective (too easy to get over or under), but increasing border security is actually favored by all parties.
1
We tried exactly that in 1986...And here we are...
5
Trump is winning on immigration. If the legal process determine someone can’t stay in this country, then humanely and with respect, round them up and help them leave. The Democrat’s only strategy is do nothing and complain. The real solution is to lock up business owners who knowingly employ illegals. Salads and hotel rooms cost more, no big deal.
24
@Alex Emerson, another one who never read the bipartisan immigration reform bill passed in 2017 that Trump vetoed. Gets tiring listening to lies from posters who refuse to read the facts and take a serial liars word for what is truth. Sad.
Did too much bad press convince Trump not to go forward
with his big Kristalmorgen round-up in the wee hours of this morning? Or was he just looking for yet another chance to demonize the Democrats and misrepresent their efforts to address immigration issues?
13
Your remarks suggest an intelligence on his part that is not there. I think that what we are witnessing is impulse following impulse.
8
The selective outrage "me too" movement never includes the crisis on the border of women in the caravans that get groped and raped multiple time per day. You don't see the people with microphones covering this horrific crisis.
7
And who will they come for next???? Just as German citizens were led into xenophobia pre WW2, we are being primed. Nationalism in an ever connected world is counter productive to peace and progress. Does Christian charity only extend to your place of birth and skin tone for some? Kudos to the faith based and ethical organizations who actually live by and practice what they preach!
20
@Ben
Politics ALWAYS involves a bounded community. Some people are part of that community; some aren't.
The only way to be part of that bounded community is to be born within it, or get permission to join from the community.
When you just bum rush the place, you can't expect that you will be welcomed with joy.
Nationalism isn't going away, not least of which because people have different ideas about what is good. I am glad that I don't live under say, Saudi Arabian ideas about what makes a good life.
1
America needs much stronger comprehensive immigration control.
America does not need so-called "comprehensive immigration reform",
which is a thin disguise for
giveaways to gatecrashers, such as amnesty,
and giveaways to the pro-cheap-labor business crowd.
22
Fine.
Then go talk to the GOP leadership that has skillfully blocked any form of immigration reform over the years because cheap labor is good for business.
2
The headline for this story undersells what's really going on here. It should read, "Trump Threatens to Terrorize Immigrant Families if Dems Don't Capitulate." Like a kidnapper holding a knife to his victim's throat, he intends to inflict pain on immigrant families to force Dems to pay his legislative ransom.
12
Why can't the immigration laws be enforced as written?
You come here on a student VISA, which is always for a limited period of time, and, if you stop attending college, well, too bad: good bye. You get sent home. A 13 year old with access to the relevant databases could monitor student VISAs.
You come here with a work VISA, of whatever category, and you quit your job, and go off the grid, and your initial employer fails to monitor whether you are still working for that employer. Same thing. A 13 year old with access to the relevant databases could monitor all types of work VISAs.
You come here seeking asylum, and end up "released" to wherever you want to go, after your credible fear interview, and all the US does is say "come back for our court hearing?" Well, it should not work that way. You should have to certify that you have a sponsor, and the sponsor should have to sign that form, who will give you a place to live, and you should have to report to someone that you have been trying to find a job or have a job.
My grandparents and great uncles and great aunts all came from Russia, as teenagers, escaping anti-semitism and being murdered, and some of my ancestors were forced to dig their own graves in Russia. If they even coughed or looked sick at Ellis Island, they were deported.
I am not against legal immigration or legitimate asylum claims. I am against a 10 minute credible fear interview and being released unfettered and never reporting back.
26
@Alexandra Brockton, over 90% of the released do report back for their hearings. Look it up.
1
@Alexandra Brockton
Your ancestors weren't asked to prove they needed asylum. My own ancestors weren't asked anything -- they just sailed in on the Fortune and came ashore. What percentage of U.S. citizens sprouted from scratch on this piece of earth?
We need a new statue base in New York Harbor: "Don't give me your miserable selves."
1
Trump has really raised the level of drama and fear to a new high. It seems as if he is angling for simultaneous nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize, Academy Award and Tony !! Let's engineer a shiny brass MAGA award for Trump while immediately ushering him off the world stage into the hands of the World Court!
6
Trump is no leader. Instead he is the tormenter in chief, thinking of one cruel method after another to force some ill defined even incomprehensible solution after another to the problems involved in the problem of how to handle the huge number of asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants. There has never been an American president like him. In every way he is an outlier, an aberrant black swan. The art of the deal? He never defines what he wants. He doesn't know most likely as he never studies the problem.
11
What do the delays in deportations and attacks on Iran have in common? The women’s vote.
Pundits, politicians, commentators, as well as myself, have said this all along- trump starts a crisis and then ends the crisis that he started. Stay tuned folks for the next episode of the daily trump reality show.
It's time for America to get off the couch, turn off the TV, wake up, and vote this clown out of office.
10
Well, first North Korea, then Iran and now Democrats.
POTUS is testing limits of his powers of tweets and threats to demand a change in behavior.
What do they say, fool me once - shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
POTUS is about to shame himself.
Democrats have no desire to address this issue as it is their political weapon.
They have weaponized this immigration crisis to create yet one more identity division in America.
From illegals, we have gone to DACA to now "undocumented".
By calling them undocumented and using their US born children as hostages - Democrats are creating a class of inhabitants in this country that will only grow.
And bigger it grows - bigger it becomes attractive for more folks to break our laws.
This is a situation Democrats have no intention of resolving as they are happy to be fooling rest of Americans who apparently have accepted being shamed.
8
@Neil, the democrats passed a bipartisan bill in 2017 to reform immigration. Trump vetoed it. It's Trump who is using immigration as a weapon and it's all theater.
Isn't this blackmail aimed toward the Democrats? And isn't this what he always does: makes threats and then waits? Each time, he leaves decisions, like this one, for others to make--and then blames them if he doesn't get what he wants. This is a serious issue & Trump is playing his usual games. This president has no idea how to be really productive when being productive is most needed--and he fails mostly when this need involves people. This failure says something dreadful about his basic character, I'm afraid. But I'm more afraid of those lives he's going hurt--the ones he's managed to make live in fear, daily.
7
These are illegal immigrants who have final orders to be deported - after having their circumstances carefully considered by an immigration judge.
They have refused to leave, and now will be forcefully be expelled in accordance with US laws?
How heartless! Who cares about American laws! Where is the compassion?
15
@Prof, apparently many Americans do not care about all the laws Trump has broken. Sad.
He's afraid it might ruin his Forth of July Celebration.
1
Where are the outraged “pro-life” Republicans and Christians as families are separated, immigrant children go hungry and babies are put in cages ? Trump proposes to have immigrant Christians cuffed and hauled off as they attend services. It’s horrific! Where’s the outrage of the “pro-life” movement? Even Catholic bishops have only said a few measly words, but taken no personal action. Hypocrisy unites the Republicans and their right wing “christian” accomplices.
11
@Beto Buddy. Beto, Beto, have you ever heard of the separation of church and state? Maybe them religious people think that wave of "refugees' is unsustainable? How many of those refugees do you sponsor?
1
It's all money. The For-Profit prison system needs more time to arrange jails for everyone; all humans that they can imprison. So when it seems America is becoming more just in trying to free the people of an entire race from false imprisionment; the For-Profit prison system has found a new source of income. I wonder how many of our elected officials (or us in our 401Ks) have retirement investments in this practice.
5
Hmm... On Thusday, be suddenly reversed his plan to launch his planned military strike against Iran. Then yesterday, he abruptly announces he won't follow through on his threat to conduct ICE raids nationwide. In both cases, I am relieved that he changed his mind. But is this an emerging pattern, i.e.,making reckless threats/plans, then calling them off at the last minute?
The article implies he may be using the threat of ICE raids as a cudgel against Democrats in order to extract concessions on immigration law. But how many times can he use a ploy like this before his opponents call his bluff?
5
Great move by Trump to get the Democrats to the table. It's time to fix the border by working together and close the loopholes. If Democrats insist on putting illegals above their own voters, after Trump has made every effort to reach out, they will lose the House and Trump will continue to MAGA.
13
@Jon Galt The Democrats for years have attempted to have legislation passed and signed that would change the immigration laws. And no, the Democrats are not for "open borders" or are putting "illegals above their own voters...".
You should find another news source.
@Jon Galt
Since when is the President of the USA taking hostages and making terroristic threats “brilliant”?
He clearly cares nothing for these people. His current plan is just one more way he can blame Democrats--one more bragging right for the presidential campaign he's been on since January 2017. Democrats are responsible for everything.
He'll miss no opportunity to convey that message to a "base" that seems to love him more and more whenever he does it.
4
"The raids are heartless and Trump must stop this brutal action.”
I agree with Ms. Pelosi .. if she is talking about the government's raid on my wallet every April. Which is heartless and brutal, in my opinion too.
We finally have someone grounded in reality and speaking truth to power.
9
@Bhaskar
Yes, democrats are suddenly concerned about farmers and shoppers when they can lambast Trump's trade negotiations. When they help themselves to your wallet and cause prices to rise it's all for the "greater good".
What democrats don't realize is many Americans don't mind temporary hardship for a promise of more fair trade deals. This is very different from just paying more to support progressive utopian fantasies that rarely pan out and where you have to go back decades to find a successful one.
5
Trump and his determination to cause misery and suffering of families/children as a "deterrent" to migration is a horrendous injustice against humanity.
His actions are not only inhumane and cruel, but accomplish nothing positive. It will not stop people from fleeing violence, corruption, global warming, poverty, and life-threatening situations in their home country. Refugees do what they have done since the beginning of civilization - seek a better life.
As Trump tries to justify his foolhardy policies saying it is for our national security fails to understand the reluctance of immigrants to "see something, see something," if they are afraid of deportation. And, it makes one wonder how many future angry, violent young people seeing their parent/s rounded up and shipped out of the country never to be seen again will act out against society. This is absolutely not in the country's best interest.
4
This coming from a so-called president who said when funding for HIS wall wasn’t forthcoming, “what this country needs is a good shut down”
Why didn’t he shut down the government when the republicans refused to fund HIS wall.?
NO credibility. Stops the Iran attack because he learned a new word, “proportionate”, and now this to win the election...
6
Democrats should not (cannot) cave to the threats of President Trump and the anti-immigrant racism of the Republicans. Democrats should only vote to approve a fiscal package that includes an end to the concentration camps to which migrant children have been forcibly detained in deplorable conditions. Democrats must not abandon the promise of our country to provide refuge to those fleeing poverty and violence in home countries. Democrats must provide the better example.
4
@Pietro Allar
Is there any limit, Pietro, to the number we should accept?
3
You know there is some misgiving about this because of the public announcement. A delay seems appropriate.
1
And if you're waiting for any republicans to show compassion or outrage at these methods, don't hold your breath. They're convinced that these people are "stealing their jobs". And POTUS threatening to conduct raids unless he gets his way? That's extortion, NOT politics.
5
I live and work on our Southern border. I speak to people seeking asylum in the US on a daily basis. Most admit that their lives are not in danger, but they seek the benefits of a life in the US. Who wouldn't? Of course when they are interviewed by someone who has they authority to deny their asylum request, they are not going to admit that. I see them as their physician. I haven't personally seen the inside of the detention center, but most of the migrants tell me they are well treated, well fed, and do not object to going through the process. They live in air conditioning and receive free health care. I think the media sensationalizes quite a bit. Having spoken intimately, one-on-one with hundreds upon hundreds of these people, I have yet to hear them describe conditions in the manner portrayed on the US news.
36
@JoeD
In response to concerns raised by immigrant rights groups and complaints to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) Hotline about conditions for detainees held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, we conducted unannounced inspections of five detention facilities to evaluate their compliance with ICE detention standards. We identified problems that undermine the protection of detainees’ rights, their humane treatment, and the provision of a safe and healthy environment. Although the climate and detention conditions varied among the facilities and not every problem was present at all of them, our observations, interviews with detainees and staff, and our review of documents revealed several issues. Upon entering some facilities, detainees were housed incorrectly based on their criminal history. Further, in violation of standards, all detainees entering one facility were strip searched. Available language services were not always used to facilitate communication with detainees. Some facility staff reportedly deterred detainees from filing grievances and did not thoroughly document resolution of grievances. Staff did not always treat detainees respectfully and professionally, and some facilities may have misused segregation. Finally, we observed potentially unsafe and unhealthy detention conditions.
Report Number
OIG-18-32
Issue Date
12/11/2017
7
@JoeD
Press reports on these issues have been verified by credible sources. The horrors at the detention facilities are real. The fear and danger that these migrants are fleeing from are real too. Let us not undermine the credibility of the news. It’s what this corrupt and cruel administration wants.
7
@JoeD Perhaps they are telling you what they think you want to hear lest you refuse to treat them. Desperate people often take desperate actions to stay alive.
8
The true reason Mr Trump backed off, is that White House expects the Supreme Court to shortly rule in their favor to put citizenship questions on the census.
When the conservative court rules for the White House, the optics of rounding up the undocumented and scaring them into hiding will directly reinforce why the citizenship question on the census is so vital to the Republican party to skew elections and maintain power
After the conservative supreme court ruling the persecutions will play out, as this will legally ensure an underrepresented and inaccurate count .
The Republican must use its power to hold power.
4
Sorry, but this is on both parties. A judge’s order is to be obeyed if we are to have the rule of law in this country. Applying some laws and ignoring others is not acceptable. People around the world flee to this country because we have the rule of law.
31
@Conservative Democrat Except for the President.
1
As much as I realize that most commenters would be disappointed by this, I think the way out of this mess is for both sides to compromise. When Obama was President he had the power and necessary funds and resources to control the southern border. Now that the Democrats control half of Congress they should be appropriating enough funds to deal with the problem of feeding housing these people properly while the await their hearings. Instead, they say that the crisis doesn't really exist, even though illegals are crossing the border at rates unmatched since 2004. The President and Congress need to grow up.
10
@Charlie Reidy Mitch McConnell uses the excuse that he has no eyes to read the 100 BiPartisan bills waiting on his desk.
5
I guess you don’t understand how congress works.
The democrats in congress can appropriate funds, but the REPUBLICAN Mitch mcchinless run senate WONT PASS the bill.
The democrats in Congress have been passing bills for months since they took over in January. The republicans in the senate hold up the bills.
The democrats need to hold a majority of seats in the SENATE in order to get anything done.
That is why NOTHING got done 2 years after the republicans took over the congress and the senate during President Obama’s 2 terms.
7
@Charlie Reidy
Correction, the republcans especially Mitch mcchinless and the so called president need to be REPLACED.
Growing up isn’t enough.
2
Removing people who have final deportation orders and have ignored them shouldn't require a special announcement. It should be the normal, ongoing, functioning of a sovereign state. These are people who have had their "day in court" and been determined ineligibly to stay in the US. Unless we have no borders and no immigration laws how else can it work?
33
@Dan
Are you recommending deporting teenage mothers with a US born infant? You won't get elected to anything in the US. Germany has had open borders for some time and there is no bad effect.
1
@Todd Todd, this latest round from Trump on deportations is theater, part of his carnival show.
Nothing more to see.
4
@as If someone crosses into this country illegally, has a baby, and then claims they should be allowed to stay I would stand and support deporting them. If this is the kind of issue them Democrats want to run on I hope you enjoy the second Trump term and a couple more other Republican behind than. Open borders are a suicide position for Democrats.
1
So Trump is not above the law, but illegal immigrants with deportation orders are? I am completely baffled on what is the uproar against forcibly deporting illegals who have gone through the system and have been ordered deported. Why even bother to have immigration laws if you won’t enforce them.
25
Congressional Democrats need to help change our laws.
1. They must allow the Immigration Service to again restrict asylum to the reasons put forth under the 1951 Refugee Convention (and which were used before the Obama Administration) which gave asylum to those fleeing persecution due to religion, race, nationality, politics, or membership in a particular group, not domestic or gang violence.
2. They need to let the Immigration Service return unaccompanied minors to social service agencies in their home countries rather than offering green cards to everyone who claims to have been abandoned, neglected, or abused by one of his parents.
3. They need to agree that anyone who crosses the border illegally and is in need of asylum, must ask for it within a few days rather than within a year.
4. Immigration judges have been finding that only 10 to 15% of the claims made by Central Americans qualify for asylum. Congressional Democrats should allow the Immigration Service to be more discriminating at the border when they are conducting the initial interviews. The current rules require the Immigration Service to allow just about everyone into the country even though only a small percentage eventually get asylum. Once in the country, few leave.
22
The whole charade is aimed to rouse emotions, but nothing else. Those 2000 families know Trump won’t do anything about illegal immigrants, criminals or not. If those aliens, who by the way have been known to ICE for years, thought ICE would pick them up, they already changed names and residences. After all, in order to survive in this country, they rarely use their real names, use false documents, and live in places they can leave as soon as they see ICE agents show up. The social support structure that encourages illegal immigrants includes the media, religious organizations and many other help groups, including advocates within the current Congress. But more important are the business owners who benefit from “cheap labor”. As long as that framework continues, Trump’s threats are empty ones, and he knows it. In the meantime US citizens are left at the mercy of criminal aliens who are too entrenched in our communities and won’t leave. And we will continue paying the taxes to support them and their families. So much for making America great again.
7
Are these rapid unpredictable fluctuations of mood, direction, thought indicative of use of cocaine or other mind-altering substances?
9
And what has been done over the past 2 and a half years to improve conditions in Central America?
7
@Adriana. Our problem?
11
@leftrightmiddle Absolutely.
1
@Adriana
Central American churches treat women as 2nd class citizens and forbid the use of artificial means of birth control. The result is domestic violence and over-population. Most recent immigrants are Guatemalan where the population in 1955 was only 3,625,300. Today it is 17,577,842.
The following quotes are from a 3/8/11 PBS Newshour segment titled "In Guatemala, Family Planning Clashes with Religion, Tradition”:
"Stories about the dangers of birth control are often linked to religion, where family-planning methods such as monthly pills, tubal ligation, and IUDs have long been against church teachings.”
"We will follow God's will. We believe this is natural law. And we have heard too many stories about birth control, like injections and pills that cause cancer.”
"Here, populations are overwhelmingly Mayan and overwhelmingly religious. Women typically have eight, nine, 10 children.”
"Years ago, more children meant more hands to work the land. But generation after generation, farms are divided into smaller and smaller plots. There's less food to harvest. And with big families comes more mouths to feed. Nearly half the population of Guatemala suffers from chronic malnutrition.”
“ ...46 percent of children are stunted.”
Churches could elevate the status of women to that of men and allow the use of birth control.
Peace Corps volunteers could improve the schools and work with farmers to find new crops, etc.
Philanthropies could open Grameen banks.
2
Trump is using as much restrain as he can as the American people demand action on illegal immigration. This is an election-winning issue. Americans do not support open borders. They do not support unlimited labor supply and unending cuts to median family living standards. Just trying to help.
15
@rjs7777 You must be having trouble reading. No one is supporting open borders. We are supporting the process of asylum seeking and we do think all people should be treated with respect and dignity.
2
"Democratic lawmakers and immigration activists had demanded in recent days that the raids be prevented, calling them a cruel attack on minority communities whose only crime was illegally entering the country."
Are Democratic lawmakers and activists saying that it is O.K. to live here without authorization? Is this tantamount to saying that our borders are open to all who want to come?
23
The Democrats continue to nothing but whine about President Trump so maybe they could actually do something about our border problems. President Trump made a good move--and if after two weeks the Democrats do nothing then massive deportations should start.
14
All you authorities charged with the responsibility of rounding up Hispanics; this isn't about immigration enforcement. It's about the economic wealth and desires of the wealthy you have always served as they have the money. If you are honest, you will agree. It's about the anger towards the presence of millions of hard working good Christian Hispanics diluting the wealth of the nation. It's all about money. But the fact is, their labors build wealth as well. Trump's counsel, Kellyanne Conway, was a consultant to Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy who first cited the burdens of Hispanics on the government services, even as they contributed to the economy. That was a couple of decades ago. Now she advised and advises the wealthy Trump Wall st Administration. Do you understand that this isn't about immigration, it's about wealth and now I wonder if Kellyanne Conway has roots in the Financial industry and Wealthy back in NY.
The Hispanics are good Christians and the Trump Wall st Administration is not. Trump is playing God. And I'm not a Devil.
2
Central American refugees from gang violence and drug warfare are not a “wedge issue” to be used politically by both parties, they are human beings. It is past due time for a Central American summit for solutions to the crises. A wall, detention centers, ice, these are all symptoms of the disease, we must cure the cause and work with Central American leaders to end the chaos to these families. Elizabeth Warren is the only candidate who I have heard speak about going down to Guatemala, this is where President Trump belongs. Our place as a moral leader in our hemisphere rests on his shoulders. These folks don’t want to leave their homes and walk north through Mexico to get arrested, they do it out of desperation.
8
Trump declares the US is a sanctuary country until he has a mood change. Oh, wait maybe it is just about controlling the news cycle.
8
This is wrong. Trump should proceed with deporting anyone at all that has an outstanding order for deportation. This shouldn't be the bargaining chip.
15
"But Mr. Trump made clear he planned to use the threat of family deportations to extract concessions from Democratic lawmakers."
The Democratic response should be, "We will not negotiate with a terrorist taking families hostage."
8
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
11
In addition to keeping track of Trump’s lies, it’s time for the media to keep track of all the times Trump promises or threatens to do something and then backs off at the last minute.
5
Trump’s brinkmanship is already getting old as a tactic to get his way.”Don’t make me do it “ is using a blunt instrument instead of persuasion and negotiation.Every major bipartisan success in Congress has been through intense bargaining by both sides.Trump did not see the complication of a Democratic House- he was lulled into thinking that his edicts would pass as the Ryan leadership merely complied.Nancy Pelosi has been clear and firm and not intimidated.
10
In Canada, we talk a lot about your chaotic immigration policies.
Your country has over 10 million undocumented illegal aliens, but according to many of you, there's no "crisis."
This non "crisis" has been building for decades and no American president has had the guts to anything about it because big business and American consumers profit mightily from cheap labour and consumer goods emanating from the slave labour of farm workers, nannies, gardeners, etc.
It is shameful that your country continually exploits the most vulnerable, from the African slaves, to the prison workers, and on to the people from the third world. Too many Americans try to pass themselves off as noble and charitable in tolerating this abysmal status quo when in reality, for them it's all about cheaper goods and services.
And so what if it means that your country's lower income citizens and legal residents are further marginalized as a result.
Yeah, keep telling yourselves that Trump is the bad guy and that you're all holding the high ground.
90
Canada has the same need for cheap labour as does the US. Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program “facilitates economic growth by providing employers with access to temporary foreign workers when Canadian citizens or permanent residents are not available, while ensuring that rights of foreign workers are protected”.
6
@Michael
Trump IS indeed the bad guy. And so are those who remain willfully blind to what you describe - the fact that so many profit from the underpaid labor of undocumented immigrants.
But we don't all profit the same. The wealthy employers of the undocumented profit by far the most, and their wealth also affords them the political power to maintain the status quo. You can also reasonably blame those who advocate for inhumane immigration or labor practices, while wanting their cheap stuff. In their minds, someone else should pay (in labor as well as money) for their American right to cheap stuff. There are people on this board who insist on law and order as applied to the undocumented, but seem oblivious to the fact that the wealthy and powerful incentivize and enable the illegal economic migration, and the law and order leaves them alone.
But your accusation that we ALL blame only Trump while we reap the economic benefits and even the psychological ones of holding the high moral ground - is unfair. Over the recent decades, the American citizens have held less and less political power, and nobody has asked us about the raids. Moreover, the moneyed have been working super-hard to delude the population and keep us naive about the big picture. It's in their interest for the working masses to be busy fighting over the crumbs from their tables.
This does not mean all of us are blind, as you suggest. Nor does it mean that Trump is not a very bad guy.
10
Thanks for this. Saves me writing the same thing. America is the only first world country without a citizen or resident card and it had never had one. The dramatic acceleration of immigrants is the result. In France, you cannot buy property, drive a car, rent a space or even open a bank account without this card. Trump’s childish wall is only one aspect of the blather which got him elected but will do nothing to counter the government’s failure.
11
Do any of the commenters realize that this keeps families together and was targeting only families who had final orders of deportation?
35
@Ebmen
These are real live human beings that according to Trump are now to be used as his bargaining chips to pressure Democrats to pass legislation to Trump’s liking. That just seems plain wrong to me.
3
Can’t “realize” what’s not true.
Many families of illegal immigrants include children born here, or a spouse born here. Like it or not, agree or not, they’re citizens. Citizens, by definition, can’t be deported. If the citizens remain behind, most would consider the family to be broken up.
You would think being married to an American would make you an American. You would think as a child, your country would protect you, and not visit the sins of the father on the son.
We used to live in a country like that.
3
Democrats are scapegoats for yet another trump failure to keep a campaign promise?
Keep hammering Republicans were in control of both houses for 2 years of this administration.
Why was no legislation instituted then?
44
They were too busy with their traditional Repub agenda --
which is not what the voters want.
Dems need to hammer on that --
without promoting immigration.
5
Filibuster. The Senate needs 60 votes. The last time a party truly held both chambers was Obama's 1st term. The Democrats did nothing.
2
2013
Free dumb caucus kiboshes bipartisan
reform bill
2019
Same ‘just say no clowns ‘ blame others and walk away from the consequences of their actions
Don’t buy the revisionist right wing version of history
Keeping this as an issue is a major part of their holding on to power strategy
Resolving it does not benefit them
1
This is just another example of how he manipulates any situation to keep himself in the news and his base riled up. He cares not one bit for the damage he’s doing to individuals or to our country as a whole.
27
I hate to say this, but, it really does look like Trump’s threat has created a sense of urgency for the Dems to negotiate with the Republicans to pass legislation re immigration. One of Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals (Trump is deploying Alinsky’s tactics against the Dems) is “"The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself”. How the Dems decide to play this out over the next two weeks will be fascinating to watch.
3
If this is how a stable genius acts how does an unstable genius act??? Just asking someone might have the answer.
16
How is something the President tweets reported as factual fate accompli? The man is a proven
LIAR and any news report should be qualified that he can’t be trusted. This is important for this issue because lives are at stake. Do better Times.
12
Of all the things our government could spend taxpayer dollars on, going after immigrants is a ridiculous waste of money. Our law enforcement budgets could be much better spent going after actual criminals than people whose only crime was not leaving the country after their asylum claims were rejected. How about taking some of the time and money spent hunting down undocumented immigrants and tearing them away from their families and communities and go after the real criminals, like gun dealers, drug dealers, child traffickers, rapists, and domestic abusers. Regardless of one's views on immigration, why are so many resources being spent on targeting low risk individuals when there are some real huge law enforcement issues out there that aren't being addressed?
28
@Michelle
Unauthorized migrants crowd classrooms, leaving less resources and teacher time for students who are citizens or legal residents. Would you think this fair if your own child was in such a class?
Unauthorized migrants crowd public health clinics and hospital emergency rooms. Medicaid underwrites their care. It also pays for their long term hospital stays, the deliveries of their many children, and other care that would surprise most citizens. (eg. Some states use federal money to help pay for the migrants’ regular dialysis treatments.) How would you feel if a loved one could not be admitted to the hospital because the beds were filled with unauthorized migrants (some of whom moved here with chronic health conditions).
Unauthorized migrants crowd mass transit. (My state gives discounts to low income riders, regardless of their immigration status.) Their cars crowd the roads, making everyone’s commute longer. They crowd parks, leaving less space for everyone else.
They rent affordable housing, making it unavailable to the homeless. San Francisco, Seattle, and L.A. have significant populations of unauthorized residents and of people who live on the streets.
We do not have room for unlimited numbers of people. The fact that they have little education, and so are heavily dependent on government services and subsidies, puts the burden of supporting them largely on taxpayers.
Everyone who has received a final deportation order needs to be deported.
12
@Michelle Those who live and work here in violation of immigration law likely got here by contracting with human traffickers. Once here they are evading income taxes, have fake IDs and often easily commit other fraud for benefits. These are all felonies citizens are prosecuted for.
And that's if no one in their extended family is committing more serious crimes.
To live and work here they have to break or ignore laws citizens would be held accountable for just as a start. There is no such things as an illegal immigrant who is 'otherwise law abiding'.
8
@CNNNNC Many immigrants pay taxes--their employers are required to retain a certain amount of pay for SS etc. Many have alternative tax numbers which the IRS provides. Have either o f you in Ct or WA seen long lines of people at clinics that you know are undocumented? I live in a border state. Yes we have Spanish speakers here but we also have French-speakers, Tibetan speakers,Japanese speakers etc I cannot say that immigration has hurt my state. It has provided incredible diversity in thought and culture. And lots of hard working people
1
Trump threatens horrible things, against Iranians, immigrants, NATO, Mexico, then decides not to carry out the threats just moments before the artificial dealines he has set. . He makes his base think he's a tough guy and he disracts from various scandals. The press falls for it and then in effect breathes a sigh of relief and moves on to the next outrage. Trump accomplishes nothing of substance, but has given a collective PTSD to the country and the world.
19
I’m shocked that even the most loyal Trump voters don’t get that this man is a liar and a con. He’s used their prejudices to rile them up and snooker them while he makes money off selling his cheap goods and grafting the taxpayers while he plays golf at his country clubs.
On the other hand, I’m thrilled that he realized that an actual military intervention in Iran is a really bad idea.
1
Is it possible to quantify how much money is wasted because of Trump's weak management style?
How many people had their weekends disrupted because they had to plan to execute these "raids"? How much overtime was paid? How much manpower was exerted in selecting target cities? Co-ordinating with local officials? Planning transportation?
And if none of those things were done, then why wasn't this called a hoax to begin with?
15
@Third.Coast
The whole problem is our corporate media that keeps giving him attention. This is what he thrives on. The world should all just collectively ignore him.
1
Trump's tweets announcing the raids allowed him to throw out a lot of applause lines to his base at his rally in Orlando. I believe that was his sole purpose and that he always intended to call off the raids so he could appear to have a heart.
15
Just enforce the law. Enforce it courteously but firmly and consistently. Now.
23
Indeed. Impeach, prosecute and jail Trump immediately.
1
Shouldn't news of the deplorable conditions in refugee camps remain pinned to the top of news cycles at least until the needs of the children for essential sanitation and safety and health are met.
The money is there. Where is Republican outrage? Where is Congressional action?
Of all the deplorable actions of this administration, the situation at the border is the most despicable.
582
@Nereid
So true. And I would like to know where our tax dollars are going. Are these places run by private organizations, like prisons? What are the profits? How much is being spent on people in their care? The accounting books should be made public because we are footing the bill.
144
@If it feels wrong, it probably is - According to the latest from the New Yorker, $750/day per child. Which has to go mostly to the facility and the personnel staffing it because the children aren't being properly fed, washed, or housed.
Even worse, most of the children classed as unaccompanied minors at the Texas center visited claimed they had come with parents or family and subsequently been separated. They weren't unaccompanied at all, Trump and his minions are designating accompanied children as unaccompanied to flout the court order on family separations. And worse than that, detention was completely unnecessary as almost all claimed to have family already in the US ready and willing to take them in. We're inflicting grave suffering on children to line the pockets of John Kelly and other profiteers on misery, and feed red meat to Trump's base. Is this really what we want to be as a country?
48
@Jennifer
Thank you for the information, Jennifer. I'll look up the NY'er article. That is all so horrific.
10
When will the Feds go after the businesses hiring undocumented workers as hard and as publicly as they go after the workers? Remove the demand, and the supply will follow.
58
main reason they don't is because Trump, Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, mark Rubio and other GOP owned businesses that thrive on hiring illegal immigrants in America!
The Democrats and AOC especially have passed bipartisan bills to expedite this problem being solved and Mitch McConnell refuses to bring it to vote in the Senate. Google search those keywords Democrat plan for illegals. Doesn't allow me to put the URL here.
11
For the umpteenth time, our President has created an opportunity for Congress to make solid, sane progress on this issue. Will Pelosi and Schumer balk and mischaracterize this effort again? If the will to fix the border violations exists, it certainly seems to be absent on the left.
27
@JBC
Actually the will is missing on both sides. Missing on the left because if they do anything that'll make it look like they're working with President Trump. Missing on the right because if they do anything it'll look like their cooperating with the Democrats.
5
Republicans has many opportunities to reform immigration and even find a border wall. They could not even agree in their own caucus. The idea that they would cooperate with Democrats in this issue I think is unlikely happen. Will be interesting to see what their excuses will be.
14
@JBC You miss the point here. Of course there should be normal give and take legislation. But you can't "negotiate" under threat, as in "do something, or else."
4
So, what are liberals positions on this? What is wrong with deporting people who live in the US illegally?
55
@Bogey yogi
You see nothing wrong with separating parents from their children who are American citizens?
18
What is the conservative position on using fellow humans as hostages to extract some political gain?
Trump is telling Democracts that if they will agree to his demands he would allow those living in the country illegally to continue doing so.
How does that square with rightwing morals and principles?
15
@Bogey yogi, Just wondering, when you see these poor people who have given up everything to come here, and have had children here, what the problem is if they stay. Is the government going to take toddlers from their arms? Thank goodness we did not have such fearful Americans when my parents and grandparents immigrated here. I guess the U.S. needed the labor then!
8
Virtually no one allowed to enter the US in 2017 with a claim of asylum has left--despite the fact that fewer than half of those claiming asylum and allowed to enter are ultimately found to have legitimate grounds for that claim.
Trump's threats are horrible. But what are we to do? When borders are ignored, deportation orders are ignored, people falsely claim asylum...what are we to do?
22
@Talbot - How many of those have deportation orders? Probably none since there is a years long backlog in the system. They're entitled to a hearing on their claim, the fact that we don't have our act together and can't give them one in a timely manner isn't their fault.
Trump could hire more immigration judges if he really wanted to do something constructive, but he prefers to rage tweet and promote misleading statistics.
10
Welcome them with Grace and Empathy for our Common Plight as Human Beings.
8
Relax?. How are they hurting you personally?
4
I would have bet you a million bucks this was never gonna happen. Can you imagine the video and news coverage?
If there is one thing Trump absolutely hates more than anything, and that is being made to look bad. This is all bluster - he'll never do such an operation - guaranteed.
If he does manage to do it somehow in the future, even though I'm contradicting myself by guaranteeing it won't happen - it will hurt hurt hurt him tremendously.
By the way, the easy way to do this is to just go to employers and threaten fines when the ss numbers do not match the names. But that would hurt Republican business owners and Trump doesn't want to do that.
16
Trump has had to walk back so many of his bad ideas that his threats have become meaningless.
16
Someone with a tiny ego needs to be in the news constantly. And that someone is very good at getting it done!
7
If the president were to deport undocumented workers, we wouldn't have a cheap, powerless workforce to do the jobs no citizen wants. President Trump should order a mass arrest of those like himself who illegally employ the undocumented.
19
A massive roundup of illegal employers!
That’s the solution for the root problem.
4
Citizens will do the jobs. But it will require a fair wage. Prices will go up for many things. But I understand the pragmatic attitude of many that favor illegal immigration to keep strawberries picking and other labor intensive jobs cheap....Republican business want to use illegal labor to gain competitive advantage against those that don't. Democrats want cheap labor for cheap stuff. E-verify must be strictly enforced and wages for nasty jobs must rise for this situation to stabilize. Without jobs, many illegals may self deport. Many will stop coming. Those cities that want to provide sanctuary to illegal aliens can give them all the benefits they wish. But they cannot give them jobs. Jobs are for American citizens and those immigrants that come here legally.
3
To all the left or right and to all the pro-trump and anti-trump: copy those undocumented people business model next time when you got a traffic ticket and see what will happen to you. Good luck.
4
Trump enjoys creating chaos. He has, IMHO, attention deficit and narcissistic personality disorders.
The truth is, if he were capable of rational thought, some moderates might agree with him on arresting and deporting people who have exhausted their appeals and who have standing deportation orders.
Instead, he treats running the country like changing the menu at one of his resorts...all on a whim, do it now!
His speech pattern is incredibly disturbed..."I could, I might, I will, I think I might, we'll see, who knows."
Just to create chaos.
7
@Third.Coast:
But . . .but . . . but isn't he a stable genius (with the best memory of anyone in history)???
1
"Mark Morgan, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement..."
"Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary of homeland security..."
"Thomas Homan, the former acting director of ICE..."
There must be a "acting director" temp agency in DC that Trump is keeping busy. Does it have an "acting" president in its talent pool?
7
“If not, Deportations start!” he tweeted.
If Twitter had existed in 1939 it would have been put to use in a similar fashion.
8
The Democrats should do precisely "nothing' . Who negotiates under threats like this .
Oh I know 'The Mob'.
7
He still plans to imprison 1400 unaccompanied migrant children in an Internment camp.
Yes America this is what we have become, a nation that locks up children away form their parents.
Since no one is out on the streets demonstrating this, 'Apparently' we are all OK with it.
Is there no end to the cruelty of this man.
13
Families security reverted to tweets .Shameful.
3
I lived in Miami for 42 years.I watched as 125,00O Cubans arrived in the 1980 Mariel boat lift. Fewer than 2,000 of those people were jailed.As the years went by, Nicaraguans, Guatemalans, and people from many countries came to Miami in large numbers.Their arrival made Miami into the thriving, international city it is today. A lot of the wonderful family people who immigrated have become citizens. Others have green cards or remain undocumented. They are very frightened that because of Trump’s policy, and authoritarian threats, they are going to have there families torn apart.They are all fearful that people they love will end up in cages. They fear what will happen to their jobs, and homes, and responsibilities. AOC likened Trump’s cages and the conditions in them to Concentration camps. I too take issue with her choice to use that word. But then I must admit, as I play the scene of families in Miami being rounded up and put in cages I become as enraged as AOC, and in danger of using hyperbole to express myself. The thought of armed men coming to take me away and stick me in a crowded cage, makes me think of WWII, just like AOC. And We know that the monster who was running the Concentration camps murdered millions of Jews. Only a handful of adults and children have died housed in Trump’s cages. Both are different atrocities with a common abuse; human rights. Violation of decency being done in the name of making a country “great again”. How sick is that?
12
@Wanda
A concentration camp by any other name is still a concentration camp.
Such camps have been used long before and since WWII. Hitler learned by studying the history of other countries. Even in Hitler’s Germany, the concentration camps were not extermination camps. The Nazi death camps came later and were located outside Germany.
6
US Asylum laws need to be more stringent. A reasonable law would not allow people to use economic distress as a claim to come here and draw on resources. There are a lot of loopholes in the current rules that asylum seekers have learned to exploit, which is why illegal immigration may have stabilized or declined, but asylum seekers have multiplied by more than the former has declined.
11
There will be no bipartisan addressing of immigration and southern border—
As long as Donald Trump remains in office. He has not just low, but no credibility or trust.
There will be no negotiations with Iran, a vital player in the tinderbox of the Middle East—
As long as Donald Trump remains in office. He has no credibility.
There will be no negotiations with Russia—
As long as Donald Trump remains in office. The public has no trust regarding anything he says or has to do with Russia and Vladimir Putin.
When these items are added to the long list, headed by multiple impeachable offenses, it's overwhelmingly clear that Trump must be removed from office. Now. Time is of the essence.
12
Hasn’t everyone learned the cycle by now? trump announces policy for his base, and FOX reports it. Reverses policy, and FOX does not report it. Supporters think he followed through on what they want.
11
I think part of the reason so many migrants are bringing children is that they expect to be given a free pass because of those children. Obama created DACA, and then thousands of people brought children with them on their journey. I'm almost sure there is a cause-effect relationship there.
Targeting families with children is actually a pretty good way to deter families with children from illegally immigrating. And no one is forcibly separating families. The citizen children can always go with their parents. They are forcing a choice on them, but that choice was always hanging over their heads since they illegally immigrated to America.
If they had applied to immigrate or had a valid asylum claim, they would not have deportation orders. If they had showed up to court, they might have not had a deportation order. I dont have a lot of sympathy, I believe the rule of law is why America isnt like Honduras, and I believe we need to remember that before we start corrupting our own democracy by saying some laws shouldnt be enforced.
24
Now how likely is it that congress, after 30 years or so of inaction on immigration, is going to whip it together in two weeks? About as likely as that Mexico will build Trump's wall in the meantime.
5
"Mr. Morgan, who won his job at ICE in part by pushing for aggressive deportations in appearances on Fox News, has said the new family raids were needed as a deterrent."
FOX is now a hiring agency for the president-- which is why we have so many unfit people serving in this administration.
If the good priest, with a channel to God, is saying this is "incomprehensible," what must God be saying? Now the president wants to squeeze Democrats, on a two-week timeline, when we've had years to overhaul the hodge-podge of immigration laws and policies.
I think that's a nonstarter. Even Mr. McAleenan sees how awful family separation and raids will strike most Americans aside from Trump's angry base.
Yesterday, I wrote, foolishly, on Michelle Goldberg's column, that AOC had been "justly" criticized for comparing Trump's immigration "centers" to concentration camps,. Now I see she's right.
Trump and Miller would let these kids and families, separated or not, rot in the hot sun forever. A country built on immigration has turned into a police state for immigrants; the only question left is, who's next?
4
Create a problem.
Make it worse.
Bring it to crisis levels.
Back off at peak crisis.
Threaten action if people don't acquiesce to your demands.
5
So now trump is resorting to extortion to get his way? How presidential.
5
That so many criticize any deterrent to this chaos at and actual encourage ever more is unfathomable.
5
First Trump decides not to attack Iran for shooting down a U.S. drone in Iranian airspace, on the grounds that 150 humans could be killed.
Now, he's delaying deportations. What's he trying to do, get re-elected or something?
Two wise moves in two days -- this is not the President we've come to know and dislike. Remember, he still itches to absorb Congressional powers into the Executive, and Senate Republicans have let him.
He's created a large deficit in order to give the very rich a tax break, has rolled back air and water pollution restrictions which his own experts say will cause 5,200 people to die each year, and is itching to reduce Social Security and Medicare.
While grateful the U.S. is not foolishly attacking Iran, nor beginning deportation of immigrants. yet, these decisions have Trump election cynicism written all over them. A couple moments of doing the right thing do not erase more than two years of regression -- economic, racial, educational.
Remember this at the ballot box.
4
Is this his idea of negotiations with congress? More like outright extortion to me.
5
No changes to our asylum laws, unless to make them clearer, and more accommodating! America is made of immigrants! And the reasons these people are coming here is because of the violence our country has done to their ways of life!
5
Oh honestly...how many times is he going to do this?
Trump doesn't negotiate, he takes hostages.
13
Throwing red meat at his followers. He can’t do anything else. He’s got nothing.
14
He must have gotten lots of calls from the 1%'ers that rely on these immigrants to clean their hotels, pick the produce, slaughter the meat, etc.
The whole town where Nunes has his farm is dependent on illegal immigrants to do the work.
Would someone please wake me up...........I'm tired of this nightmare.
19
Trumpspeak: “Two Weeks”
Translation: “Never”
5
Always backing down.
7
Then he will forget about it . The same way he forgot about everything else like Venezuela, Mexico or Iran .He makes threats then he pulls back. He is like a boy crying wolf. It is difficult to take this clown seriously.
7
Trump Making Trump Look Weak Again
3
“Negotiation “ by threat. How leadershippy!
6
Meanwhile, raids or no next week, he's terrorized immigrant communities across the nation. The cruelty is a feature, not a bug.
644
@wide awake It's applause lines for his base. "I've terrorized immigrants!" [applause] "I've stripped American-born babies born of immigrant parents from their mother's arms!" [applause] "I've taken away soap, toothbrushes, blankets, showers from asylum-seeking children... given them lice, no education, no healthcare!" [applause] And he thinks our allies respect him?
106
“The cruelty is a feature, not a bug.”
10,000 recommends, wide awake.
89
@Susan Wladaver-Morgan...and THAT is why the detention centers ARE concentration camps.
28
From "millions of illegal aliens" to "about 2,000", and ultimately zero, in just a few short days. Stand by for the next announcement on immigration, sometime during the Democratic Presidential debates next week, because this is a political stunt, not an emergency.
686
Who beats a drum in search of a fugitive? Wouldn't the element of surprise be crucial in a mass round up operation?
This is nothing but a stunt. Virtue signalling to his likely supporters that HE is the only one serious about "solving" illegal immigration. Creating artificial deadlines, governing by tweet, threat, distraction and reality show cliffhanger. This is a real life embodiment of "wag the dog". while the swamp creatures behind the scenes are radically reshaping are governmental agencies, foreign policy in their own perverse image.
10
@The Baron this order did nothing to address that number. The targets of this now cancelled operation were approximately 2,000 individuals whose cases were adjudicated and their claims turned down. The operation was symbolic, to the point that it doesn't matter if it was actually undertaken.
@The Baron
“Where is the Democrat real talk over the border emergency?” ...
It’s right there in the comprehensive immigration reform that the Republicans shot down before Trump came into office. It’s right there in the agreements that Trump came to with Democrats, only to change his mind and reject them later.
Gimme a break.
21
If memory serves, the Republicans have held back on immigration reform for the past several years. The Democrats have a plan. All we need is for Trump to get behind the Democratic plan.
13
@Tom
The Republican plan: enforce the law. (Well, a few of them anyway)
Trump or no Trump,
the USA needs much stronger immigration control.
Trump got elected in 2016 on that message.
If he waffles on it, he will lose in 2020.
Trump will also lose in 2020
if he sells out to the pro-cheap-labor business crowd.
On the other hand,
if Dems think they can win in 2020 by obstructing Trump
on strong immigration control,
they will lose in 2020.
So, for Trump,
he better do all he can to control immigration,
without selling out either to the Dems
or to the pro-cheap-labor business crowd.
If he does not deliver,
he needs to pin it on Dems.
But if Dems keep on obstructing,
and diverting or deflecting,
then that will make it easy for Trump to pin it on them.
17
@sam finn: It’s the Republicans and Trump obstructing any and all comprehensive bipartisan immigration reform since 2013. For political purposes only.
2
Why oh why can't both sides come together and work it out? Immigration reform is not just about illegal entry at the Mexican border.
2
@sam finn
Trump *is* the pro-cheap-labor business crowd.
He has been illegally hiring workers without green cards for decades. So he can illegally profit off of their slave labor.
Has he prosecuted a single illegal employer?
Has he proposed mandatory E-Verify?
Why do you think he supports a wall? Because he knows it’s a joke that won’t work. It endears him to the white supremacists while ensuring him a steady stream of cheap maids and groundskeepers who have no worker rights and—most importantly—to whom he won’t have to pay American wages.
10
Is anyone ever going to admit that the vast majority of those seeking asylum come from countries that the US has destabilized?
47
@chrigid
There are very few countries in the Third World that the US hasn't destabilized at one point or the other.
So that can't be a reason for people from that country to enter the US without permission.
Also Chile, Costa RIca, and Argentina suffered from US interventions just as El Salvador and Honduras did. Yet those countries are not exporting their populations to the US. Why?
2
trump only has one tactic and that is to try to bludgeon the other side into submission. If the democrats give in and give him what he wants, he will then institute the raids anyway. He can't be trusted to uphold any deals he makes.
17
Another tough-guy threat, followed by <...wait for it...> a pullback, this time with a crude extortion attempt mixed in, all cleverly timed to distract from other embarrassing developments. Sound famiiar?
The recipe:
1. Approach a house while yelling loudly and brandishing a Molotov cocktail.
2. Don't torch the house but take credit for saving it -- for the time being -- from complete destruction.
3. Vow to follow through with the original threat unless impossible conditions are met.
4. When the impossible conditions are not met, do not follow through with the threat. Blame someone, anyone, else for the problem and claim victory.
5. Label all evidence illustrating the actual situation as "fake news" and all those presenting it as enemies of the people.
6. Find another house to set afire.
The Art of the Deal? No, it's the Art of the Fail.
18
Stop conflating us immigrants with illegal aliens. The left and its media is "terrorising" us, the actual immigrants, not the law and its implementation. I'm against any mass deportations and don't like Trump's proposals. But as an immigrant myself I had to learn that this is a nation based on Law. Sure, transgressions should be forgiven and everyone deserves a second chance. But at some point we, as a nation of immigrants, need to enforce our laws. We can't have open borders AND no internal enforcement.
25
@natan
My advice would be to start calling Senate Republicans about supporting and passing the DREAM Act, DACA, and/or other reasonable immigration policies that Republicans have let languish since the Obama administration... and tell the GOPs to make it a veto-proof majority!
3
We don’t have open borders. Have you actually been to the southern border of our state? I have and there are hundreds of miles of walls between us and Mexico. And we have record numbers of “Illegals” being deported, proof of “internal enforcement.” I don’t understand your comment.
5
@Donna Nieckula
No. The DREAM Act and DACA are not reasonable immigration policies.
I want less immigration, not more.
1
Trump’s the son of an immigrant, four of his children have immigrant mothers, and two of his three wives are also immigrants. An immigrant American family, in other words. So why this hostility towards others who also came to this country for the same reasons as did people in his family, just like tens of millions of others who live, work and raise their families here? Why this terrible inhumanity?
14
How about if Trump starts obeying some laws.
It’s not one of his strong suits.
11
We will all have PTSD by the next election. I know I do. Between the corporate layoff gauntlet and this criminal regime, we are now a feudal society.
9
Can this man, Trump, not be removed from his post. It is an embarrassment for the whole world.
11
It’s possible that the threat of mass deportations was just another over-the-top inhumane distraction. We’ve seen this sleight of hand played cruelly many times by Trump.
I’m reminded of Trump’s favorite campaign song, “The Snake”. Trump is lulling and distracting with one issue, while he takes a vicious, poisonous bite into some federal rules or regulations.
Time to check what’s going on in our federal agencies and offices... and, still, keep an eye on those threats... just in case. This Snake is dangerous, devious, and exhausting.
5
Here we go again. Create a crisis, backtrack on the crisis, claim you have resolved the crisis, and then crow that you saved the day, just like Underdog. And his clueless supporters fall for it. Every. Single. Time.
16
All he knows is bluster and threats. So tiring. He's a kid.
6
What a lame, sad figure in the White House. Nothing more that reality-show teases and threats, all just to get attention.
8
Another of Trump's daily crises. He rules by whim. Can't Congress do it's duty and get rid of this fool?
8
I wonder and worry about some of the most motivated students I’ve ever taught. Some of them got here because their desperate parents were fleeing almost certain death,yet certain misery. I realize that some of my students were “undocumented“. These kids struggle, yet strive to find ways to survive and succeed in our public schools, and in our community. They are grateful for their parents’ sacrifices. They are grateful for every little bit of help this teacher gave them. Unlike many of their US-born classmates, they don’t feel entitled to anything. They will work for each step up the ladder. They are my heroes.
31
It would be wonderful if Trump and his cohorts were more focused on trying to do something about the conditions from which so many of these immigrants are fleeing, but of course that would require a range of imagination and thought of which he seems incapable. No, it would not be either easy or quick, and could come to virtually nothing, but simply trying to solve the problem by hacking away at the branches instead of seeking the root cause is obviously not working. Yes, of course we could build a 'big, beautiful" wall, but perhaps Trump should read Robert Frost's masterpiece, Mending Walls. Trump has a good deal in common with the neighbor, as do so many of us. " I see him there, bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top in each hand, like an old stone savage armed. He moves in darkness as it seems to me."
12
Democratic lawmakers and immigration activists had demanded that the raids be stopped, calling them a cruel attack on minority communities whose only crime was illegally entering the country.
Can I use a similar line to the cruel cop writing me a speeding only because I was illegally going over the speed limit? Perhaps Democrats have harped so long on the “rule of law” with regard to Trump’s alleged obstruction that the concept has slipped their minds in any other application. I mean it’s an unfortunate situation these illegal immigrants are in but denial is not the answer nor solution yet therefore Trump is bad because he’s asking Dems to do something?
28
If they've had their hearing and judgement they have to leave. Due process doesnt mean you get a hearing and if you don't like the answer you just ignore it.
26
@Vivien Hessel
Apparently that IS how it is and you and I missed the notice. We have it now. Federal law no longer applies to us either. I am feeling hungry for something endangered.
3
This situation and the ongoing mess at the border are the direct result of 50 years of dishonesty on all fronts when it comes to immigration. The right was happy to look the other way as immigrants were used to under cut wages and unions to the delight of business. The left has been content to undermine u.s. immigration laws and border enforcement and will only "negotiate" if immigration levels go always higher and nobody ever gets deported, no matter how they got here or what laws were broken. In the meantime the demographic and economic underpinnings of the country have been, and continue to be radically changed, with no input from the people most affected and who are footing the bill, not to mention the environmental impacts of adding millions more people to an already unsustainable population. The only difference between one country and the next are the make up of the population and the borders. It's time to take a comprehensive look at the numbers and the future we want and have a sober discussion of what kind of country we want to be in 50 or a 100 years. At current growth rates a population in excess of 1/2 billion is possible this century if we don't face up to facts. The effects on our lifestyle and global warming will be unstoppable and irreversible. Immigration, asylum and domestic birth rates need to be addressed now.
26
@Al
Obama deported more people than Bush2, to the point where Obama was tagged the Deporter-in-Chief and, eventually, focused on undocumented immigrants with criminal records. Trump is going after any and all undocumented immigrants, ignoring their family situations and how much they contribute to their communities.
Also, the climate crisis is already factoring into the numbers of people seeking asylum in the USA. Expect more.
Some Central American areas are experiencing crop-destroying droughts, while others experience increased rainfall. I was in Costa Rica last year — a country with rain forests — and people there complained that it was raining more than usual and too much!
Promote the green new deal. Make birth control free and accessible. Keep abortion safe and legal.
Have empathy and compassion for people fleeing the ravages of global heating, the climate crisis, and/or other forms of violence.
13
Borders don’t matter in regards to global warming. We have to address the population problem worldwide.
3
@Donna Nieckula. Obama "the deporter in chief" was a classic case of spin. The Obama admin changed the definition of who could be called deported. This allowed people turned around at the border to now be called deported, to boost Obamas numbers. It was an accounting trick and political fraud. I agree that all forms of birth control should be free and readily available. The other factor you over look is that populations in Central America have gone up 4-6 x since the 50s. No economic or political system can cope with exploding numbers like that. It's also why taking in immigrants/asylum seekers from that part of the world is a fools errand. The supply is literally limitless. Solving problems at the source not moving people around is the only long term solution to these issues.
Trump has one tactic, and this is it: negotiation by cruelty. It’s not because he thinks what he’s doing is good policy; it’s precisely because it’s bad policy and inflicts needless suffering on its targets that he believes his opponents will yield.
This is the logical next step of government-by-hostage-taking, exemplified in his government shutdown. And it’s similar to his Iran strategy, which is to renege on the nuclear deal and inflict greater deprivation on the country until they come back to the table.
Unfortunately, the only remedy for negotiation by cruelty is complete resistance: the consequences must be absorbed, and his reckless disregard for sanity and morality publicly called out until he backs down (and he claims victory, which he always will). Family separations, the shutdown—the same complete resistance playbook will work here, eventually. Tragic that it’ll result in needless deportations. But giving in will be worse: his cruelty will only grow, and he will never be satisfied until his domination is complete.
8
@David G: You’ve got it exactly when you write, “But giving in will be worse: his cruelty will only grow, and he will never be satisfied until his domination is complete.”
2
Is this really how Trump negotiates? This seems a lot like taking hostages. Does he really think democrats would cave to this?
12
If he were serious, he’d just order the raids, with no publicity. And he’d raid employers too.
11
Of course he has. This is what he does: creates a crisis, presents a 'bold' solution, and then backs down. It's embarrassing for him, for us individually (we elected him) and for our country.
7
I’m always shocked by Democrats’ insistence that these people be left alone. They have valid deportation orders. They lost their cases. They need to arrested and immediately placed on a flight back to their home country. Irregardless of age and family status. That’s one of the ways the Obama administration halted the migrant surge.
And Pelosi’s comments are just ridiculous. They’re no different than Trump’s toxic rhetoric. Democratic leaders should just announce they’ve officially changed the party platform to open borders.
42
@HL I’m really puzzled by this too. These are proven lawbreakers because have disobeyed official deportation orders, apart from anything else. What’s there to debate? And they’re getting drivers licenses too?
7
@Eugene
What politician in his right mind is going to allow a teenage mother to be deported after she has delivered her baby in the US and her baby is a US citizen. The photos in the news are heartbreaking. Practically speaking there is no US border. It is the land of the free. It is all politicians and the citizenry. We realize that borders make no sense and only cause discrimination against people of color.
1
@as Next time the commenters here try to convince me and others that liberals "don't want open borders" -- that it's supposedly a "lie perpetrated by Republicans" -- I'll point them right to your post.
1
There is a backlog of over 900,000 immigration cases, so selecting 2,000 undocumented families to deport should not present any difficulties for ICE.
My thoughts are with the families and the difficulties they will face.
To the families:
There is two week reprieve. Make sure you and your family have an emergency preparedness plan as well as an emergency kit. If your dependent children are US citizens and you are not, make sure everybody knows where to go and who to live with.
There are all sorts of how-to's online about how to prepare for disasters. If you haven't done so already, I suggest that now is the time to put your affairs in order. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
11
Trump sure doesn’t know how to express himself; a competent communications director would have caught this. (Oh, right, they don’t have one.) “At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks.”
What’s “illegal,” the immigrants or the process? I’ll choose the latter. And what’s with the aimless capitalization of certain words? Our president at his finest.
5
@Peter ERIKSON: And let’s not forget his superfluous exclamation marks.
1
And who are "Undocumented Families"? Every single member of those families have documents, Identity documents.. The problem is that none of them were issued by United States authorities..
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
12
The Washington Post said that the illegal aliens being targeted were those that had recently entered and had their asylum claim refused. Subsequently, these people have not shown up for court dates and have ignored their deportation notices. I’m frustrated that President Trump has not proceeded. I’ve read many times in the NYT that it’s legal to enter the U.S. and claim asylum. OK, that happened, and their claims were refused. So, you are then an illegal alien and need to leave or accept the consequences.
I don’t understand how the NYT can say that the children who were born in the U.S. are facing the choice of staying with their parents or not. The people targeted in this raid were from the recent “rocket docket” and if any children are involved, they are new born and incapable of any choice.
It’s cruel to go back and forth on this. If someone’s asylum or other claim has been refused, and they’ve ignored their deportation notice, then the I expect our government to enforce the law. Don’t like the law? Work to get it changed, but in the interim, I agree President Trump has done the wrong thing.
110
@MyjobisinIndianow: I would expect our government to address the situation in its own hemisphere by establishing constructive relationships with its neighboring nations.
17
The Washington Post. You can see the source right in my comment.
18
@MyjobisinIndianow If the law were to be enforced, we wouldn't have a cheap, powerless workforce to do the jobs no citizen wants. Why not call for the President to start arresting those like himself who illegally employ the undocumented?
24
Trump really missed his calling; he should have gone into the amusement park business. He could have seated everyone in orange crates and for the price of admission, though they never moved an inch, convinced them they'd just been on a thrilling roller coaster.
3
Trump reminds me of my father.
We came from the Middle East when I was 6 years old.
Every time I misbehaved he threatened to send me back to the old country to live with my uncle.
By the time I was 8 years old and fully Americanized, I finally realizes he was bluffing, and never intended to send me back.
Big bluff from baba,
Big bluffs from Trump.
13
Now he’s using his Mexico-China tactic with Congress. Make threats of doing something the other side doesn’t want in order to make them give in. This is a master deal-maker? It’s looking more and more like The Godfather.
7
This is how fascism works: first, demonize and dehumanize a group of people. Then, make a huge threat against that group that fires up an indoctrinated base. Next, you back away from that threat - for a while. Now you have gained several advantages: you have endeared yourself to your followers, made yourself appear reasonable, set the stage for actually doing what you first threatened to do, and captured the attention of everyone in the process. We saw this just yesterday with the Iran attacks, and we're seeing it here with the deportations.
By the time deportations actually do begin, we will all be worn down so much that the outcry will be subdued, just as it is now with the inhumane treatment of refugees on our border. In that situation, Trump's faithful followers are coming up with all manner of excuses for the gestapo tactics, while those who are raising red flags are marginalized. We're seeing this in case after case: dehumanization of a group, threats and retreats, and before we know it, actions that were impossible just a short time ago are now considered inevitable.
This is how fascism works - the unthinkable becomes the mundane, and we are all complicit. While we're busy watching our stock portfolios climb and arguing over impeachment, our government is committing grotesque acts of cruelty. We may not see what's going on, but the rest of the world certainly does.
18
Who needs the rule of law. It’s better to follow the lead of Central America ...
7
Trump probably got word that the majority of the staff at his golf courses would have been swept up in the ICE raids so he had to cancel them.
Worst president ever.
Jan 2021 cannot come soon enough.
10
Trump's typical MO is in play here. He initiates an inhumane initiative that stokes his base, delays it so the Democrats can "have a chance" to give him what he wants, and when they do not, blames them for the evil he initiated in the first place. No diplomacy, no analysis- the "art" of the deal is pure vindictiveness.
5
So when do the arrests of employers who have for decades been knowingly hiring undocumented immigrants by the thousands begin? They're the criminals, not those who come here seeking work to house, feed and clothe their families. I won't hold my breath waiting.
29
I hope you’re including the Trump organization that has also exploited undocumented workers at their properties.
3
What a guy! He calls off the retaliatory strike that he never intended to go through with and then suspends the ICE round up of millions that was never possible to do. All for the political advantage he needs to maintain with the MAGA-heads, who will no doubt believe his absurd explanations.
13
And I thought that pressuring people to do something by taking hostages was illegal in America. Silly me!
Because that's what Trump is doing: Giving the Democrats an ultimatum to give him the law he wants, or he will harm US citizens (the US-born children of the immigrants he threatened to deport) by taking away their parents from them. Now, I am all for upholding immigration laws, but wouldn't one start by going after those illegal immigrants who are criminals? I guess those are too hard to find, so going after those undocumented parents of children who are US citizens is just so much easier.
8
Did Sarah Sanders tell anyone what those changes to the asylum laws are going to be before she left Trump''s highlight for her whole life? It's "Cry Uncle" as our dynamic of Civil Process; which clearly, also informs our fearless leader's approach to Iran in Jared's (tantalizing) "portfolio."
3
Classic Trump playbook; create a humanitarian crisis and then pose as the hero who reverses his own human crime, if only for two weeks. For good measure, the president leaves the axe hovering over the victims' heads. After all, how can a coward have fun without establishing an existential threat to people who have no tools to fight back?
If this is who our president is, then this is who we are as a nation. We made our country this way only we can change it.
12
Ran his mouth/tweet again and got in deep trouble. Blinked and backed off. Has his base noticed the only thing he has managed to do in nearly three years is give a huge tax cut to the already wealthy?
15
Another threat, another crisis created by the President, another cruelty masked as enforcing the law. Now Trump is attempting to blackmail the Democrats into agreeing to changing our asylum laws to suit him. He overlooks both international norms and treaties regarding asylum to which the US is bound. More importantly, he denies the humanity of those seeking to enter this country and substitutes cruelty and rejection for those words on the Statute of Liberty - "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" He shames us.
8
here a threat, there a threat, everywhere a threat threat threat ....
7
Crisis created. Crisis forestalled. Yowza! Yowza! Yowza! Do we circle back to North Korea? The problem with this show is that none of us can turn it off or even change the channel.
10
This is a classic Trump con. Bad Trump creates a horrible situation that good Trump comes to the rescue.
I’m glad that the proposed ICE raid is at paused at least for now but Trump clearly is unfit to be President.
12
Apparently, the art of the deal consists only of making threats and waiting for a different result.
Plain and simply, the president is absurd. He apparently thinks he can scare people into doing whatever he wants. You would think that after 70 plus years, he would get the drift.
7
Create a situation threatens people’s lives, then appears to have second thoughts and cancel the order. But then threatens to reinstate unless somebody gives him something. 499 days!
3
Hmmmm, there seems to be a pattern here: Shoot your mouth off, then cancel or postpone impulsive policy decisions. Perhaps the sign on the Oval Office desk should read “Stable Genius at Work” instead of “The Buck Stops Here.”
8
This is the typical arbitrary and capricious action of a tyrant. How often do we read about some tinpot dictator condemning a shoplifter to 20 years in prison and then “mercifully” sparing them. Trump is a piece of work.
8
In our President’s world, tactics Trump strategy.
2
Where's the Marshall plan for Central America? A way for people to return from where they came and to stay where they are. It is estimated that an income of less than 6 to $8,000 is sufficient. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R45489.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwig5--Flf7iAhXPMd8KHWk0BxkQFjADegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw1wkUbbTQ0T_CVhaXR0sahT
2
From my understanding, the deportations were going to be illegals that have already been ordered by the Court to leave. Furthermore, what about the couple million criminal illegals still not deported. Before we deport working, families and children we must deport the aforementioned first. Another question should be asked by EVERYBoDY at this point is, (since the Obama Administration deported more illegals than any other), what have have the ICE, DOJ, and the multitude of other Federal Agencies been doing about this grave problem?
1
@ProfessorEDU
Couple of Million Criminal Illegals? Where did you get those numbers Prof. ?
1
Plain old blackmail.
12
Very recently, there has been an almost tariff on Mexico, an almost airstrike on Iran and now an almost deportation operation.
The only reasonable stance is to say "wake me up when something actually happens". I do not know who Trump thinks is fooled by these things or why the media seems to take them seriously.
14
We all need to write to our Congressional leaders to address the children not receiving the needs they desperately deserve. This is not America.
18
ICE doesn't have the resources for these mass raids.
There was never a coherent plan possible. All bluster and threats as usual.
So, can anyone explain why never threatened the Republican majorities? They had complete control for 2 years.
Perhaps Hannity can tell us?
16
Trump aside is the Democrat position that immigrants with deportation orders that have children should not be deported? I think the American people deserve some clarity in this debate. If only criminals or childless people are subject to deportation than we essentially have open borders. If the Dems are for that, fine but stop hiding behind Trump.
19
@Ed
Anyone born in the US is a US citizen, by the 14th Amendment:
Section 1
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. ..."
What excuse is there to deport AMERICAN CITIZENS, or to forcibly separate them from their parents who do get deported?
Minor children born in the US create a problem as regards deporting their undocumented immigrant parents, but the children have rights under our laws.
Those children have done nothing wrong (unless you consider that being born is a crime, which is rich coming from anyone who is pro-life, like our fearless leader).
We need to deal with that issue, but we cannot simply ignore the rights of such US citizens, even if they are minors.
7
@Joe From Boston this argument doesn’t make any sense. So you’re for anchor babies. Looks like we have to reinterpret the 14th amendment then. The children can stay or go with their parents. This is already occurring.
The really scary thing is, if the American voters throw him out in November 2020, he’ll not be gone for two months and a couple of weeks until his successor takes the oath trump only mouthed. Who knows what havoc he’ll unleash upon his rejection. It frightens me, and I don’t scare easily. Yet, still, I urge you vote. Please.
11
Sheer chaos and unpredictability on a daily basis from the leader of this nation. No longer just a punch line, the horrible consequences of Trump’s incoherent policies and dishonest pronouncements are becoming more and more ominous. The GOP and party supporters make these dismal displays of executive power possible. They rally behind him. Those that know better refuse to object. They can’t be defeated soon enough!
15
This is just part of so many smoke screens Trump is throwing out to confuse the problems in our country--which is Trump himself. I have nearly finished reading the Mueller report, have you? There is no reason to not start impeachment now before he starts up more smokescreens
12
Maybe the invisible wall he hasn't built will save his sheep from THEM. But wait a minute.....hasn't his agency been shipping people all over the country with $20 in their hand at the bus local station? The cognitive dissonance of his supporters is truly a marvel.
3
Trump is making decisions based on polling. Not common sense, not a sense of purpose or direction other than an all-consuming passion to get re-elected so he can continue to soak the USA for personal gratification. There is no other explanation for this madness.
Trump fired two pollsters this week who spoke truth to power. The other three pollsters he uses must still be unable to give him the news he wants to hear. He's a failure and more voters know it every day.
10
Very timely reading. The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez. Highly recommended.
2
First the dangerous threat to bomb Iran, then cruel threats to destroy immigrant families—both were to bring Trump's name to the fore and then to show what a compassionate, caring fellow he is when he "changed his mind."
Shouldn't the millions spent on the Iran stand down and now the ICE stand down be counted as campaign contributions to the Trump presidential campaign taken from us, the taxpayers?
11
Even when Donald Trump does the right thing- he lies about why he is doing it. His decision was not done "at the request" of Democrats.
According to continues reporting yesterday and today by the Washington Post, acting DHS secretary Kevin McAlleenan was not on board:
"Acting DHS secretary Kevin McAleenan has been urging ICE, an agency within his department, to conduct a narrower, more targeted operation that would seek to detain a group of about 150 families that were provided with attorneys but dropped out of the legal process and absconded."
"McAleenan has warned that an indiscriminate operation to arrest migrants in their homes and at work sites risks separating children from their parents in cases where the children are at day care, summer camp or friend’s houses. He also has maintained that ICE should not devote major resources to carrying out a mass interior sweep while telling lawmakers it needs emergency funding to address the crisis at the U.S. border." (www.washingtonpost.com 6-21-22-2019-Nick Miroff & Aaron Blake)
Whether Democrats will capitulate and provide Trump with zillions for wall funding...we'll see.
5
Delay is extraordinarily cruel to the people subject to this roundup. Now they must wait till the next announcement to learn their fate.
This is who we’ve become as a nation and how history will remember us. Not just this malevolent man and his minions, but all of us as Americans.
11
@Regards, LC They have been afforded due process and given a final order of deportation. How is that confusing?
When citizens are held to the law- say for tax evasion - no one says it's cruel. Why are these people exempt from laws they know they are violating?
11
But if they have a removal order, then they have to pack up and go or face the consequences.
6
@Regards, LC
A court already ordered them to leave. They decided to ignore that court order. So their "fate" is on their own heads.
If this country made more prompt deportations we wouldn't have illegal immigrants on MSNBC lecturing us about what our responsibility is. We wouldn't have 11 million or more foreign nationals in this country making political demands. And we wouldn't have people arguing for no deportations.
2
Immigrant families as pawns in Trump’s bully tactics. Trump uses people. He always has, and he always will. Power over the weak is his only morality. That he is defended in this by purported Christians is an offense to the gospel.
22
Anyone who has lived with an emotionally abusive family member will recognize Trump's pattern: A malignant narcissistic abuser cycles from (a) if you don't do what I tell you to I am going to hurt you/something you care about followed by (b) I've changed my mind and will show mercy followed by (c) expecting thanks from the target for the "mercy" and then expecting continued compliance until the cycle repeats. Counselors who work with domestic violence and toxic family systems see this all the time. It's just that in this case, this administration--not only Trump but his handlers & vassals--is playing this game with whole communities and geo-politically (eg. calling off military action against Iran at the last minute).
56
@Ellen
I’ve read every comment, they all describe the same pattern that you observed, but I think you have named it exactly: the classic abusive relationship. It’s all about power and cruelty. Thank you.
The man really needs professional help and his enablers need stop and provide the help he really needs.
9
Please my head is spinning.
And so is Trumps.
Although he says his government is functioning like a well oiled machine run by a stable genius.
7
Maybe well oiled but the gears are shot. No amount of oil is going to make them work for long.
2
Trump is unbound by principles or beliefs. He just wants to win, no matter the cause or at what cost.
Here we have him declaring that 2,000 people are in the country illegally.
However, if the Dems will cave, he will overlook that tiny detail in exchange for getting what he wants.
Should he succeed he can crow about having won and not be the least bothered by the cost.
A true immigration hardliner would never entertain a deal.
Still, somehow his followers will manage to overlook his deviation from his rabid anti-immigrant, build the wall rhetoric.
8
Is Trump governing by threat-and-cancellation now, at home and abroad?
10
I have lost track of how many time Trump has used this ploy and failed to obtain his goal, e.g., where's The Wall?
Ann Coulter and the Fox Gang must be apoplectic.
I don't often agree with Ms Ocasio-Cortez but she snailed it the other day about Trump's concentration camps.
The faux outrage from the Republicans was sickening. But so it much that Trump does.
8
This is just getting weirder and weirder. First the North Korea debacle, then the bizarre Iranian episode, and now more dire threats followed by an eleventh hour retraction.
It's not funny, not even in the darkest sense of the word.
10
I am not at all an admirer of Trump, but I wish the Democrats would put forward an immigration alternative other than simply opposing Trump.
It reminds me of the Republican opposition to Obamacare.
The current immigration system is in need of drastic change--but exactly what change do the Democrats want?
13
The Democratic house passed the most comprehensive immigration legislation in the past decade earlier this month but it was DOA in Mitch McConnell’s senate. This is not the Democrats fault
11
@DSM14A Anything proposed by the Democrats would never get through a Republican Senate.
4
Did you forget? They did that and trump agreed to it then changed his mind after Ann Coulter bawled him out. There's no negotiating with this guy.
3
Shrewd move. The President is enforcing laws enacted by Congress while Speaker Pelosi objects to this enforcement as "heartless" and "cruel". I'm betting that a majority of the electoral college would vote for "enforce the law" over "heartless and cruel." I am hopeful there will be productive negotiations over the next two weeks.
17
the president is not enforcing any laws enacted by Congress. Your statement is blatantly false. There's no evidence to verify your statement. Google search Democrat bills passed for undocumented. Mitch McConnell refuses to bring the bills to vote in the Senate. We had laws to enforce undocumented, by the way there's thousands more on our northern border than our Southern border, Donald Trump violated all those laws and pulled out of DACA. so now there currently is no law to enforce he's making it up as he goes along. That's why there's so many lawsuits in federal courts.
8
I wish I could hear just one Democrat in Congress say, "Nobody is above the law" and be talking about people who enter our country illegally, stay here illegally and get hired illegally. That could be a separate statement from "Children should not be separated from parents" and "Most illegal immigrants are good people who just want a better life" and "We are a nation of immigrants." And just say, "We are a nation of laws" somewhere in there too. Saying it doesn't mean the current immigration laws are fair or administered fairly or serve the nation's labor needs without hurting the citizens who need jobs and higher pay or that the laws need to be changed.. There is way too much holier-than-Trump posturing coming from my Democratic leaders and many activists whenever he does anything about illegal immigration. It leaves the impression that Democrats do not believe in the rule of law and law enforcement. It undermines their credibility when they try to hold this president accountable for his own violation of laws and abuse of power and their Republican colleagues make all kinds of excuses for why he shouldn't be. They need to take stand on illegal immigration that shows their respect for law.
145
@abigail49
I wish I could hear just one Republican in Congress say, "Nobody is above the law" and then advocate tossing some illegal employers—the farmers, construction contractors, slaughterhouse owners, and golf course operators who illegally profit from slave labor—in jail.
155
@abigail49. How about the people who hire immigrants illegally, pay them substandard wages, and exploit them in myriad ways? Including the owner of Mar-a-Lago, Bedminster, and many other dubious properties.
130
@abigail49 get hired illegally. And By whom?
18
Most people know that being brave enough to change ones mind, especially when you know you will be criticized, is the mark of a true leader. Recent presidents were maneuvered into political positions that they were afraid to change, even knowing those decisions were wrong.
4
Yes the Democratic controlled house is going to capitulate to maximum pressure, a threat to do harm to a large number of people, just like North Korea, China and Iran have capitulated.
Winning so much.
3
Probably a miscalculation by President Trump. Democrats have the luxury of being in total control of border policy combined with a base that largely doesn't understand that.
Expect them to continue doing nothing about the worsening situation so they can blame it on Trump.
3
We need a spreadsheet to keep track of all Donald’s threats. There are far too many to count, yet virtually none of them have been enforced.
8
I suspect that this was 1) a losing political position for Trump, potentially alienating Evangelicals and certainly women (with whom he is already significantly upside down; and 2) an opportunity to change the subject from the sexual assault allegations made by E. Jean Carroll.
125
@Paul R
With Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and that disgusting ghoul, Stephen Miller advising Trump, he keeps swinging wildly from one extreme to another.
God help us all.
2
He barely waits long enough for the Citizens to protest, then just like sunrise, he cancels.
Iran raids, Immigration raids.
He doesn't even wait for the full protest any more!
4
In essence, this pressing point is called black mail. "You do as I ask, or I will do as I want." At any rate, it will be my way or the highway. What else is there that he has not broken?
9
The boy who cried Wolf! over and over!
8
There he goes again saying, "if you don't do what I want, I'll do something really horrible." Government by bullying only goes so far. Maybe he needs a few "Be best" lessons from Melania.
17
Casting a wide net on this one? I was approached yesterday by two policemen and asked what my name was. I am mixed but I am also dark. I am second generation on my mother's side and on my father's side, probably since Jamestown. This is getting ludicrous......
18
I am so tired of the endless hate, drama and lies from this administration and from the GOP.
29
Didn't we just see this movie last week with Iran, and last month with the Mexican tariffs?
I can't believe that people are asking "What is Congress going to do now?", as if this was a legitimate threat by Trump.
"I'm gonna do something horrific...... OK, not NOW, but if I do it later it's YOUR fault."
He's like the guy at the bar, "Why I outa...... (hold me back, Jimmy). You're gonna get it! (stop me, Jimmy)."
12
This is starting to remind be of the Abbot and Costello act called Who’s on first! Trump and Bolton.
Can we please insert any component person into the White House please. For the love of our Country
10
I doubt Congressional Democrats will cave in
7
ICE raids are necessary because the vast majority of migrant families apprehended at the border but released with notifications to appear at future court hearings do not appear. Nathalie Asher, the acting executive associate director for ICE enforcement and removal operations, told the House Judiciary Committee in February 2019 that 96.7 percent don’t show up for their hearings.
Asher testified that “While the DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) Accelerated Family Unit Docket issued 2,542 final orders of removal, the vast majority of these family unit members failed to show up for their court hearing, and 2,460 of these final orders—96.7%— were issued in absentia.”
The “catch and release” program does not work.
https://www.ice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Speech/2019/190226asher.pdf
20
@William You are correct but none of these dems want to know the truth. They'd rather watch their country go down the tubes.
10
Why are apprehensions at the border 3X higher in the Trump era than in the two terms of Obama?
@Bascom Hill
Apprehensions are higher now under during Obama's two terms because Central Americans leaned to they would be released with notifications to appear at court hearing set in the distance future if they applied for asylum after illegal crossing the borders. They understand that no one will look for them if they do not appear for the hearings.
Under Obama, most illegal immigrants were Mexicans who could be returned Mexico after a few days in detention,.
We need to change asylum laws to automatically denied asylum to none who enters the country illegally.
8
He’s getting conflicting advice from Sean and Tucker.
6
He reached his goal - instilling terror.
13
@Carrie I agree, but don't we have a policy of not negotiating with terrorists?
2
I am utterly exhausted. We, the American public, deserve so much better. Donald Trump's desire to dominate every news cycle by manufacturing crisis after crisis makes the US look stupid and gullible. The insanity has got to stop.
55
Donald Trump thinks that he can make a ludicrous suggestion, and when it is apparent (and he is told) that he is a fool, he can then blame the preposterous consequences of his suggestion on others if they fail to kiss his behind by giving him something that they would never agree to in the first place.
Trump’s tactic reminds me of the scene in “Blazing Saddles” in which Sheriff Bart (Cleavon Little) arrives in town, is threatened, and he then threatens to shoot himself in the head if anyone makes a move toward him.
The Democrats should just tell Trump that he is a lousy negotiator.
I suggest that Nancy Pelosi should tell him “Sorry, Donnie: You want me to own your cockamamie suggestion. YOU LOSE.”
6
Another hissy fit. Ho hum. If only he would threaten to hold his breath.
17
He's a dink and a bully. His whole "negotiating" strategy amounts to taking things away and then bullying for capitulation on something else to have it returned. He's a child. Snatch Nancy's lunch money and bargain for its return only if she buys him an ice cream if he does... but you can't trust he'll give back the lunch money after the ice cream because he's a chronic liar.
18
That's called extortion
20
Donald J. Trump uses the threat of violence to innocent American children in a sick effort to coerce Democratic lawmakers to support his twisted changes in the law. He is both a kidnapper and an extortionist. Through indictment, impeachment or the 25th Amendment, the American people need this demented psychopath to be removed from office sooner rather than later.
19
Yet another "stay Tuned" policy decision by Trump. Creepy use of power to frighten people. Coward bully tactics to make people "submit" to your will.
God this tiny, tiny man is awful.
And what is worse is that no one does anything about it while people are genuinely fearful. Issuing a statement I do not consider real action.
15
At his next rally, he’ll tell folks he deported 2 million immigrants and added six feet more to the height of that wall he never built and Mexico never paid for. Another Mission Accomplished moment to be broadcast by Fox News.
21
Make a deal dems, or your inaction shall result in the so-called heartless operation.
4
The liberal left are out in droves today. Simply put, ICE has orders to pick up those illegals that have received their final orders of deportation and have ignored them for more than 180 days. You folks need to make up your mind, do we follow the law or not. These illegals have had their day in court, many of them have had several, and they ignore lawful deportation orders.
32
@DEWaldron Great, go collect and deport them, but don't threaten every immigrant with police action...
1
America we'll follow the law as soon as the President of the United States does. Ignoring legal subpoenas! The cover-up he was asked 50 Questions by Robert Mueller and only answer to 48 was I don't know. Instructs his staff to violate all laws. Instructs ice to violate all laws. Instructed border patrol to violate all laws and said he'll pay the legal fees. To this day he has not even paid contractors for the Trump Golf Course in Palos Verdes California! He has stolen money from the US veterans by taking all their money for Trump University that was found in court to be committing fraud and seven counts! He is yet to pay that money back! While black teenagers are sent to jail for committing minor infraction such as buying marijuana and Paul Manafort - RNC CHAIR & Trump campaign director hired by Trymp himself, was found by two different judges to commit treason but given a low sentence and moved put of Rikers - NEVER B4 done w any convict! -treated with kid gloves. And took 88 million dollars from us taxpayers!
Meanwhile we find the Donald Trump has borrowed close to 1 trillion dollars from China to pay the US Farmers because of his failed taxes on America with Chinese Goods, his failed tax break for the rich so no more income for America, and selling a whole western territories to China.
4
Trump - What a deal maker!
5
Yup just like the pre Nov 18 midterm’s ‘caravan hoax’ this blackmail will work
NOT
Stupidity is often defined as doing the same thing over & over and expecting different results
By definition this is one stupid person in 1600
8
"I'm going to close the border. No I'm not". "I'm going to impose tariffs on Mexico. No I'm not". "I'm going to attack Iran. No I'm not". "I'm going to deport everyone. No I'm not".
Does anyone see a pattern here?
17
Having backed down from his threats to unleash "cocked and loaded" retaliatory strikes against a hostile, armed and dangerous foe the President has taken aim at young innocent Americans whose parents are undocumented. Why? They can't shoot back. Instead he'll use them as human shields to (in his mind) force the Democrats to his will. Will he actually wrench children from their families? Will these families find refuge in attics and write diaries in hopes of waiting him out? In his oft used phrase, "We'll see." I have seen enough.
13
Going to bomb Iran. Not going to bomb Iran. Going to deport immigrants. Not going to deport immigrants. Erratic. Hurting people. USA.
32
Bully & threating.
Dems wont take the bait
Trump must be an awful poker player
19
Strong, but compassionate. Yeah, right.
7
The loser is neither, just a weak bully given false strength by collaborators in the Senate, the stolen Court, and the staff of Twitter.
7
Using the threat of separating US citizen children from their undocumented parents to get Democrats to change asylum law is morally despicable.
104
@MRW
Coming into our country illegally is despicable.
21
@Jonathan Really? Why? When you see those poor Central Americans walking more than 1,000 miles to get here, don't you feel the least bit of sympathy?
16
They should be deported anyway. The citizenship laws should change. I’m not sure when having a kid immunized one from deportation. That wasn’t the case during the Obama era.
9
As he has done his entire life, Trump thinks he can use people as pawns to get what he wants. It never works, but like most narcissists, he just will not see that others' lives matter, too, and change his losing strategy.
168
@rox
Well sadly, it _did_ work.... I’m mean, he got elected as POTUS.
5
@rox
Actually, it does work some of the time. Trump has avoided NY charges in decades past for his corrupt real estate deals. He has sent his lawyers to say and do the corrupt things he doesn't want to be caught doing himself. That's why Cohen is in prison and Flynn is headed there. That's why the National Inquirer was sold as too risky. If Trump took the fall for his bad schemes, he would change his strategy. But it's always somebody else who loses. Trump is always gambling with other people's money and lives, never his own.
17
@rox Never works? He's in his 70's, and it seems to have worked very well for him so far... Unfortunately, it's a train wreck for the rest of us.
He’s he now Emperor! Has are system of government changed to a monarchy?
16
This man gets himself into one mess after another. A life long pattern. Now instead of just loosing the family fortune and taking money (money laundering) from the Russians, he is creating a mindless mess on multiple levels and areas. The great negotiator is no negotiator at all. Just one, big looser. Unfortunately, instead of declaring bankruptcy, the American taxpayer will be paying for this man's follies for decades to come - not to mention it will take decades to repair our reputation.
113
Delay is good but expectation that congress will act promptly is a tall order. I am not sure undocumented immigrant are the right words to describe undocumented families. Immigrants are well documented legal residents of the USA who entered the USA through any of the multiple assigned entry points into the USA. Those over staying their visitor visa are also not immigrants. Legal visitors and immigrants are welcome in the USA in an orderly manner and that has not changed and should never change.
20
That’s fine...BUT it is not okay to treat children INHUMANELY!
4
@Mari from Left coast. No one should be treated INHUMANELY and we should all be concerned about inhumane treatment of our fellow human beings. Right now the worst inhumane treatment is in Yemen where peoples homes are bombed out and women and children are severely undernourished and men have injuries related to the civil war. The regime change wars that began during the Bush and Obama years resulted in the highest extent of INHUMANITY to millions of humans including our own defense personnel.
1
In the Oval Office, Trump sits at the famous Resolute Desk. Based on his waffling on reckless Iran bombing and cruel family deportation, we should start calling it the Irresolute Desk.
40
They didn’t have the staff or resources to pull this off. That’s the only reason it was called off.
60
@Sophie
I don’t think it was ever really on. Why would you announce your plans to conduct raids if you were really serious about doing it. Then again, this is Trump we’re talking about.
3
He uses people as if they are pieces of monopoly. No consideration for human life.
I’ll raid and ruin all these families unless Dems give me what I want. Or, ups, I forgot to ask until the last 10 minutes how many would die in Iran.
It is hard to believe this is happening in our country and not in one of those countries that he likes to call names and that do not always have democracies.
Perhaps many of these immigrants should be helped to return to their places. But can we treat them like the society we pretend to be?
28
Trump will do raids for real and a war with Iran between August and October in 2020. This should be no surprise to anyone. Until then, look for more of this posturing for the next 14 months. Remember the scary caravan that was going to kill us all that disappeared around November 7, 2018. Wag the dog ...
96
@Jon Babby Come again? You realize we are on track to admit ~1.2 million refugees this year... about 100k / month at current levels.
5
@nw
Are you trying to make a merits argument with Trump? What does that have to do with when Trump will implement anything?
1
Setting the stage, for placing blame on Democrats.
Seriously.
99
@Phyliss Dalmatian
You are correct.
Donald Trump thinks that he can make a ludicrous suggestion, and when it is apparent (and he is told) that he is a fool, he can then blame the preposterous consequences of his suggestion on others if they fail to kiss him on both cheeks by giving him something that they would never agree to in the first place.
Trump’s tactic reminds me of the scene in “Blazing Saddles” in which Sheriff Bart (Cleavon Little) arrives in town, is threatened, and he then threatens to shoot himself in the head if anyone makes a move toward him.
The Democrats should just tell Trump that he is a lousy negotiator.
I suggest that Nancy Pelosi should tell him “Sorry, Donnie: You want me to own your cockamamie suggestion. YOU LOSE.”
3
It’s a try but him giving the order puts it right back on him.
@Phyliss Dalmatian Precisely where the blame deserves to be placed. A nice clean close-the-loopholes bill is long overdue.
3
Trump is the Anti-Tony Robbins. Forget trying to be your best self. Don't set audacious goals that require service and sacrifice and result in a better Planet for everyone. Forget about being a good, dependable, and trust-worthy Partner. His doctrine is Self First. Why go through the hard work of service and sacrifice when you can lie, and cheat your way into getting what you want? Why care about what kind of destruction you wreak on the Planet you are giving to the next generation, you'll be dead anyway. His belief is you have to rely entirely on yourself and a close group of confidants to get what you want - no need to do the work to build a network of trusted Partners to collectively make the World a safer more just place for everyone. He is the Broken Man/Woman's Guru.
39
@The Baron, no one has broken the law more than our current president. That you ignore that is more telling than anything else you wrote.
I don’t understand this Congress. We have a racist, possibly criminal, liar and very dangerous man in the White House and what is really doing the opposition party and a Democrat Congress to protect the country and the Constitution? Very little other than handling the next election to the Republicans that has betrayed their country. If mister Trump is re-elected will be the sole responsability of a terrible week opposition. Good luck with the American democracy.
29
@elizabeth subercaseaux
Oh, Trump. At first I thought you meant Bush II.
3
@elizabeth subercaseaux All this talk of it being the Dems fault due to their inaction. Have you not noticed that every one of their proposals has been smashed down or ignored by the Reps? It's to make headway on anything, including immigration, when the real opposition stands in the way.
1
"Democratic lawmakers and immigration activists had demanded that the raids be stopped, calling them a cruel attack on minority communities whose only crime was illegally entering the country."
That says it all, regardless of your perspective.
22
@Sasquatch
You seem to have missed the part that says:
"If the plans had gone forward, some immigrant children — many of whom are American citizens because they were born in the United States — would have faced the possibility of being forcibly separated from their families when ICE agents arrived to arrest and deport their undocumented parents."
You are talking about abusing AMERICAN CITIZENS without due process, and you seem happy to have that happen.
Are YOU a citizen? If yes, would you be happy having YOUR rights violated without due process?
205
Joe, should criminals avoid prison because they have children? These people Trump was planning on deporting have had their day in court and were ordered deported.
11
@Joe From Boston
I guess it this case you can clearly define these kids as anchor babies.
As far as I know, the kids welfare is still the responsibility of their respective parents. So if the parents have to go back to their countries of origin, so should their minor kids.
11
Trump is bent on keeping all eyes on him in his campaign for reelection. There was a game identified in the 1960's as "Uproar." That one was about sex. This one is about self-promotion. First it was the impending disaster of an airstrike on Iran, which he called off at literally the last minute, now it's a terrifying alarm sent out to immigrant families, again called off at the last minute.
This is a disgusting display of megalomania. We have a tyrant and wannabe dictator in the White House.
205
@dutchiris
Otherwise known as a terrible-2 year old.
7
@Zeke Black
I'm not comfortable with comparing Trump's behavior to a kid's tantrum. They grow up. He had his chance and he never did. He's a grown man now, in a position of extraordinary power, and to call him a 2-year old trivializes the danger he represents to our country and to the world.
12
Create a potential disaster; call it off. Create a potential disaster; call it off. Create a potential disaster; call it off. Governance at its best; aren’t we lucky to have such a disciplined and organized leader in the White House.
363
@TrumpLiesMatte
It’s called life in a “hornets nes”. Turmoil keeps the wolves at bay.
7
and let us not forget, those that voted for him originally because they were gleeful of the chaos. And now those that double down and promised to vote for him in 2020 because they want to continue the devaluation of the United States of America
And let us not forget, the Democratic party that allowed Mitch McConnell to house power and the voters that stayed home ...
3
@TrumpLiesMatter
Exactly. However, by all means throw a little to a lot of extortion in because well negotiation skills aren't really in his ability set.
Likely some around him realize the crazy PR nightmare this could actually result and may have managed to get a word or two in to his brain so he's just hoping to extort something while backing down.
3
These people being deported have already been adjudicated. What part of "breaking the law" is hard for so many people to understand. If you don't like the law change it, no person in our country has the right to ignore the law because they don't like it.
55
@James: Tell that to Trump, who acts as if he is completely above the law.
73
How about the crimes committed byTrump?! No one is above the law, right? Trump should be impeached! He is inhumane and cruel...children have died!
29
@James
The children of these undocumented illegals born in this country are citizens of the United States. What happens to these citizens if their parents are deported? Are you going to take care of them?
16
Looks like just another chance for Trump to dominate the news cycle. I still have hope we will see the last of him after the 2020 election. And maybe then he will be charged and imprisoned. That would be perfect.
334
@Mary T.
Whatever happens, he won't be able to walk away. In order to restore America's foreign relationships he messed up, the most severe punishment will be executed upon him as a symbol. Just read about how free France vs vichy France or Wuhan government vs Nanjing government ended up.
The end is nigh. Whether it be the end of American democracy or the end of Trump & family.
@Mary T.
Madam, you've obviously never 10000s of unlawful, swarm into your metro area. Near chaos, attacking rule of law.
Not one G-7 country would tolerate this brazen unlawfulness. Why should the USA?
1
Iran, Korea, China, Mexico, Canada, Europe, and illegal families past their visa stays are so many exigencies bringing the U.S. to the brink of immanent action. Such artless negotiations without any deals made. Art requires finesse. I just don't see it in this administration at all.
15
Trump- There's another way. Threaten to withhold Congressional pay checks until they sit with you- deal maker- and iron out a plan. It might interrupt some golf, but hey, some things are important enough. Perhaps you can lead instead of just being the bully and not having a clue. There's an entire two other branches of gov't that can support YOUR DEAL.
Take a bow and tweet how you got something done for goodness sake.
3
@Dennis McSorley How can the President withhold Congressional paychecks?
6
FYI: Trump can’t do that! Congress controls the $$$$$!
1
The president doesn't pay Congress.
2
If Trump’s not threatening to threaten somebody he’s not happy. His lifestyle.
124
Those individuals and families from Latin America seeking refuge from violence and poverty in their home countries deserve a fair hearing in our country. It's up to our Congressional lawmakers to, at last, provide a legal foundation to accommodate their legitimate aspirations. Fairness empowers all of us. Exclusion diminishes everyone.
45
In the end, Trump will do whatever he's going to do. Trump just plays to the headlines he tries to create, as well as, to his base (i.e. 17 misleading statements at his campaign rally). Even if the Democrats were to work with Trump he'd find a different way to deport people. Democrats need to stand their ground and prepare for 2020.
100
@Dan O How long will it take for them to grow a spine? I am not holding my breath!
Why does the Pres have the power to personally control stuff like immigration. Why shouldn't issues like this that don't fall under War Powers aren't under the control of the congess?
29
@Mac Lingo The President is enforcing immigration laws enacted by Congress. That his job: Congress enacts laws and the Executive enforces them.
10
@Donald Champagne We have more people here illegally by overstaying their visas than any other group. Why isn't POTUS pursuing them?
5
@Donald Champagne
Congress found Kellianne Conway guilty of violating the Hatch Act and asked for executive discipline. Trump only "enforces" that which meets his own personal agenda- the maintenance of his power and wealth.
8
This is only to stoke fears of xenophonbia in President Trump's base. serves no purpose other than to divide us apart. I can't wait to see when the real blue wave comes to out surf him because as a country our values don't reflect his actions
52
@Elijah
Your mouth to God’s ears!
9
Well, that whole indecisive bullying approach seems to be working out all over the world. Except for the fact that we have no allies and words mean nothing, it's a hit.
245
what do you expect when the people voted for a man and his staff from Celebrity Apprentice! And they created new laws 2 waive all anti-nepotism government office laws!
5
@Frank
If "allies" are "princes" who "donate" tens of millions to "foundations" --
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/30/opinion/campaign-stops/when-is-a-scandal-really-a-scandal.html
IMHO, those are not "allies." They are political "johns," waiting to be served. Res ipsa, sir.
This is our decisive president! All words, no action. I'm not in favor of these raids, by the way, but this whipsaw leadership is dizzying and unhealthy for this country. What a mess! Sad.
61