Are Brown Children Treated Worse than Black Children in America?
By Roger Caldwell
There is an immigration crisis in America, June 2018, and many are devastated by the treatment of Central and South American children and families. Children as young as infants and babies are being separated from their mothers and fathers, because they have entered America illegally. From a legal point of view, most immigrants are committing a misdemeanor, which is one of the lowest forms of breaking a law.
“Misdemeanors are a category of criminal charges. They are generally less serious than felony charges, but more serious than citations or infractions. Misdemeanors typically involve minor damages to property or minor injury to another person,” says Legal Match Law. Most misdemeanors have small legal fines and a short time incarcerated, if find guilty.
The legal immigration system is not as broken as the news media and Trump’s administration would have Americans believe. In 2016, there were 1.2 million legal immigrants coming into the country, and 20 % were family sponsored, 47% were immediate relatives of US citizens, 12% were employment based, and 13% were refugees and asylum-seekers.
The majority of immigrants that enter America do not come from the US-Mexico border, and illegal immigrants are a minority coming into the country. Trump and the media would have Americans think that immigrants are bringing crime and criminals to the country, but this is not the case. Trump is creating an immigration crisis, where rational thinking and a sustainable plan can start to solve a problem.
Each month there are 100,000 immigrants coming into the country, and separating children from their parents is a problem, but it is not a crisis. Many of these families are illegal and they are from the US-Mexico border, and it would appear that some of the problems could be resolved if Trump had a better working relationship with Mexico.
“Trump has repeatedly defended his immigration cracked-own, including forcibly separating migrant children from their parents as they arrive at the border. But images of young children housed in mental cages have set off a national outcry that has reached the White House,” says Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post.
As more Americans from both sides of the aisle begin to call the separation of families inhuman and barbaric, Trump and his administration was forced to buckle under the pressure and issue an executive order. In this executive order Trump promised to halt family separation, but the “Zero Tolerance policy” would remain in effect.
Many Americans are confused on exactly how this executive order would work. Some say this executive order only refers to future immigration children, and this was really a dog and pony show. Many think that Trump is trying to develop a plan where the immigration families can be held indefinitely, and many of the children can still be separated from their parents.
In the last week, Americans have proven that they can force Trump to alter and change a policy, when there is agreement across the aisle, and the citizens speak with one voice. Children in America are one category which is vulnerable, and we have an obligation to protect them.
Protecting children at the border is complicated and for the past three years parents and children entering the United States illegally has been difficult and dangerous. Some of these problems can be corrected, if America works with other Central American countries. In the last months, over two thousand brown children have been separated from their parents, and hopefully a system will be created to get them united with their families.
Back during slavery, Black children were separated from their parents, and from 1870 to 1970 Native American children were separated from their families and sent to boarding schools. There is a history in America of children being separated from parents and as respectful humans; we have a re-possibility to keep families together.
Anytime children are separated from their parents, it is time for all Americans to speak as one voice, because the color of their skin does not matter.
