Wow, this is a really moving and hard to read piece. Thank you for writing this.

Marbella - I am happy you are here and I wish you the best getting settled in Seattle.

Great piece. Putting a real face on Asylum seekers is vital to combatting the bullshit about immigration that Trump voters believe.

Welcome to the most racist, sexist and transphobic place on earth: Amerikkka!

@3: touché

@3: not so. it just feels that way because we're focused on it.

we are demonstrably more tolerant than, just to pick a random example, El Salvador.

Amerikkka is just not all the way there yet. no nation is. OK, maybe Iceland.

"OK, maybe Iceland."

Well, it is nearly 99% white. Probably why you liKKKe it.

Holy fucking shit. I'm so glad you made it here, Marbella. And amazed at your strength to be in one piece and share your story. I'm sorry about your cousin and relatives and friends who were killed. And everyone living with rape by bigots and only beatings by the cops. We can do so much more.

Hey, anyone who's in a position to spare any money, why not go right now to
https://www.nwirp.org/donate/

@11 "but the fact that Marbella was willing to endure so much danger just to be who they felt they were suggests to me that gender isn't as binary as I thought it was" -- Hey, good on ya for being willing and able to draw that conclusion.

Most immigrants (legal and illegal) aren't even in need of a lifeboat, they're mostly doing work and paying taxes. Net they pay more taxes than they get back in services, so personally I think we can afford to help some who do need a hand. We can't do the entire world, but we're really not so near it -- look at Turkey, with 3 million Syrian refugees among only 80 million Turks.

One warning sign to me on a guest worker program is the rich owner class would love it. They would love an institutionalized class of workers with limited mobility they can underpay and wield to undercut the economic leverage of other workers. They actually get some of this now by employing people who legally can't work, but they'd love to broaden it. I'd rather take only whatever number we want to take with full rights.

@11: a lot are fleeing gang violence as well. is that legit?

"economic reasons" could be "it's too hot for food to grow here any more". ACC is why this is just the start of the refugee flood. the equators could become uninhabitable. billions migrating.

how many should we take? more. can we afford to be the worlds life boat? maybe.