Comments

2

Saying "undocumented" instead of "illegal" doesn't make them legal immigrants.

3

2

No, but avoiding dehumanizing language as a simple way to show respect and decency to fellow human beings isn't a bad thing.

Also, these folks have done nothing wrong nor illegal. They have exercised their right to engage in the affirmative asylum process. There's no need to hold all of them nor seperate them from their families. This is being done purely as a cruel, immoral scare tactic.

https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-asylum/asylum/obtaining-asylum-united-states

4

@1: I suggest you put down the mirror and read the article.

5

@1 - Are you one of those dicks who thinks she looks like Frankenberry? Get stuffed!!!

6

The forced separation of families already fleeing trauma is one of the most cravenly evil crimes this country has committed. Once this nightmare is over, those border patrol agents should be prosecuted.

Thank the FSM for Rep. Jayapal and the protestors for bringing humanity, decency, and legal aid against these despicable, monstrous ICE agents.

7

This isn't an immigration detention center; it's a white supremacy detention facility.

This is being done because of the race of the targets. It's not that immigrants might be skirting the law. If Trumpers cared about the law so much they'd mind when detainees are illegally abused. Or when Cheeto Jeebus or undocumented immigrant Melania breaks the law. They can be flexible with the law, when it suits them.

What they can't be flexible with is brown people. They don't want to see brown people treated well. Ever.

It's not enough to reform this anti-immigrant bureaucracy. You can't merely moderate white supremacist institutions. You have to burn them all the way to the ground and repudiate every single thing they stand for.

10

Seeking asylum is a legal process, and supporting it is a core American value. If you're un-American, get out of my country.

11

If you can, please do give some money to NW Immigrant Rights Project.
https://www.nwirp.org/donate/

12

Jayapal is a badass. Love her!

13

8

That's the thing -- these people aren't involved with the penal system or the criminal justice system. They haven't committed any crimes. ICE doesn't have the legal authority to send people to prison.

14

@1 has a point and is right. Its typical Seattle liberal feminism, “The Seattle congresswoman had recently finished a tour of the facility, where she said she visited with all the undocumented women inside. Jayapal did not have a chance to speak with the 32 migrant men held in the prison”. Truth be told, if you arent willing or able to take the time to meet with EVERYONE, then your cause is shot and men reading this know it. There ARE caring fathers in this world also separated from their children or is that only in movies and where homogeneous gay male couples running for political office are concerned? What about their stories of those men in prison. Nooo, its “Im afraid my husband was going to rape our daughter”. Its a bunch of liberal and feminist one-sided hypocrisy for a photo op. Seattle cant even get its own problems resolved let alone stick its noses in the federal governments actions. And most state voters know it.

15

My, ROThornhill dear, that's a whole lot of projection, even for you. It surely couldn't be that she didn't have the chance to visit with the men because she didn't have the chance, could it? After all, you're undoubtedly an expert on the practices and operation of Federal Detention Centers, having read about them on infowars or 4 chan.

And I'm sorry that you can't find a woman to mate with, or that the one you had finally threw in the towel and cast you away. But that's what happens when one is an insufferable blowhard.

Here's a hint - maybe it's not the ladies. Maybe it's you.

17

Ken dear, if we limited immigration from impoverished third world countries, who would pick our crops and clean our houses? Tend to our gardens, replace our roofs, make our meals and take care of the children?

After all, we've reached near full employment under trump, and my yard still needs mowed. Who's going to do that, Ken?

19

@ 18,

They are following the law--these people did exactly what they were supposed to do when requesting asylum at the border and had their children ripped away from them. I'm stunned that this isn't already against both US and international law post WWII.

And even if they did break the law, ICE agents stealing their children is shocking, amoral, unethical, sickening, and inhuman. That's some flat-out Nazi bullshit, and it will not stand.

20

@14: She may have not had allowed access to see the men. I wouldn't deduce lack of caring.

21

If you're as shocked and sickened by this as I am, please consider donating to the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. They're an excellent organization that provides legal aid and resources to people new to our country.

We've got to give til it hurts to fight back against the evil, illegitimate Twitler regime.

https://www.nwirp.org

26

Even when the US shoved all the Japanese-Americans into incarceration camps during WWII, we didn't separate their children from their families. Claiming we have no facilities to keep them together is a bullshit excuse. This administration has sunk to a new low, treating children with more cruelty and disregard than we did the Japanese-Americans. Have we learned nothing? So much for the party of "family values". I guess that only applies to wipipo.

29

@catalina. So you personally enjoy the benefits of slave wages that are paid to illegal immigrants? How progressive. It’s funny what a stupid argument “But who will do this shitty job for next to nothing?”, is. Who do you think that benefits the most? The immigrant? It benefits the companies willing to break the law and hire underpaid labor to line their own pockets. You know, those greedy corporations and businesses you love to hate.

Here’s a thought, how about we e verify every employee in the country. That way people are ensured a minimum wage at the least and there’s no reason for people to come here illegally seeking work.

31

None of the children should have been taken from their parents. This is simply horrifying in the United States. Furthermore, they have "lost" about 1,500 children. They can't even tell the parents where they are. They don't know. And .. with the children they do know the whereabouts of, they are still not telling the parents. Of course, many of the people they describe are fleeing nations destroyed by U.S. foreign policy in Latin America - policies supported by the GOP, but also by the corporate wing of the Democratic Party - as represented by Hillary Clinton and her schmoozy relationship with Henry Kissinger. Then there are the trade deals .. people think some big wall is their "Answer" - nothing could be further from the truth. If you don't have FAIR trade - people will continue to flee what are also - and especially - very difficult economic conditions. Which is just fine with not only the GOP they naively think are on their side in this with someone like Trump - but also the corporate Democrats. On top of that, you have a private prison industry and prison industrial complex that is profiteering off the misery of these refugees - and maintaining the situation - not changing it - actually making it worse. They thrive on having these people come across the border "illegally." Where would they be without them?

32

@23: While ICE has had legal authority to detain children, it as always been on a case-by-case basis as when they are unaccompanied by an adult or when the parent is in other troubles. It has never been a sweeping policy to separate children - until now. It is the height of arrogance and moral failing for Trump and anyone to hang their hat on that legal technicality as if it gives them
some them some moral "get-out-of-guilt" card.

Yes, Congress should take this up. But you know as well as I do that McConnell wouldn't even think of bringing this up for a vote in the Senate under the current Republican majority. So all the noise on the local level is well justified.

33

KOMO reported that King County Executive Dow Constantine is determining if he can restrict ICE from using county airports - so that's a worthy local response.

34

32

Exactly.

23

Are you a robot? Am I talking with Mr. Data? No, at least he was trying to achieve humanity. While you are correct that this needs to be addressed legally and at a higher level ... in the meantime, whatever happened to compassion, empathy, and decency? Can we have moral values that declare this activity wrong? Shouldn't we have the moral courage to speak up?!

This goes beyond policy and politics. Some things are just wrong, and we have the right and the duty to stand up and say no and enact change . US history has demonstrated this again and again.

These folks fled traumatic, life threatening situations. Their biggest error was believing that the US stood by its values of hope, freedom, opportunity, and equality for all.

35

@34. Life is traumatic and threatening around the globe, yes. But is it our responsibility to bring everyone here to our relatively safe democracy? Or is it their responsibility to create their own?

It’s a privilege to live here, but to listen to the far left, it’s a hellscape of racist, sexist, poverty...unless, of course, you’re an illegal immigrant. In which case the only option you have in life is to escape the shit hole you live in and move where life is already easier as opposed to helping your neighbors and countrymen make the place you’re from better.

When people who are motivated enough to risk everything to make life better, wouldn’t it be wise to encourage their efforts at home instead of draining their countries of motivated risk takers and leaving behind those willing to accept the status quo?

39

Oh Muffy. Can't you for once at least TRY not to be such a drip? I know you are a conservative, and therefore by definition Not Very Bright, but really.....

For the record, I don't have illegals mow my yard. (That's Mr. Vel-DuRay's job) but you are kidding yourself if you don't think that EVERYONE in the USA - including you, dear - doesn't benefit from the labor of undocumented workers. Sure, we can e-verify. But be prepared to have our standard of living go down and the price of everything go up. Do you really think that the majority of Americans - who are famously fat, stupid, and greedy - would go for that?

40

@37: Our governance and politics has never operated as idealistically as you think it does. Otherwise Rosa Parks would have just discreetly taken a seat at the back of the bus and then express her sensibilities later that evening in a thoughtful letter to President Eisenhower.

41

What we really should do is just open our borders to everyone, not just those seeking asylum. Then there would be no fussing about who's "illegal" or "undocumented." It's wrong to keep anyone from entering our country simply because they happened to be born elsewhere. Let's welcome everyone --- although especially people of color who are poor -- from all countries with open arms. So what if Seattle swells by thousands of more people? We'll adapt.

42

39/Catalina: you are kidding yourself if you don't think that EVERYONE in the USA - including you, dear - doesn't benefit from the labor of undocumented workers. Sure, we can e-verify. But be prepared to have our standard of living go down and the price of everything go up.

*

Another reason, besides being compassionate, why we should welcome everyone --- although especially people of color who are poor -- from all countries with open arms. With the inexpensive labor they would likely provide, imagine how our standard of living would soar and the price of everything would go down.

43

@ Catalina. I absolutely am ready for that. Why should the cost of everything be cheaper for the richest nation on earth on the backs of illegal immigrants and for the maximum profit of corporations? Because you think fat,stupid, lazy people deserve cheap groceries?

I hire documented immigrants and natives and pay them a wage they can raise a family on. I pass that cost along to the customer and I also don’t run my business for maximum self profit but I still make good money. Along with a higher wage comes more incentive for an employee to work hard, stay loyal, and learn and improve. The more you know and bring to the job, the higher your wages.

Something has to change about our immigration system.To put it nicely, It’s fucked. This is the solution that polls best, helps the little guy most, and de incentivizes the never ending nonsense that has 11 million people living here who can’t take advantage of the privilege of living in our country to its fullest. Instead, they live in fear, hide from the law, drive and work illegally and without insurance, and reap none of the benefits of their tax contributions (if they pay any).

No one is saying deport 11 million people. That’s unrealistic. Get the people already here a pathway to amnesty and secure our border and make it impossible to work without a visa so we don’t have to have another fucking amnesty in 10-20 years.

What’s wrong with any of that?

44

When I finally see a Senator bring up a bill to help the people of El Salvador and Guatemala from oppression and gang violence so that they don't have to leave their homes in the first place, then I'll have hope for our status as a loving nation.
How about it Patty? Maria?
Not holding my breath.

45

All y'all wrong-wing fuckers need to reread the inscription on the Statue of Liberty.

And, while you're at it, maybe you could prove to us that your ancestors came here legally.

46

@catalina. Insult my intelligence if you have to, at least I’m not pretending that the intellectual and moral high road consists of doing absolutely nothing to change a broken system because it would be too hard and hurt some people’s feelings...genius.

49

@47: Good points

50

"One woman fled El Salvador after gang members fatally shot her child. Another woman feared her husband would rape her child."

I will observe that neither of those have historically been considered grounds for political asylum. Where can you flee to that there isn't crime of some kind?

I agree that these stories are sympathetic. I'd hazard a guess that there are millions, perhaps tens or hundreds of millions of people on the planet with equally sympathetic stories. Are we proposing that all of them should be granted asylum here? Where do we draw the line?

I agree that the policy of separating families is an odious one and that the facilities that we are using are unfit for that purpose. The biggest part of the solution would be to enhance the quasi-judicial immigration court system to allow for swifter and fairer hearings.

But hearings we must have, and the people in question must somehow be made to appear at them. What are the alternatives, other than either letting everyone in or kicking everyone out? Those seem to be the positions that the two parties are settling into.

I happen to be a dual citizen of both the US and Canada. I'm also planning a move back to Canada in the next few months. And I'm bringing my non-Canadian partner with me. So I'm currently wrestling with their immigration system. I'm not doing this with the benefit of an attorney, but merely working things out for myself. And it is frustrating, because the immigration service is more than a little opaque. But that process is important to me.

So, I'm asking the collective wisdom here, am I wasting my time and money by making an effort to do things the right way? Why shouldn't we just drive across the border and not tell anyone we're moving up there long term, then let him just stay with me? Why shouldn't he just go looking for work under the table?

Are we fools for going through the bureaucracy? Because I'm getting the impression that people here think we are.

51

45: And, while you're at it, maybe you could prove to us that your ancestors came here legally.

*

I wonder how many European immigrants came here illegally? Perhaps some, but likely not many. I'm sure it was much harder to come in as illegal when coming by boat across the Atlantic and then through Ellis Island. I assume my ancestors (from Norway on my dad's side; from somewhere near the SE Germany/Bohemia border on my mom's side) came here legally, but I couldn't say with 100 percent certainty. Regardless, I'm sure they came here for a better life than what they had back home. They weren't seeking asylum.

But those were white people. We have enough European white people, and their descendants. We need more people from other countries. More people who like dinuguan and ayibe, not people who like Downton Abbey. People who want to come here, not just for asylum but for a better life. People who want to come here to provide a better living for their children. Why should you be prevented from seeking a better life for your children just because you happened to be born in another country? Putting limits on immigration is a wall. A metaphorical wall but a wall nevertheless. It's a political-legal wall.

The U.S. can absorb more people. We can become more densely populated and adapt. The U.S. has a density of 36 people per square kilometer. Poland has a density of 124, the U.K. has a density of 275. the Netherlands has a density of 507 and Singapore really packs 'em in at a density of 8,274. Yes, Singapore (and the other countries) don't have the Rocky Mountains. But they still pack a lot more people in living spaces. People in Singapore and London and Amsterdam don't have the luxury of nice little craftsmen homes with yards. What shows the humanity of Seattleites more: fighting to maintain our yards, or welcoming more of the world's people, people who want a better life for the children that they love?

We could take in the ENTIRE populations of French Guiana, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Sao Tome & Principe, Samoa, Saint Lucia, Guam, Curaçao, Kiribati, Tonga, Grenada, Micronesia, Aruba, Antigua and Barbuda, Seychelles ,Dominica, Saint Kitts & Nevis, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands, Turks and Caicos, Palau, Cook Islands, Anguilla, Wallis & Futuna, Nauru, Tuvalu, Saint Pierre & Miquelon, Montserrat, Niue & Tokelau and all those people would make up less than one percent of the U.S. population.

52

@51: I see you got the math down, how about the logistics?

54

"You don't see a need to limit immigration from impoverished third world countries?"

Is there a need to limit immigration from impoverished US states? Should Washington allow impoverished, uneducated job seekers from West Virginia or Louisiana flood into our state? How much longer can Seattle go on letting impoverished Spokane immigrants enter our city? They bring crime, drugs, they will work for nothing. We need barriers to keep them out. Right?

It makes no fucking sense. We have a whole huge country where people are free to move from A to B. And that's a good thing. Americans have been moving freely between rich and poor places for 230 years and it has made us great. You can grow up in benighted Appalachia or the bumfuck Palouse, and come to a cosmopolitan city with indoor plumbing and decent pho and all that that implies, and you can make something of yourself. That's America. Don't fuck with it. It works.

What difference does it make to me if someone comes here from bumfuck Wenatchee or actually less bumfuck Guatemala? Honestly, I'd say Wenatchee is the worse shithole of the two. At least Guatemala as a little style. But what the hell do I care whether they came from a shithole or not? Or perhaps none of these places is in fact a shithole. What the fuck difference does it make to me? I don't give a fuck where you came from. Why should I?

From the point of view of people like me, in an educated city, technically advanced, with a smoking hot economy, where we are building the future on the fly, anyfuckingbody is welcome. Any motherfucker. Come here and do your thing. It's competitive as fuck. Not for the faint of heart. But if you have something to offer, God bless you. We probably desperately need you.

Think about it. If there is a job opening in Seattle, and it wasn't filled yesterday, then any warm body that can actually do that job is urgently, urgently needed. If that warm body is from Uganda or Russia or God help me, even Oklahoma, whatever. Hire that motherfucker.

Borders are fucking bullshit. Borders exist for asshole loser cocksucker Trumpers who are terrified of their own shadow, and couldn't compete their way out of a wet paper bag. Borders are for entitled dead-enders whose entire life plan is to be a parasite on those of us who actually make shit and build shit. Parasites from cradle to grave, WASP pieces of shit. I wish we could FedEx every one of those fucks to Uganda or Mexico or anywhere, and trade them for literally anybody else. We welcome people from everywhere. Everywhere. Shithole towns, shithole states, and shithole countries. Or non-shithole places. We just don't have time to even care how shitty your home town was. Granted: it was shitty. That's all we need to know. How shitty is not something we have time to discuss.

If you feel the need to hide behind a border you're pathetic. Fuck off, pathetic parasite.

55

"I wonder how many European immigrants came here illegally?"

Enough Irish immigrants even today that Irish American community papers have ads for people with immigration issues.

57

@56: This is a child abuse issue more than an immigration issue.

58

52/raindrop, what are the logistics for all of the people from south of our border who have immigrated to the U.S.? What are the logistics that enabled them to find work -- on farms or in factories, mowing lawns or being nannies -- in the U.S,?

59

Jayapal is doing good.

61

You'd think the people constantly whining about "illegals" would be very concerned about climate change because no wall is going to stop these refugees as they'll have nothing to lose, like those fleeing violence today.

62

Why was The Stranger nearly silent while Obama deported more people per year then Trump has managed to deport?

64

@54. Think more. Emote less.

65

To all the people saying that having any kind of immigration policy/border control is evil, I would like to ask: can you name one nation on the planet that does nothing to enforce its borders, and simply has the "come one, come all, no questions asked" immigration policy you want America to have so badly?

Why do you think there are none?

Are all those countries evil too, or just when America tries to enforce its borders?

67

@63 In other words, you refuse to address climate change but you also want to close borders to prevent people from escaping the environment you are creating. Pretty much like you didn't give a ff about the millions of small Mexican corn growers who couldn't compete with your corn subsidies to agribusiness. And on, and on, yet you complain about immigration. You suck.

69

I love all the people blathering on about immigrants getting AFDC, which hasn't existed since Clinton was president. Get some fresh memes, people!

70

@ 66,

That's the crux of so-called conservatives' insanity and hypocritical idiocy, isn't it? Their obsessive interest in constitutional rights, borders, law and order, everything really, begins and ends with the skin color of those involved.

They're all in favor of the current regime's anti-American, lawless, neo-fascist kleptocracy as long as the people doing all the criming are white and rich.

They'd blow their own brains out if Prezinazi AntiChrist told them the bullet would fly through their shit-packed skulls and strike a liberal. They have zero positive visions for the future and only want to harm everyone they hate, which is well, everyone. They're nihilists.

STIGGINIT! It's all they've got.

71

"Such a system can not survive a large influx of very poor people who earn very little and therefor pay little or nothing in taxes."

Immigrants pay more in taxes than they use in government services. The idea that they are exploring America's generous welfare state is a right wing fiction. Most of the countries they're leaving have better social welfare systems than the US. Mexico has universal healthcare.

Keep in mind that they only reason some undocumented immigrants work without paying any taxes is because of the immigration system. If they weren't defined as "illegal", there would be no motive to keep them off the books and no more motive to evade taxes than any other employee. The racist persecution of undocumented people is the only reason anybody is missing out on tax revenue. The only reason US workers are at a competitive disadvantage over immigrants is the lack of legal protection for undocumented workers. Move them out of the shadows and on the books, and the whole jobs problem, if you want to call it that, disappears.

If there were any merit to this argument, it would be equally true that Washington should close its borders to transplants from states with weak social safety nets. Not every state has the same "smorgasbord". How could our country have prospered so much if we were allowing this imbalance to happen? Letting Americans move from state to state should have destroyed the wealthy states. Yet the opposite happened.

It's hilarious to hear American social services called a "smorgasbord". Canada, to point to the obvious example, has far, far more government services. Why would immigrants stop in the US at all? If welfare parasitism were in any way a real thing, they'd all keep on moving straight north though the US into the waiting arms of Canada. But they don't come here for welfare. They come here to work. We hire them because we need them.

73

These people will not pay into the tax system because at the end of the year all the monies are returned to them as they salary is below the poverty line. Then in turn our welfare system is strained even further. We have enough Americans on the need for assistance without piling a lot more illegals on it. Yea these clowns that say we created the problem I guess would be is because we have one of the worst welfare systems in the world and it is being sucked off of constantly by people that should not be on the system to begin with. Mexico offered asylum but guess what they refused it and continued here hmmm. Must be because Mexico wll not allow freeloading off any of its services, or schools or medical!


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