Fix Immigration Now

 Republicans hyperventilate over the number of immigrants requesting asylum their solution are rejection, building Trump’s wall, or Gov. Abbott’s barbed wire in the Rio Grande. Trump and his sycophants demonize people who are poor and have darker skin than themselves. You can be sure they’re hypocrites because those same Republicans are falling all over themselves to protect a German family who came here a decade ago and over-stayed their 90 day visa. The Romeike family claims they suffered religious persecution and their evidence is that Germany doesn’t allow home-schooling so every child must attend a public or approved private school. The Romeike’s are evangelical Christians and claim that the public school system might have an impact on the children’s family values.

Citizens of Germany, New Zealand, Hungary, Iceland, and Estonia to name just a few, all have a straightforward and legal entry path into the United States but that program specifically excludes majority non-white nations such as Mexico, China, India, and the Philippines. The Romeike’s chose not to apply for legal immigration they broke the law and flaunt it.

Those same Republicans defending the Romeike’s make so much noise about the purported open borders that the media in many Central and South American countries repeat it creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that our border with Mexico is swamped with immigrants. Republicans in Congress are unwilling to add funding to address the need for more immigration judges and staff. 

A U.S. State Department travel advisory reads: “Do not travel to Haiti due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and poor healthcare infrastructure.” Yet this past August, 60 refugees fleeing for their lives were forced back to Haiti. I wonder if they'd still be here if they were white and fleeing the horrors of a public school system they didn’t like.

 I’ve been unimpressed with Democrats’ discussion of immigration as well because they fail to discuss or do anything about the reasons that those seeking asylum want to come here so desperately that they’ll give up their homes and family ties then make a dangerous 1500 to 3000 mile journey just to request asylum here. Unlike the Romeike’s the folks streaming to our border with Mexico are actually trying to escape violence in the form of cartels and trans-national gangs.

This country bares some responsibility for the instability of so many Central and South American countries since we have interfered with their governments including sponsoring the overthrow of left wing governments in at least a dozen of them. Some such as Cuba and Nicaragua then revolted and were taken over by outright communists and are now dictatorships much like the old Soviet Union. We also provide the profits of their narcotics gangs with our failed “war on drugs” which just leads to corruption in government and violence in the community.

We should be supporting the people in their home countries with funding for education and health care. We should encourage exports and manufacturing through our trade policies. We must take the profits out of drug production and smuggling by decriminalizing most drugs so that funding for gangs dries up and they can no longer corrupt local governments.

There are millions of undocumented immigrants already here, quite a few came as young children and have grown up, gotten jobs, married and had children of their own yet we still deport them even though they often don’t speak the language of their country of origin and have no ties to it. This nation needs to provide a quick path to citizenship for all those currently here and create a system that is fair to all immigrants. 

Published in the Seguin Gazette - February 21, 2024

Immigration Can Be Fixed

The use of fear to drive votes and actions is a common tactic employed by Republicans to divert attention from real issues or to distort the conversation in order to achieve their ends even when it isn’t in the best interests of the average American. As usual Republicans are doing their best to scare Americans about immigrants on the southern border.

If Republicans really wanted to address undocumented immigration and the tens of thousands seeking asylum in the United States they’d call for increased funding of immigration judges  and look for ways to improve conditions in the countries where most immigrants are coming from. Instead they rail against desperate people as if they were violent criminals seeking to destroy our homes. There are real solutions to be had if only we look to what has worked in the past and apply those lessons today.

In the 1950’s to the 1980’s many European nations saw huge numbers of immigrants Spain looking for jobs because the Spanish economy was in shambles and opportunities were scarce. As the effects of joining the European Union caused modest improvements in the national economy during the 1990’s the rest of Europe saw a drastic decline in the number of Spaniards within their borders as fewer left their homes and many who had returned to them. Leaving your home, your family and friends, your society and culture to go to a place where another language is spoken and you have no contacts is something only desperate people do. If they feel that they have any chance at all to feed their families and have a roof over their heads few will risk giving that up for an uncertain reward.

Now look at Germany, a nation of 82 million, which has absorbed around 1.2 million immigrants from Syria and the surrounding area. Those immigrants were driven from their homes by violence and the poverty it caused to a nation with a drastically different culture, climate, and language. Germany chose to accept them in spite of right wing nationalist demonization and then invested in easing their assimilation by providing counseling, language classes, and access to their public education system. In a decade those immigrants have by and large joined the workforce and through their taxes and economic activity are well on their way to repaying the country’s investment in them.

We can also look back to successful programs from our own past such as the Bracero program of the 1950’s through which Mexican farm workers got temporary work visas allowing them to work legally in the United States and travel back and forth across the border. Americans farmers got the workers they needed when they needed them and undocumented immigration was drastically reduced. There were abuses of the program often by the farmers and corporations who withheld or discounted the workers’ pay but it generally worked.

There are now between 10 and 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, a decline of more than 10% since 2010 mostly due to Mexicans leaving as their home nation’s economy improved thus reducing the incentive to stay here.

In order to address undocumented immigration the United States must assist Central and South American nations build their economies so that their citizens can hope to earn a decent living, implement some form of guest worker program, increase the number of asylum hearing officers at the border to address the multi-year backlog of asylum cases, and legalize marijuana and perhaps other drugs which will stem much of the violence in Mexico, Guatemala and other Central American nations that in turn drives immigration.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - April 14, 2021

Highlights of and Link to the 2018 Texas Democratic Party Platform

Criminal Justice

Bail Reform

The Texas Democratic Party Supports amending Texas Constitution Art. 1 § 11, § 13 and Texas Code of Criminal 17.01 and 17.02 to create a pre-trial release system that:

·         presumes release on personal recognizance for people charged with non-violent offenses who have little or no criminal history;

·         requires immediate release of low-risk defendants under the least restrictive conditions necessary to guarantee appearance at court proceedings;

Re­entry

Texas Democrats support programs that decrease recidivism by providing ex-offenders with a pathway back to productive participation in society. Texas Democrats support reducing recidivism by:

·         increasing access to rehabilitation and re-entry programs, with a special emphasis on reducing drug use among people released from prison, including the reversal of policies that deny student loans and grants to those who have completed sentences for drug felonies; and

Mass Incarceration

·         ending the practice of sending poor people to jail or prison for inability to pay fines and court costs;

·         redirecting mentally ill offenders from the criminal justice system to treatment programs when the risk to public safety is low;

Eliminating Private Prisons

·         amending the Texas Constitution to require state and local governments to directly operate and perform all core services at prisons, jails, and detention facilities within the State of Texas, and expressly prohibit the use of private prisons, jails, and detention facilities within the State of Texas;

Democracy

·         existing voter protection policies under the federal Voting Rights Act and the Texas Voting Rights Act, and restoration of the federal preclearance policies in the Voting Rights Act that were overturned by the Supreme Court;

·         instituting vote by mail for all elections – federal, state and local;

·         the creation of a nonpartisan redistricting commission to end racial and political gerrymandering in our redistricting process;

·         a constitutional amendment to eliminate the electoral college and award the presidency to the winner of the nationwide popular vote, and failing that, we urge all states to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, so that candidates must campaign everywhere and not just in swing states;

·         a return to paper ballots because they are more secure, much less expensive, and are the only method that can provide a truly auditable vote count;

·         the report and recommendations of the Unity Reform Commission to the Democratic National Committee as a carefully considered and eloquent prescription for strengthening democracy for all American citizens in general elections and Democratic Party nominations.

Ethics in Government

·         requiring elected officials throughout the state, including local or county officials, to file a personal financial statement to allow for more transparency; and

·         requiring every candidate for the President of the United States to disclose their complete federal tax return and, upon election, place private holdings in a blind trust for divestment.

Good Jobs Build Strong Communities

·         Every American should have a right to a job; therefore, federally funded jobs paying at least a living wage with health insurance and other typical benefits on projects selected by the states and local governments must be available in or near every community.

Healthcare for All

The Texas Democratic Party asserts that healthcare is a human right, not a privilege for the few. Texas Democrats recognize that the health and well-being of Texas residents cannot be based on decisions made by non-healthcare professionals whose primary concern is the financial well-being of a corporation rather than the well-being of an individual.

·         support the inclusion of a “Single Payer Option” as an addition to the plans currently offered under the state exchange systems;

Cannabis Reform

·         Texas legislation to legalize possession and use of cannabis and its derivatives and to regulate its use, production and sale as is successfully done in Colorado, Washington and other States;

Gun Violence Prevention

·         Closing loopholes that allow guns to be sold or traded without passing a mandatory and thorough background check;

·         Enacting legislation to require all individuals charged with domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual assault, domestic or foreign terrorism, stalking or any violent felony to temporarily surrender all weapons and ammunition in their possession to law enforcement pending adjudication of their case(s);

·         Enacting sensible gun laws to curtail the availability of weapons with extended ammunition magazines, including rapid-fire, magazine-fed, military-style assault weapons;

Energy and Environment

A Moratorium on Fracking

·         a moratorium on new fracking wells;

·         set a goal of shutting down existing fracking wells by 2026;

·         set a goal of ending the practice of injecting wastewater by 2023;

Clean and Available Water

• Access to clean drinking water is a human right.

Immigration

·         strongly oppose the Trump Administration’s policy abusing children by of separating children from their parents at the southern border and denounce housing children in tent cities;

·         strongly oppose “tender age” shelters for infants and small children;

·         strongly oppose the Trump Administration so called “zero tolerance” approach to immigration;

·         strongly oppose the Trump Administration’s policy to no longer recognize asylum claims or Temporary Protected Status for refugees fleeing forced gang recruitment and violence perpetrated by gangs and refugees fleeing domestic violence;

·         support securing and protecting our border, while treating asylum seekers humanely;

·         strongly oppose any type of bans based on religious affiliation or country of origin;

·         strongly oppose efforts to build a border wall of any size and the unrealistic claim, and possibly abandoned claim, that a foreign country will pay for a border wall;

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NdguJq-4AhdyAz4WLzo_B-9HjMzJb1mS

Trump's take on 'Drug War' unhelpful, hollow

Earlier this week Trump called for the death penalty for drug dealers as if that will solve the opioid “crisis”. Given that the problem opioids are generally prescription drugs I suppose he’s planning to execute an awful lot of pharmacists and doctors. Like his border wall to fight unauthorized, immigration executing drug dealers is all noise and no solution.

There are numerous similarities and connections between drug smuggling and human smuggling. The similarities are that much of both are controlled by the same criminal organizations and they use similar routes and techniques often tractor trailers or carried on the backs of people walking across the desert.

Walls don’t work to keep out people who want to be on other side, it didn’t work for China around 200 BCE and it didn’t work for the Romans who built Hadrian’s Wall across England around 140 CE. Whether it is do to insufficient enforcement or bribes to those supposed to be watching if people want to cross the wall they’ve always found a weakness to exploit.

The “War on Drugs” that Nixon ramped up in the 1970’s has been a proven failure ever since yet we as a nation continue to the same tactics expecting a different result, a failing referred to as insanity in an oft quoted remark. We know the “War on Drugs” has failed because availability of a wide range of drugs is as high or higher than ever and prices have fallen while the potency has increased over time. In addition it drives other violent crime as dealers contend over sales territories.

Much of the authorization immigration and asylum seekers are driven by economic problems and violence caused by United States policies over the last two centuries. Some times it was overthrowing democratically elected leaders or fighting locals to protect the business interests of American companies such as Chiquita of banana fame and hence the term banana republics. On other occasions it’s been violence and corruption involving drug cartels that wouldn’t exist without the financial incentives of the black market for drugs in the United States.

We could pull the rug out from under the drug cartels overnight by legalizing drugs. Their income streams would take a massive blow that can’t readily be made up in other ways. The cessation of violence and reduced funding of corrupt officials would likely make many living in the source countries and transit countries more willing to stay. If the United States would take the money we now spend on DEA agents, funding provided to the military and police forces in those countries and reallocate them to education, infrastructure and business loans instead there would be less incentive to leave.

Natural experiments on both of these topics have taken place on the Iberian peninsula of Europe. Throughout much of the latter half of the 20th century unauthorized immigration by Spaniards to other European nations was very high due to a poor economy. Once Spain’s leadership gained the assistance of the EU and its economy improved Spanish immigration dropped off and many who were out of the country returned home. Spain wages still aren’t at the German level but they are markedly improved and so has life in the nation.

The other experiment is Portugal’s decriminalization of all drugs. Drug inspired crime is down dramatically, so are drug overdoses and HIV infections. Contrary to the expectations of many overall drug use didn’t rise significantly.

The proposals of the Trump administration are proven failures but there are other existing models that have been successful. It’s past time we tried them.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - March 23, 2018

A Saturday with Other Angry Texans

I spent last Saturday in San Antonio in the company of a few hundred angry people from all over Texas. We were there because we believe our state and federal governments have long been run for the benefit of the wealthy and the privileged and yet we remain hopeful that we can change that. We gathered together to in the belief that if we organize ourselves and devote our energy to our common cause we can create a better world for everyone.

Our group is Our Revolution Texas and at our state convention there were delegates and activists from the eleven regional organizations. One of the main priorities was to create a declaration of principles to guide our actions as we work for a better future. Among those principles is opposition to the rise of oligarchy in modern society. We recognized that the deregulatory agenda of the American right has led to the most shocking and intolerable inequalities of wealth and income in the history of the modern world.

We agreed to demand from our elected officials that the current embrace of greed and economic inequality be replaced with a more just society in which resources, wealth, and the fruits of human labor and inventiveness are more justly shared by all persons as a human right.

Our Revolution members believe that our nation and our state must adopt living wage legislation setting the floor at $15 per hour and indexing it for inflation. Those skilled workers already at or near that rate are underpaid and should have the right to organize and join strong labor unions in order to collectively negotiate conditions of employment including fair pay, sick leave and the like.

It is our position that medical care is a human right without regard for ability to pay that society as a whole must provide legislatively through a universal health care program such as Medicare for All.

While progress has been made over the last century we agreed that there is much to be done in order to remove the social and economic barriers women face in achieving equal rights. Our society’s tragic history of male supremacy must be overturned and perpetrators like Steve Wynn, the disgraced former Chair of the Republican National Committee who resigned earlier this week, must be cast out.

Sadly, it isn’t just male supremacy that we suffer from, white supremacy has also created social, political and economic barriers to equal rights. It is utterly intolerable that 150 years after the end of slavery our society still treats people of color as second class citizens. We affirm that Black Lives Matter.

We believe that no human being is illegal and that immigrants are entitled to equal protection under the law. We call for the speedy passage of enactment of laws to provide a path to citizenship for those previously covered under DACA and an end to the inhumane detention practices which break up families.

We recognize that our beautiful earth and life-protecting environment is being pillaged to benefit those whose rampaging greed is insatiable. We insist that our elected officials devote immediate attention to reversing the tragically accelerating process of climate change for which unnatural human interference in the environment is the primary cause.

The members of Our Revolution Texas stand committed to the hard and laborious long-term work of organizing a powerful mass political movement for the accomplishment of all aspects of this vision.

Published in the Seguin Gazette, February 2, 2018

Disappointed in US Senate candidates

The Houston Chronicle covered the debate between the Democratic candidates for US Senate here
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Border-security-divides-Democratic-senate-3665029.php

Our two US Senate candidates both leave something to be desired. Yarbrough thinks securing our border with Mexico could use some Berlin Wall style thinking. Sadler regrets that the party platform calls for decriminalizing marijuana because Americans aren’t ready for that.

Yarbrough ran twice as a Republican so in my mind he’s already a questionable candidate and suggesting that a Berlin Wall along our southern border (think Herman Cain's moat) is the way to solve our immigration problems just confirms my dim view of the man. Sadler ought to have more courage since he wants to be a leader in our country and instead of bashing our newly minted platform take it a step further by recognizing that part of our immigration problem is caused by our failed “War on Drugs”.

Our border immigration/border security, drug cartel violence, over-incarceration of non-violent offenders and the attendant damage to our economy, national security and official corruption are all interwoven issues and if you fail to understand one of them you fail to understand the whole picture.

We have a lot of important problems to solve in Texas and the U.S. which leaves me disappointed that both of our US Senate candidates are clueless on at least one of them.