{"id":2510,"date":"2019-07-08T17:15:39","date_gmt":"2019-07-08T22:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beckypalmer.thecomputerguy.bz\/?p=2510"},"modified":"2019-07-07T17:18:18","modified_gmt":"2019-07-07T22:18:18","slug":"lets-concentrate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beckypalmer.me\/?p=2510","title":{"rendered":"Let’s Concentrate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much\u00a0has been made<\/span>\u00a0lately of the conditions of the migrant camps at the southern border, and for good reason. The conditions there are, quite frankly, horrendous.\u00a0 There has been all kinds of name calling and\u00a0finger-pointing\u00a0about this, as seems\u00a0to be<\/span>\u00a0the case with\u00a0any political<\/span>\u00a0issue these days.\u00a0 I decided to spend some time actually looking into what is and isn’t true about these camps as well as what has led us to this point, and it was rather\u00a0eye-opening.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first thing I was unaware of is that we house asylum seekers in the same camps as those detained for entering the country illegally.\u00a0 \u00a0Under both federal and international law asylum seekers are not breaking the law in any way.\u00a0 Housing them with criminals seems grossly unfair and potentially dangerous, but this is the system as it’s been for decades.\u00a0 \u00a0Can you imagine being a refugee from horrific gang and drug violence only to wind up being housed with some of those same folk????\u00a0 I certainly cannot.<\/p>\n

Another thing I discovered is that the reason the camps are\u00a0currently<\/span>\u00a0so overcrowded is truly the fault of the current administration.\u00a0 We used to have a program called the Family Case Management Program that allowed for low risk migrants (i.e. low risk for flight or to commit crimes)\u00a0\u00a0to be<\/span>\u00a0released from detention and monitored through means like ankle bracelets and cell phone apps.\u00a0 These methods were very\u00a0successful\u00a0– well over 98% of the people made all their court\u00a0appearances\u00a0– and cost under $5 a day per person on average.\u00a0 (Estimates for detention range from $135 to $500 per day).\u00a0 But, shortly after Trump took office\u00a0FCMP<\/span>\u00a0was quietly shut down without any reason given AND without any increase in budget for the now only (and\u00a0much higher<\/span>\u00a0cost) option of\u00a0long-term\u00a0detention for all.\u00a0 Why this hasn’t been shouted from the rooftops I have no idea.\u00a0 It certainly\u00a0should be<\/span>.\u00a0 There are also reports of delays in hearings for asylum seekers and the refusal of ICE to allow humanitarian aid to the person in these camps.\u00a0 It certainly appears this administration is going out of its way to make the conditions as bad as possible.\u00a0 If there’s another explanation I’d love to hear it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Third, can we all agree to stop calling these “concentration camps”?\u00a0 We ALL know\u00a0the connotation of<\/span>\u00a0that phrase and quite frankly I can’t believe the Jewish Anti Defamation League hasn’t done come out against this.\u00a0 No one in these camps\u00a0was ripped<\/span>\u00a0from their homes by armed men simply for being a race or religion that\u00a0was deemed<\/span>\u00a0unacceptable.\u00a0 No one in these camps\u00a0is going to be<\/span>\u00a0executed by horrific means.\u00a0 Yes, the conditions at the camps are awful. But there are many other words that we can use to get the point across without resorting to the most inflammatory ones possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, what can we do now?\u00a0 We need to put pressure on our elected officials to overhaul the process.\u00a0 We need to stop treating the asylum seekers as if they are breaking the law.\u00a0 We need to\u00a0strengthen\u00a0or at the very least\u00a0enforce\u00a0our laws that deal with hiring illegals and give businesses more than a slap on the wrist if they\u00a0are caught<\/span>\u00a0breaking those laws.\u00a0 \u00a0If there were no employers willing to hire illegals there would be one less reason for someone to enter illegally.\u00a0 And most of all, we need to stop with the partisan name calling and the refusals to listen to anyone from “the other side”.\u00a0 This is a big problem and it’s going to take a lot of time and effort to solve.\u00a0 \u00a0We need to acknowledge this problem\u00a0has been avoided<\/span>\u00a0and kicked down the road by administrations of BOTH parties and that unless we all work together it’s never going to get solved.\u00a0 We need\u00a0to be<\/span>\u00a0open to good ideas no matter where they come from.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can we do this?\u00a0 Honestly, I don’t know anymore.\u00a0 But I really hope so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Much\u00a0has been made\u00a0lately of the conditions of the migrant camps at the southern border, and for good reason. The conditions there are, quite frankly, horrendous.\u00a0 There has been all kinds of name calling and\u00a0finger-pointing\u00a0about this, as seems\u00a0to be\u00a0the case with\u00a0any political\u00a0issue these days.\u00a0 I decided to spend some time actually looking into what is and isn’t true about these camps… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-issues"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t