WRONG ISSUE - WRONG DIAGNOSIS!

By Edwin Cooney

I'm going to try reining in my indignation over this topic partly because up until a short time ago I had, much to my regret, been slow in realizing the full gravity of the issue. The topic is the immigration kerfuffle — and a kerfuffle (or fuss if you prefer) is exactly what it has become! Even worse, up to this point its real significance has been politicized to suit the fortunes of both liberal and conservative "would be” presidents and our incumbent president. What we need to do to really and truly get to the bottom of this issue is to develop a new paradigm or way of thinking to approach this grave matter. So, here it goes!

For most Americans, the issue lately has become the “illegal” status of refugees  attempting to cross the Mexican border to enter our country. As one of President Trump's supporters recently asked, "What part of illegal don't these leftist Liberals and Democrats understand?" The answer to that question is simple. There must always be a limitation to what is legal or illegal. Since the founding of our republic most Americans (with some very notable exceptions) have required our laws to provide "...justice to all.” That's what we mean when we pledge allegiance to the flag. My counter question is, "what part of humaneness don't you understand?”

Any historic review of our immigration policy largely reflects our national and international prejudices and needs which were mostly practical. With the exception of our unfortunate and disgraceful treatment and imprisonment of the Japanese people in the US who were rounded up during World War II, we don’t officially worry much about the policies and politics of immigrants' native nations. Therein lies the real heart of our current immigration crisis.

To me, the question isn't the legal or illegal status of Central American immigrants here in the United States. It is their status at home.

Had President Trump recognized how badly the governments of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador were mistreating or allowing their citizens to be mistreated, he could have alerted the Organization of American States as well as the United Nations. As I see it, humanity would have been forced to support his call for action against these governments. President Donald J. Trump could have been an international hero, a defender of human rights. There's much more that can be written on that aspect of the president's prerogatives, but there's a more compelling line of inquiry that must be taken. Here is a set of questions for you.

How often do you find it convenient to move, even within your own hometown? When you make that decision, is it a casual decision even with all of the conveniences which would be available to you via well-financed and equipped American moving companies?

How far do you like to walk when you move? Have you ever walked across a foreign country? How often do you walk even a city block during your move? What would compel you to subject your own children to such a venture? When you do decide to move, don't you expect to be accepted — if not warmly welcomed — by your new neighbors?

Finally, how often have you had to move in terror? Is a status of civil legality really equivalent to the status of terror? How does our official lack of compassion toward immigrants square with our religious doctrines?

It will be argued that our attitude toward "illegals" is consistent with our right to ensure our national security especially since 9/11.Unfortunately, that legitimate obligation is consistent with our historic "nativism" toward the Irish, the Italians, the Poles, the Japanese, and the Chinese, as well as with our almost ingrained anti-Catholic, Jewish, and Islamic prejudices.

As I understand it, by the time you receive this column in your inbox, the federal government, under the direction of a "Conservative Republican” president, will have begun invading American cities and neighborhoods to remove and deport “undesirables" along with any criminals who may be present. Clearly the law in this instance draws no distinction between the good and the bad.

The fact of the matter is that since 9/11 we've proven the truth of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's most famous observation which I hereby slightly alter:

We've become a nation that has surrendered to "...fear itself!”

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY