
Children Shouldn’t Be Dying at the Border. Here’s How You Can Help - whack
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/24/opinion/border-kids-immigration-help.html
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zaroth
The demographics of border crossers has changed dramatically over the last
several years. We never used to have so many families and unaccompanied minors
crossing.

I believe this is a direct result of the incentives we provide by allowing
families to stay, minors to be provided free transport along to waiting
relatives (who may be in the country illegally themselves), and ultimately the
promise of deferred action and citizenship. But all of this is contingent on
_having a child with you_ when you cross, or children crossing alone, which is
totally ludicrous.

Over 50,000 unaccompanied minors in the last year have crossed over that we
know of. Assuming these children are not being returned back home, they
obviously need to be sheltered while their relatives are located and screened.
This is an incredibly vulnerable population which has grown exponentially and
therefore now greatly exceeds the capacity of the network of non-profits which
used to provide temporary shelter and housing.

Parents in the US who leave their kids unattended in the car while they run in
for groceries risk having their kids taken and being charged with child
endangerment. Parents who cross into the US illegally with their kids get a
free pass.

Even aside from the question of “first safe country” - we have a legal system
for processing asylum claims, and historically (going back several
administrations) the types of people crossing do not qualify because they are
mainly _economic_ migrants.

The best way to stop kids dying at the border is to stop encouraging their
parents (or coyotes) to take them there.

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core-questions
Is there some reason why it is the responsibility of Americans or their
government to provide for people that enter the country illegally? Parents are
endangering their children's lives and committing crimes, contributing to a
rising problem, and the biggest concern we're supposed to have is whether the
children are comfortable enough?

I'm tired of this emotional manipulation. It's perfectly reasonable for a
country to have a border and to defend it against illegal entry. To suggest
otherwise is literally to attack the very concept of a nation and to eschew
any sense of respect for the existing tax base.

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threatofrain
Putting aside the lens of responsibility for a moment, the parents and kids
are rational if in the sum of all things the grass is actually much greener on
the other side of the fence.

Of course the nation with the greener grass is also free to exercise a
rational value of preservation of position, especially if scaling isn’t cheap
or easy. In an increasingly disparate world nations may find themselves
building more fences.

~~~
core-questions
> in the sum of all things the grass is actually much greener on the other
> side of the fence.

Sure, but this needs to include a risk calculation - how tall is that fence,
and what happens when you don't make it over, versus other options like
migrating somewhere else more local, or refocusing your efforts in your own
community.

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michaelmrose
We did not write angry letters to end nazi concentration camps. Any particular
reasons we shouldn't all march on the camps and dismantle them?

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rpiguy
They are not Nazi concentration camps. If the alternative is to effectively
have an open border than I support the actions taken to detain and process
illegal border crossers.

~~~
michaelmrose
Did your relations apply for citizenship from home and wait a decade?

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basic7
Push for immigration reform then, not lawlessness.

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michaelmrose
When the law is children imprisoned in cells sleeping on concrete floors bring
on the lawlessness.

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rpiguy
The children are victims of their parents' decision, not our government. Blame
the parents.

