Photo credit: Unknown, Creative Commons. 

Introduction

These resources explore immigration as a moral and ethical challenge in both domestic politics concerning race and also in international relations.

Conversation Stations

These are the images used in artistic physical displays. They are survey questions and conversation starters that are topically and thematically organized. They demonstrate how Jesus is relevant to each topic or theme. You can also just view the images on your device. If you would like, see all our Conversation Stations; below are the ones that relate to the topic of Immigration and Race.

Whose Justice? (and instructions and Christian Restorative Justice Study Guide)

Whose Justice? for Harvard Law School

What Can We Do About Evil? (and instructions and conversation tree) and smaller version and brochure version

Que Podemos Hacer Sobre La Maldad? for the Asociacion Dominicana de Estudiantes Evangelico, 2014

Does the Good Outweigh the Bad? (and instructions)

Race What's the Problem? (and instructions) and brochure version

Messages and Resources on Christian Ethics, Immigration, and Refugees

Christian Faith, Not Secularism, as the Basis for Transnational Reconciliation

An outline of a presentation with two parts. Part one shows how Christian teaching impacts the political ethics. Part two demonstrates how that played out in actual church history.

Debate on Facebook about the Impact of Trump’s Immigration Policies

A debate on Facebook, Oct 24 - 29, 2020. While there is a range of immigration policies that could be morally acceptable, given larger economic and political policy positions, Mako argues against Trumpian rhetoric and priorities, as Trump’s vision against immigrants and scapegoating of them was one of the most dehumanizing and destructive lies he asserted.

Other Resources on Christian Ethics, Immigration, and Refugees

Cambridge Institute on Religion and International Studies (website)

Karl Barth, On Refugees. Absurdity of Absurdities blog, from Oct 1942.

M. Daniel Carroll R., Christians at the Border: Immigration, the Church, and the Bible. Baker Academic | Amazon page, May 1, 2008.

Robert Woodberry, The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy. American Political Science Review, May 2012.  Important human rights activism which serve as precedents.

Elaine Padilla and Peter C. Phan, Contemporary Issues of Migration and Theology. Palgrave Macmillan | Amazon page, 2013.

Gary Haugen, The Poor Deserve Equal Protection Under the Law. Washington Post, Jan 26, 2014.

Elaine Padilla and Peter C. Phan, Theology of Migration in the Abrahamic Religions. Palgrave Macmillan | Amazon page, 2014.

Elaine Padilla and Peter C. Phan, Christianities in Migration: The Global Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan | Amazon page, 2016.

Carol Kuruvilla, Methodists Bring Church Charges Against Jeff Sessions for Border Policy. Huffington Post, Jun 19, 2018.

Seán P. O’Malley, The Human Consequences of Our Immigration Policies. Boston Globe, Sep 9, 2019.  An excellent example of Catholic engagement, and factual analysis

Obery Hendricks, Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals Are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith. Beacon Press | Amazon page, Jul 2021. Black theologian Obery Hendricks cogently critiques the unholy alliances between white evangelicals and the NRA, the modern antiabortion platform, big business and antilabor, and others. Chapter 5, on demonizing immigrants and Muslims, is important.

Skye Jethani, Racism and Immigration.  Holy Post, Nov 6, 2023.  A great overview of US history.

Other Resources on Immigration and Refugees

Wikipedia, Center for Security Policy (Wikipedia article) staffed by anti-Muslim conspiracy theorists like Frank Gaffney

Jacob I. Stowell, Steven F. Messner, Kelly F. McGeever, Lawrence E. Raffalovich, Immigration and the Recent Violent Crime Drop in the United States: A Pooled, Cross-Sectional Time-Series Analysis of Metropolitan Areas. American Psychological Association, 2009.

Federation for American Immigration Reform, The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers. FAIR, 2013.

Dylan Matthews, North Carolina Needed 6,500 Farm Workers. Only 7 Americans Stuck It Out. Washington Post, May 15, 2013.

Innes Bowen, Who Runs Our Mosques? UK Spectator, Jun 14, 2014.

Terry Gross, America's Forgotten History Of Mexican-American 'Repatriation'. NPR, Sep 10, 2015.

Ali F. Rhuzkan, An Engineer Explains Why Trump's Wall Is So Implausible. The National Memo, Sep 21, 2015.

Economist, German Flexibility: No One Was Sure Germany Could Handle Its Migrant Crisis. It Turns Out It Can. Economist, Oct 24, 2015.

Jack Holmes, This Old Clip of Reagan Talking About Immigration Will, Very Likely, Blow Your Mind. Esquire, Jan 7, 2016.  quoting Bush and Reagan in 1980

Betsy Cooper, Daniel Cox, Rachel Lienesch, Robert P. Jones, How Americans View Immigrants, and What They Want from Immigration Reform: Findings from the 2015 American Values Atlas. PRRI, Mar 29, 2016.  and Leonardo Blair, Majority of White Evangelicals Believe Immigrants Threaten American Values, Study Finds. Christian Post, Mar 29, 2016.

Annalisa Merelli, 1,700 Years Ago, the Mismanagement of a Migrant Crisis Cost Rome Its Empire. Quartz, May 7, 2016.  although the idea of a "fall" of the Western Roman Empire is debated, versus a decentralizing and recentralizing in the Carolingian regime, and a shift in power from the Latins to the Frankish Germanic, who would have been surprised to hear of a "fall" of the Western Empire because they thought of themselves as "Romans"; the point is still important to consider

Morgan Lee, Why Are There Only 53 Christians Among America's 2,184 Syrian Refugees. Christianity Today, Nov 20, 2015.

Joseph Nevins, How US Policy in Honduras Set the Stage for Today's Mass Migration. The Conversation, Oct 31, 2016.  and Jeff Faux, How US Foreign Policy Helped Create the Immigration Crisis. The Nation, Oct 18, 2017.  highlight how we've dealt people massive injustice for cheap bananas

The Young Turks, Trump's Plans for Muslims Are Terrifying. The Young Turks, Nov 16, 2016.  comments on Steve King, Claire Lopez, etc.

Alice Speri, Donald Trump's Mass Deportations Would Cost Billions and Take Years to Process. The Intercept, Nov 18, 2016.  

Slavoj Žižek, Refugees, Conservatism, and Cultural Incompatibility. Big Think, Dec 4, 2016.  touches on what creates and drives refugees (conflict, political instability, corporate neo-colonialism) and the effects of refugee settlement. cultural conflicts)

Glenn Kessler, Trump's Claim That It Is 'Very Tough' for Christian Syrians to Get to the United States. Washington Post, Jan 28, 2017.

Joby Warrick, Jihadist Groups Hail Trump's Travel Ban as a Victory. Washington Post, Jan 29, 2017.

Jon Finer, Sorry, Mr. President, the Obama Administration Did Nothing Similar to Your Immigration Ban. Foreign Policy, Jan 30, 2017.

Jayson Casper, What Arab Church Leaders Think of Trump Prioritizing Persecuted Christian Refugees. Christianity Today, Jan 30, 2017.

Zack Beauchamp, Trump Says Obama Banned Refugees Too. He's Wrong. Vox, Jan 31, 2017.

Alice Salles, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and What You’re Not Being Told About Trump’s Travel Ban. Anonymous, Feb 1, 2017.  Nixon's petrodollar deal with Saudi Arabia

Andrew D. Perrine, How One Small Virginia Town Embraces Immigration - And is Better For It. Washington Post, Feb 10, 2017.

Tanvi Misra, Are Refugees Dangerous? In Nine of Ten Cities That Accepted the Largest Number of Refugees, Crime Went Down - Sometimes Dramatically. The Atlantic Citylab, Feb 14, 2017.

Relevant Magazine, Survey: 76% of 'White Evangelical Protestants' Agree with the President's Refugee Ban. Relevant Magazine, Feb 17, 2017.

Peter Bergen, Trump's Travel Ban is Useless. Terrorists Mostly Come from Our Own Backyard. Washington Post, Jun 5, 2017.

Ed Stetzer, Being Pro-Life Means Caring for All of Human Life. That Includes Being Pro-Refugee. Vox, Jun 26, 2017.

Amanda Taub, Canada's Secret to Resisting the West's Populist Wave. New York Times, Jun 27, 2017.

Ryan Devereaux, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Will Remove "Nation of Immigrants" from Mission Statement. The Intercept, Feb 22, 2018.

Joseph W. Tobin, If You’re a Patriot and a Christian, You Should Support the Dream Act. New York Times, Feb 26, 2018.  on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' position

Jacqueline Stevens, When Migrants Are Treated Like Slaves. New York Times, Apr 4, 2018.  re: border stops and incarceration

John Burnett, Illegal Immigration Does Not Increase Violent Crime, 4 Studies Show. NPR, May 2, 2018.

Kathryn Johnson, Trump Has Ended Temporary Protected Status for Hundreds of Thousands of Immigrants. Here's What You Need to Know. American Friends Service Committee, May 4, 2018.

Tanvi Misra, Inside the Massive U.S. 'Border Zone'. CityLab, May 14, 2018.

Bill Chappell, 55 Palestinian Protesters Killed, Gaza Officials Say, As U.S. Opens Jerusalem Embassy. NPR, May 14, 2018.  

Jaana Juvonen and Jennifer Silvers, Separating Children from Parents at the Border Isn’t Just Cruel. It’s Torture. Washington Post, May 15, 2018.  and against international law

The Young Turks, Tomi Lahren Gets Owned on Immigration. The Young Turks, May 15, 2018.

Philip Bump, The Group Least Likely to Think the U.S. Has a Responsibility to Accept Refugees? Evangelicals. Washington Post, May 24, 2018.  and Brandon Showalter, White Evangelicals Most Supportive of Separating Migrant Children From Parents, But Most Oppose: Poll. Christian Post, Jun 27, 2018.

Mike Hale, Review: A New Film Investigates the Time America Banned an Entire Race. New York Times, May 28, 2018.

Michael Paarlberg, Child Abuse Is Now Part of America's Official Immigration Policy. The Guardian, Jun 14, 2018.

Stephen Colbert, Jeff Sessions Cites the Bible in Separating Children from Parents. The Late Show, Jun 14, 2018.

Mark Joseph Stern, Trump's DOJ Contradicts His Claim That Democrats Are to Blame for Family Separation. Slate, Jun 15, 2018.

Bethany Mandel, How Did the GOP Find Itself Separating Families? The Atlantic, Jun 19, 2018.  the party of family values is now defending a government agency that is forcibly separating children from their parents; see also McKay Coppins, The Outrage Over Family Separation Is Exactly What Stephen Miller Wants. The Atlantic, Jun 19, 2018.  see also Dara Lind and Dylan Scott, Flores Agreement: Trump's Executive Order to End Family Separation Might Run Afoul of a 1997 Court Ruling. The Atlantic, Jun 20, 2018.

Julia Ainsley, Trump Admin's 'Tent Cities' Cost More Than Keeping Migrant Kids with Parents. NBC News, Jun 20, 2018.

Charlie Baily and Schuyler Henderson, The Clinical Case for Keeping Families Together. NBC News, Jun 20, 2018.  clinical practitioners with over a decade of research on Central American families

Todd Tucker, How Mexico Could Force America's Hand on Immigrants. Politico, Jun 22, 2018.  through the Organization of American States (OAS), remarkably and ironically; highlights the possibility that international institutions might play a viable legal role

Kathleen B. Jones, What the Nazis Taught Philosopher Hannah Arendt About the Rights of Refugees. Sojourners, Jul 17, 2018.  explores the context of European ethno-nation-states as the challenge of post-Imperial Europe.

Ian Bremmer, Trump’s Not the Problem. He’s a Symbol of 4 Bigger Issues. Big Think, Aug 1, 2018.  Neoliberal globalization drains work and wealth from people, making them resent immigrants for the opportunities and benefits they receive in the country; veterans return from wars feeling dejected and despondent; technology automates jobs away and drives people apart through social media. Compares populist movements to Japan, which largely rejected neoliberalism, immigration, war, and social media.

Democracy Now, Melania Trump’s Parents Become U.S. Citizens Through Process Trump Wants to Eliminate. Democracy Now, Aug 10, 2018.  re: what Trump calls "chain migration"

David S. Glosser, Stephen Miller Is an Immigration Hypocrite. I Know Because I’m His Uncle. Politico, Aug 13, 2018.  subtitled, "If my nephew’s ideas on immigration had been in force a century ago, our family would have been wiped out."

Kathleen Frydl, Why We Should Abolish ICE - and the DEA Too. Vox, Aug 14, 2018.  On how a punitive organizational purpose and lack of measurable outcomes and accountability shapes recruitment and the behavior of personnel hired

Scott Martele, Now Trump Is Targeting Vietnamese Refugees. Los Angeles Times, Sep 5, 2018.

Daniel Larison, Iranian Christian Asylum Seekers Remain Stuck in Limbo. The American Conservative, Sep 5, 2018.  notes how the Trump administration is going back on its word to even provide asylum and refuge for Christians, without explanation

Caitlin Dickerson, Detention of Migrant Children Has Skyrocketed to Highest Levels Ever. New York Times, Sep 12, 2018.  to 12,800

Melissa del Bosque, Border Patrol Union Endorses Extremist Video Featuring White Nationalists. The Intercept, Oct 23, 2018.

Scott McConnell, The Coming Battle for European Civilization. The American Conservative, Nov 8, 2018.  concerning mainly immigration into Europe

Sonia Moghe and Rosa Flores, Shelters Holding Nearly 15,000 Migrant Children Near Capacity. CNN, Dec 13, 2018.

Randall, Rep Ted Lieu Defies Orders Not to Play Audio of Child Detainees. AsAm News, Dec 31, 2018.  said, "Ripping kids away from their parents is immoral. I believe in Jesus Christ. Every single thing in the Gospel goes against family separation."

Sean McMinn and Renee Klahr, Where Does Illegal Immigration Mostly Occur? Here's What The Data Tell Us. NPR, Jan 10, 2019.

Joe Ward and Anjali Singhvi, Trump Claims There Is a Crisis at the Border. What’s the Reality? New York Times, Jan 11, 2019.

Victoria Law, End Forced Labor in Immigrant Detention. New York Times, Jan 29, 2019.  Congress is allowing private contractors to exploit detained immigrants

Mayra Rodriguez Valladares, Hispanics, Not Trump, Are the Biggest Engine Of U.S. Economic Growth. New York Times, Feb 11, 2019.  references the study by Gonzalo Huertas and Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, The Economic Benefits of Latino Immigration: How the Migrant Hispanic Population’s Demographic Characteristics Contribute to US Growth. Peterson Institute for International Economics, Feb 2019.

Ariel Malka, Yphtach Lelkes, and Christopher J. Soto, Are Cultural and Economic Conservatism Positively Correlated? A Large-Scale Cross-National Test. British Journal of Political Science, Jul 2019.  more common to be negatively correlated

Nicholas Kulish and Mike McIntire, Why an Heiress Spent Her Fortune Trying to Keep Immigrants Out. New York Times Magazine, Aug 14, 2019.  “Newly unearthed documents reveal how an environmental-minded socialite became an ardent nativist whose money helped sow the seeds of the Trump anti-immigration agenda” re: Cordelia Scaife May, an heiress to the Mellon banking and industrial fortune with half a billion dollars at her disposal, helped create the modern anti-immigrant movement on social Darwinian grounds

Laurel Leff, Trump Is Using the Same Immigration Policy That Once Kept Out Jews Fleeing Nazi Germany. MarketWatch, Aug 21, 2019.  “The same “public charge” clause slashed immigration from Europe in the 1930s”

David Scharfenberg, How Donald Trump Just Might Save the Republican Party — and the Country. Boston Globe, Sep 6, 2019.  identifies evangelicals Marco Rubio, who gestures towards a genuine economic nationalism over against neo-conservative and neo-liberal trade policies that decimated American manufacturing, and Josh Hawley, who is an evangelical culture warrior. Note the presence of Yoram Hazony and Amy Wax at the National Conservatism Conference, who argue for “cultural compatibility” in immigration.

Justin Rohrlich and Adam Rawnsley, A Native American Tribe Has a $800 Million Contract to Run ICE Detention Centers. Daily Beast, Jul 6, 2018.  “The National Congress of American Indians has called Trump’s immigration policies ‘simply immoral.’ One member group, though, is taking a very different approach.”

Kate Linthicum, Cindy Carcamo, Molly O’Toole, Immigrant Rights Attorneys and Journalists Denied Entry Into Mexico. Los Angeles Times, Feb 1, 2019.  “Two U.S. immigrant rights attorneys and two journalists who have worked closely with members of a migrant caravan in Tijuana said they had been denied entry into Mexico in recent days after their passports were flagged with alerts by an unknown government.”

Tom Jones, Mari Payton, Bill Feather, Source: Leaked Documents Show the U.S. Government Tracking Journalists and Immigration Advocates Through a Secret Database. NBC San Diego, Mar 6, 2019.  “The documents detail an intelligence-gathering effort by the United States and Mexican authorities, targeting more than 50 people including journalists, an attorney, and immigration advocates”

Farron Cousins, Republican Official Indicted For Human Smuggling And Selling Babies. Ring of Fire, Oct 10, 2019.  re: Paul Petersen. See also Matthew Chapman, GOP Official Indicted for Human Smuggling and Sale of Children in Bizarre International Fraud Scheme. Raw Story, Oct 9, 2019.  “Maricopa County assessor Paul Petersen has been indicted on 11 counts, including human smuggling and sale of a child, as part of a far-reaching international adoption fraud scheme.”

Saagar Enjeti, Corbynism is a Dire Warning for the American Left. Rising | The Hill, Dec 13, 2019.  social-cultural conservatism is an important factor in voting; immigration is a cultural issue and not just an economic one 

Camilo Montoya-Galvez, Thousands of Migrant Children Were Sexually Abused in U.S. Custody, HHS Docs Say. CBS News, Feb 27, 2019.

Robert W. Merry, Democrats Ignore the Immigration Elephant in the Room. The American Conservative, Jan 17, 2020.  “The most important issue of Trump's ascent has drawn silence from the Democratic Party, now the party of the elites.”

Francis Fukuyama, Why Red and Blue America Can’t Hear Each Other Anymore. Washington Post, Jan 24, 2020.  reviews Ezra Klein, but places more weight on immigration as distinct from racial and cultural anxiety

James Jeffrey, For The First Time, No Big Texas Welcome For Refugees. The American Conservative, Feb 10, 2020.  “Trump allows states to opt out of resettlement and Governor Greg Abbott says yes. But is that right?”

John Washington, We Need to Reverse the Damage Trump Has Done in Latin America. Biden's Plans Don't Cut It. The Intercept, Apr 18, 2020.  

Jean Guerrero, Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda. William Morrow | Amazon page, Aug 11, 2020.  explores the anti-immigrant hostility from Miller, but also Trump’s base who wants to see vicious policies enacted against non-white immigrants, legal or illegal. See Morning Joe, Stephen Miller A 'Case Study In Radicalization,' Says Writer. Morning Joe | MSNBC, Aug 10, 2020.  Alex Woodward, 'I'm Confident He Won't Make the Same Mistakes as This President': Former Senior Trump Official Miles Taylor Endorses Joe Biden in Damning Video. UK Independent, Aug 17, 2020.  “Former DHS chief of staff accuses president of pitching 'deliberate' child separation policy and 'cutting off' assistance to California wildfire victims.” Suzanne Gamboa, ‘White Supremacy’ Was Behind Child Separations - and Trump Officials Went Along, Critics Say. NBC News, Aug 22, 2020.

Stuart Anderson, USCIS Staff Furloughs Will Grind Legal Immigration To A Halt. Forbes, Aug 17, 2020.  “The Trump administration is about to achieve what many see as its long-held objective of bringing the U.S. legal immigration system to a halt. While the administration would not be allowed to stop processing immigration applications without incurring legal action, critics say that through policy choices and mismanagement of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) it may accomplish the same goal.”

Associated Press, About 8,800 Unaccompanied Children Are Expelled at US Border. WANE, Sep 12, 2020.

Michael D. Shear, Katie Benner, and Michael S. Schmidt, ‘We Need to Take Away Children,’ No Matter How Young, Justice Dept. Officials Said. New York Times, Oct 21, 2020.  “Top department officials were “a driving force” behind President Trump’s child separation policy, a draft investigation report said.”

Julian Borger, US ICE Officers ‘Used Torture to Make Africans Sign Own Deportation Orders’. The Guardian, Oct 22, 2020.  “Cameroonians say officers choked, beat and threatened to kill them, as lawyers tell of pre-election removal drive” “According to multiple accounts, detainees were threatened, choked, beaten, pepper-sprayed and threatened with more violence to make them sign. Several were put in handcuffs by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers, and their fingerprints were taken forcibly in place of a signature on documents called stipulated orders of removal, by which the asylum seekers waive their rights to further immigration hearings and accept deportation.”

David Brooks, How the Democrats Won the War of Ideas. New York Times, Oct 24, 2020.  "The era of big government is here." See response by Jared Peterson, David Brooks Gets It Wrong. American Thinker, Oct 24, 2020.  who faults immigration for admitting people who are much more open to expansive government.

Dara Lind, Trump Got What He Wanted at the Border. Would Biden Undo It?. ProPublica, Oct 28, 2020.  “Democrats agree that Trump’s caused asylum-seekers unacceptable misery. But the goal of deterring people from migrating to the U.S. — which has motivated Trump’s complex web of border policies — has seduced some Democrats, too.”

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Rural Organizer: Media Gets Everything Wrong In Trump Voter Caricature. Rising | The Hill, Oct 29, 2020.  very important, on-the-ground field work for addressing the political issue of undocumented immigrants, and how corporate control of government stands behind it. “Director of People's Action, George Goehl, discusses why deep canvassing is important and the impact his organization has had so far utilizing the practice.”

Matt Beat, Debunking a PragerU Video About U.S. Immigration. Mr. Beat, Dec 20, 2020.  response to Michelle Malkin’s video

Alicia Menendez, 'The Best Defense Is The Truth;' Private Prison Company Sues Activist For Libel & Loses. MSNBC, Dec 20, 2020.  family separation is in fact happening. A court decided in favor of activist Morgan Simon and against private prison company Core Civic.

Daniella Silva, Migrant Women File Class-Action Lawsuit for Alleged Medical Abuse at ICE Detention Center. NBC News, Dec 22, 2020.  “About 40 women filed sworn testimony in the case, "revealing a relentless pattern of unnecessary and non-consensual medical procedures, including unwanted gynecological surgeries and other non-consensual medical interventions," according to a statement.”

Andrea Mitchell, DOJ Official Blames Trump Administration For Separation Policy At Border. Andrea Mitchell | MSNBC, Jan 14, 2021.

Lawrence O’Donnell, History Shows This Land Was Not Made For You And Me. The Last Word | MSNBC, Mar 24, 2021.  concisely points out that borders claimed in war are always problematic; the Southern border, especially California, used to be Mexico; implications; how politicians portray the ongoing challenge as a “crisis” at one time or another.

Krystal Ball, Media Ignores War on Drugs In Border Panic. Rising | The Hill, Mar 30, 2021.  a very helpful short segment on US interference in Latin America, especially Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras (where two-thirds of all the children coming across the border are from), “Plan Colombia,” the rise of drug cartels and the “war on drugs” in the US. Refers to John Washington, We Need to Reverse the Damage Trump Has Done in Latin America. Biden's Plans Don't Cut It. The Intercept, Apr 18, 2020. .

Cody Johnston et al., The Real Border Crisis. Some More News, Apr 7, 2021.  Operation Gatekeeper uses military deterrence in certain easily accessed portions of the border, forcing migrants to inhospitable areas. Douglas Massey, 2016, argues that emigration would occur under an open border policy.

Wisecrack, The Death of Law | Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Wisecrack, Apr 29, 2021.  explores spaces of legal exception where police are sovereign over people because of statelessness, and extrajudicial killings of people. The internment camp and the concentration camp are the quasi-legal and quasi-illegal space.

Ali Noorani, How Fighting Corruption in Central America Can Help Reduce Illegal Immigration. The Dispatch, Jun 24, 2021.  “Most migrants do not want to leave their home countries, but they do want to raise their families in safety.” There is truth to what he says, yet he overlooks the role of the US in destabilizing governments in Central America for the sake of short term profits by US companies. Notice: “What’s driving this migration, and how can the U.S. effectively respond? It’s a complicated question that begins with a long-term commitment to rooting out corruption… For decades, illicit criminal networks have committed violence and created widespread insecurity in the NTC….”  Yes, but what about prior US interference and disruption of democratic governance?

Vice News, The Law That Broke US Immigration. Vice News, Aug 9, 2021.  explains the 1996 IIRIRA law. IIRIRA required undocumented immigrants to leave the US for 10 years in order to return and become naturalized.

Chris Hayes, Takes Apart The Racist Right-Wing Immigration Theory. MSNBC, Sep 24, 2021.  spotlights David Duke and Tucker Carlson, saying “racism is a form of stupidity.” In light of Haitian asylum-seekers on the Texas border, which is lawful under U.S. and international law, promulgating fears of immigrants and “replacement theory” are vicious. No one is being “replaced,” because a country is not a nightclub. And immigrants do not necessarily vote Democratic.

Meagan Flynn, Afghans Arrived Near a Small Virginia Town, Exposing Two Different Versions of America. Washington Post, Sep 25, 2021. a good spotlight on how immigration is not reducible to economics or fears of crime.

John B. Washington, Trump's Big Border Wall Is Now a Pile of Rusting Steel.  The Atlantic, Dec 20, 2021.

Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uyghur, Huge Fines Levied Against Dr. Oz’s Family Business For Illegal Hiting of Immigrants. The Young Turks, Jun 13, 2022.  Why Oz’s business was fined $95 million for hiring undocumented workers although Oz claims he wants to get tough on immigration: corporate hiring of undocumented people is the major culprit behind the lack of comprehensive immigration reform. Uyghur is also a Turkish-American immigrant like Oz and shares vital perspective.

Noah Pinion, Why Aren’t We Taking Every Chinese Refugee We Can? Noahpinion | Substack, Apr 18, 2023.

Saagar Enjeti and Ryan Grim, Saagar And Ryan Debate Border Crisis As Title 42 Ends. Breaking Points, May 11, 2023. Ryan Grim gives very important facts about US military and economic involvement in Latin America that contributes to the immigration crisis.

Kyle Kulinski, DeSantis Harsh Immigration Law Backfires. The Kyle Kulinski Show, May 18, 2023. Farms, construction sites, stores, gardening sites are abandoned.

Amy Goodman, Florida's "Terrifying" Anti-Immigrant Crackdown Sets Stage for Gov. Ron DeSantis's Presidential Run. Democracy Now, May 23, 2023.

Saagar Enjeti and Ryan Grim, Florida Construction Sites Empty: Is It Worth It? Breaking Points, May 23, 2023. If strawberries and orange juice cost more, then the Fed Chair says that inflation has gotten too high, raises rates, and tries to push labor costs down. Why not protect domestic labor, then use big government power to subsidize some prices of key goods?

Amy Goodman, The Intercept Reveals Border Patrol Is Caging Migrants Outdoors in Deadly Arizona Heat.  Democracy Now, Jul 24, 2023.  “As a record-breaking heat wave continues in Arizona, reporters with The Intercept  say they have observed U.S. Border Patrol holding about 50 migrants inside a chain-link pen in the Sonoran Desert, at the Ajo Border Patrol Station. This comes as the group Humane Borders reports the bodies of at least 13 people were found over the past month in the Sonoran Desert where many migrants cross. "You really can't overstate how deadly this ecosystem is," says reporter Ryan Devereaux, who describes the well-funded border agencies' lack of support for border crossers. Roland Gutierrez, Democratic state senator running against Ted Cruz for Senate, says, "We need to revamp the whole system."”

Brian Tyler Cohen, Ron DeSantis Gets Brutal Legal News Over Martha’s Vineyard Stunt.  Brian Tyler Cohen, Sep 20, 2022.  See also Ben Meiselas, Ron DeSantis Now Under Criminal Investigation For Migrant Stunt.  Meidas Touch, Sep 20, 2022.  Update:  WCVB Channel 5 Boston, Migrants Flown to Mass. Sue Florida Governor Over 'Fraudulent, Discriminatory Scheme'.  WCVB Channel 5 Boston, Sep 20, 2022.  To see pictures of the brochures used to trick the Venezuelan migrants, and the speech by Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, see Amy Goodman, Reverse Freedom Rides: Flying Migrants North, Florida Gov. Steals Page from Segregationists.  Democracy Now, Sep 20, 2022.  Connects the migrant busing to Northern cities to the Reverse Freedom Rides where Black people were unceremoniously bussed, sometimes by trickery, to Northern cities by Southern segregationist leaders.

Emma Vigeland, AOC Dismantles GOP Immigration Lies. The Majority Report, Sep 25, 2023. AOC discusses Venezuela and the US sanctions on its oil industry as a primary driver of refugees into the US.

Some More News, The GOP's Martha's Vineyard Stunt Backfired And Then They Just Lied About It.  Some More News, Sep 28, 2022.  

00:00 - Introduction

07:09 - Ron DeSantis' Cruel Kidnapping Stunt...

21:25 - ...And How It Really Backfired

29:25 - What This Stunt Says About The GOP

41:49 - The GOP Lied About How This Went For Them

The GOP claims that Biden is doing nothing about migrants and helping border states like Texas.  But Biden in June already started helping migrants move to sanctuary cities like Los Angeles.  See Julia Ainsley, Amid Border Surge, Biden Admin Plans to Send Migrants to Cities Deeper Inside U.S., Starting with L.A., Say Internal Documents.  NBC News, Jun 8, 2022.  “DHS officials have jokingly referred to the model as the “Abbott plan,” an official said, referring to Texas Gov. Abbott’s decision to bus migrants from Texas to D.C.”

Marcela Valdes, Why Can’t We Stop Unauthorized Immigration? Because It Works.  New York Times Magazine, Oct 1, 2023.  “Our broken immigration system is still the best option for many migrants — and U.S. employers.”

Skye Jethani, Racism and Immigration.  Holy Post, Nov 6, 2023.  A great overview of US history.

Seth Meyers, Trump and MAGA Allies Sabotage Border Deal, Sparking GOP Backlash, Infighting: A Closer Look. Late Night with Seth Meyers, Feb 1, 2024. A humorous survey of a tragic issue: how Republicans use immigration as a political tool, shown by how GOP Senators crafted an immigration bill but Trump now demands that they not pass it.

60 Minutes, Chinese Migrants Are Fastest Growing Group Crossing into U.S. from Mexico. 60 Minutes, Feb 4, 2024.

Lulu Garcia Navarro, The Interview: James Lankford Tried to Solve Immigration for the GOP. New York Times Podcasts, Aug 10, 2024.

Noah Smith, How Will You Save Small Midwestern Towns Without Mass Immigration? Noahpinion | Substack, Sep 22, 2024.

“The stories of other small towns that have received a bunch of immigrants in recent years all sound the same. At first the newcomers are met with suspicion and apprehension, and schools struggle to deal with a sudden huge influx of ESL kids. But as time goes on, the small-town residents experience the optimism of the return of local growth, and most of them warm to the newcomers. The town gains a local ethnic flavor, and in general most people are either happy about the change, or at least accepting of it.

In fact, we have systematic evidence showing that this is the standard pattern. J. Celeste Lay, a political scientist at Tulane, wrote an excellent short book called A Midwestern Mosaic in which she examined the differences between two Iowa towns that got a big influx of (mostly Latino) immigrants, and other surrounding similar towns that didn’t get an influx.”

Occupy Democrats, McConnell Drops Surprise Bombshell On Trump & Tucker Carlson. Occupy Democrats, Sep 27, 2024. A helpful collection of video clips of House Republicans and Senators on Fox News saying that Trump was responsible for killing the bipartisan immigration bill. For anyone who blames Democrats.

Robert Reich, The High Cost of Trump’s Mass Deportation Plan. Robert Reich, Oct 23, 2024.

Morning Joe, Steve Rattner: Trump’s Mass Deportation and Trade War Plans Will Tank the Economy. Morning Joe | MSNBC, Oct 24, 2024.

Christine Amanpour, The Costs of Mass Deportation? Expert Breaks Down Trump’s Immigration Plan. Amanpour and Company, Oct 28, 2024. “Over the weekend, Donald Trump delivered one of the most extreme closing arguments in modern presidential history, calling illegal migrants "vicious and bloodthirsty criminals." Trump said, if elected, he'd "launch the largest deportation program in American history" on day one. But how much would it cost to enact such a plan? The American Immigration Council has been crunching the numbers. Senior Fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss its recent report.”

Jess Cornaggia, Kimberly Cornaggi, and Ryan D. Israelsen, Unauthorized Immigration and Local Government Finances. SSRN, Oct 24, 2024. “This paper examines how unauthorized immigration affects the fiscal health of local governments in the United States. Using detailed data on unauthorized immigrants’ countries of origin and arrival dates from the Syracuse TRAC database, we isolate immigration flows driven by social, economic, and political conditions in source countries. We predict local immigration patterns using a shift-share instrument based on pre-existing foreign-born population distributions. We find that the economic effects of unauthorized immigration depend crucially on local labor market conditions. In areas with structurally tight labor markets—characterized by low unemployment and low labor force participation—unauthorized immigration correlates with lower municipal bond yields. However, areas with typical labor market conditions experience higher yields. Areas with “sanctuary” status also experience higher yields when exposed to unauthorized immigration. These yield effects reflect underlying economic mechanisms: unauthorized immigration predicts loosening of labor markets in areas where they were previously tight, whereas in sanctuary areas, unemployment rates increase by more than twice as much. We find unauthorized immigration explains higher expenditures on local public amenities, including welfare assistance, construction, education, and law enforcement, but these expenditures are not offset by higher tax revenues. Overall, our results provide novel insights into the local economic effects of unauthorized immigration.”

Julianne McShane, “The Brown Round-Up”: The Racist Chain Letter Terrorizing an Oregon County. Mother Jones, Dec 22, 2024. “Recipients—including a mayor—were told to surveil “brown folks” at churches, schools, and stores.” See also Amanda Marcotte, "This is Trump’s America now!": MAGA Diehards Jumpstart a New Year of Political Violence. Salon, Dec 30, 2024. “There are already calls for vigilantes to round up "brown folks" to imprison in camps.”

Krystal Ball and Emily Jashinsky, Trump Backs Elon in the MAGA H1B War. Breaking Points, Dec 30, 2024. Krystal and Emily recount the many times Trump said on the campaign trail that he would favor H1Bs, but right-wing media arguably betrayed the right-wing base. Krystal points out that employers have enormous power over foreign workers with the H1B visa, because if they are fired, they will be deported. Therefore, they are a very vulnerable group of people who are close to modern day slaves because of their lack of legal labor protections.

Tim Miller, Sarah Longwell, and Jonathan V. Last, MAGA in Chaos Before 2025 Even Begins. Bulwark Podcast, Dec 31, 2024. They comment on Laura Loomer’s critique of Elon and Vivek when she was on Steve Bannon’s podcast. At 15:40, J.V. Last agrees with Loomer.

“There's a difference in Silicon Valley between the founder class and the working class.  Elon and Vivek are founder class (Vivek isn't really; Vivek didn’t do anything to make his money; he did the scam about Alzheimer’s).  The worker class, though, are just drones.  They rely on a worker class of network engineers and coders and developers.  And those people are always kept in the back of the house and they're disposable.  What this is really about is the founder class wanting access to cheap labor.  That's all it is.  So you get to pay H1B visa type workers something like $0.70 on the dollar and they can't leave.  Once they're with you they're basically indentured servants.  And so it is no surprise that the Elon Musks of the world want more of these people.  They want to lower their labor costs and not have to worry about guys who are going to go and pick up a better job someplace else because they’re tethered there because of their visa status.  And that’s bad. 

What I want most in the world is:  I want Elon Musk to have to hire for SpaceX and Tesla and Twitter entirely from the audience of the Madison Square Garden MAGA event.  I mean look:  There's 30,000 people there.  Surely he can find some really top notch devs and engineering talent there who are just true American patriots.  Is he saying that these mouth breathing cletus types are idiots?  Is that what he’s saying? 

[Tim Miller:  Yes!  He saying, “They’re retarded.”  He agreed with autism capital who tweeted that MAGA Americans are too retarded to do these jobs.  Elon said, “Spot on.”  That's what Elon thinks.  I think he would argue that he isn't looking for cheap labor, it's just that he can't find the Americans that he needs to do the job.] 

Here's the thing:  This is a big country.  There's 330 million people in this country.  The H1B numbers I think are [85,000] in the low 6 figures or high 5 figures a year.  You can find them.  And if you can't, do you know what businesses are supposed to do?  They're supposed to pay taxes.  The government can use the taxes to create a skilled labor force.  Skilled labor forces don't just appear; they're not sui generis; you have to spend money on infrastructure; you have to spend money on education; you have to have a social support network to go into disadvantaged communities and find bright people and build pathways to have them elevated and realize their potential.  But of course these guys don't want to do any of that.  They want no part of paying for the infrastructure of a government that actually runs a society that creates human capital.  They just want the human capital so that they can make money.  And for them, the H1B visa program is a way of short circuiting all obligations to the society in which they luxuriate and operate and make so much money.  F*** that.  Pay your taxes.

This is also the Obama critique.  Remember:  “You didn't build that”?  Which is right.  You have a business selling widgets.  Well, your business depends on the fact that there's a police force to enforce the rule of law and a government which isn't going to govern by fiat.  Your business depends on the entire society functioning and that's why you pay taxes.  And instead these guys wanna pay fewer taxes or no taxes at all.  And they want their labor to just magically appear and even better if that magically appearing labor will be cut rate and can't leave.”

For a Twitter debate among MAGA adherents revealing the importance of schools as public investment and Musk’s billionaire proclivities to not pay taxes, see Ben Meiselas and Michael Popok, Trump Derails his Entire Term before New Year. Meidas Touch, Jan 1, 2025 at the 5:08 mark because the relevant tweets have been deleted. One person said, “Open a school. We have brains.” Musk replied, “If you need a school, you’ve lost already.” A third person said, “Incredible. At this rate, you’re going to make me side with the leftists…” See also Kyle Kulinski, Elon Fires American Workers For Cheaper H1B Immigrants. The Kyle Kulinski Show | Secular Talk, Jan 1, 2025. Musk replaced around 2,800 Tesla workers who were U.S. citizens with immigrant workers with H1B visas, doing exactly the thing the H1B visa was not supposed to do. See also Kyle Kulinski, MAGA Realizes Left-Wingers Were Right All Along! The Kyle Kulinski Show, Secular Talk, Jan 1, 2025.

Will Gordh and Adrienne Larkin, The Truth About Immigration. Talking Politics with Mom, Jan 3, 2025. An outstanding video, almost 2 hours, giving a historical perspective and contemporary analysis of the border and immigration generally. Republicans have scapegoated vulnerable groups for decades, instead of blaming the billionaires and employer class, who prefer to pay undocumented labor under the table rather than U.S. citizens because of payroll taxes and employer health care costs (see one comment from bethsousa9598). At 32 minutes, they discuss California’s Prop 187 “Save Our State” which also blamed illegal immigrants for the cost of living, criminality, etc. Every country voted for this initially, including 52% of Black people, 27% of Latinos, 52% of Asian people, 52% of 1st generation citizens, and 60% of 3rd generation citizens, but the later resistance and education turned CA firmly Democratic. At 38.00, they discuss immigration trends: In the 1960s and 70s, immigration increased because the wars of revolution destabilized many countries, pushing people to the U.S. for safety. In the 1980s, Reagan’s interference in Latin America drove immigration to the U.S. But the public blamed Reagan instead of the immigrants. Obama wanted a comprehensive immigration policy. To strike that deal with the Republicans, he firmed up border policy, targeting criminals especially, and trusted Republicans to be good faith actors. Immigration plummeted, and 1.5 million immigrants left the U.S. But the composition of the immigrants was changing because they were families from Central America, seeking asylum. Trump accused Mexican immigrants of crime, creating a problem out of thin air. The problem was the U.S. lacked a pathway to citizenship, and Trump inherited a great border. Instead, Trump didn’t focus on criminals and terrorized families and children. Trump took the people least likely to commit crimes. Convicted criminals flood into the U.S. He let 58,000 convicted criminals into the U.S. Only the COVID pandemic slowed immigration in 2020. Border agents then caught more convicted criminals at the border in 2020 than before, which means many more were not caught. Biden then assigned Harris to Central America and got $5 billion in commitments to invest in infrastructure. Immigration from Mexico and Central America then declined, but increased from the rest of the world: China, Russia, etc. At 57:22, they discuss solutions to immigration and the border. Big corporations who want cheap labor always want immigration, then during economic downturns, they can scapegoat the foreign labor. From 2024 - 2034, undocumented workers will pay $250,000,000 into Social Security, and not benefit. The 800 billionaires will pay $167,000,000. All immigrants will pay $2 trillion.

Kyle Kulinski, ‘HE’S EVIL!’: Steve Bannon Goes Nuclear On ‘Racist’ Elon Musk. The Kyle Kulinski Show, Jan 13, 2025.

Patrick Boyle, How Would Mass Deportations Affect the US Economy? Patrick Boyle, Jan 14, 2025. Boyle says in all likelihood, mass deportations will cause inflation, especially in prices of food and housing construction. He covers the partisan rhetoric vs. actual realities about immigration.

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