Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 6-22-18

Feature
Readers Respond To Separation Of Families At Border
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Recently, the news has been filled with opinions about President Donald Trump’s order that children of non-U. S. citizens crossing the border with their parents be taken away.
The children are being taken because the parents are being placed in federal prisons to be charged criminally. This law has been on the books, but pre- vious presidents did not en- force it because they didn’t want to break up families.
And, although the attention is being placed on California, more than 1,000 children have been brought to three centers in Florida established for “undoc- umented children.”
U. S. Senator Bill Nelson and U. S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz at- tempted to visit one of the facil- ities, but were turned away and two told they needed to give a two-week notice to be allowed inside.
The Question of the Week is, “Do you agree with President Trump, or do you feel there is a better way of controlling people entering the country?”
Rev. Karen Jackson Sims
said, “This policy imple- mented by Mr. Trump is heartless, which is why prior Presi- dents did not
enforce this. He has the ability to stop it and stop it right now. Yet, he has made a decision to do this to immigrants. There is definitely many alternative means to implement a policy which protects our country and has compassion.
“This will begin though in Congress. The current laws must be rewritten and should be done in such a manner to stop future Presidents from doing “bullying” activities such as this one. I just want to ask the 1st Lady – ‘How’s that anti- bullying program going?’”
Ms. Tonya Lewis said, “I do not agree with Trump. The United States law- makers have to come up with a better system. This is immoral and is not what the United States stands for. Just to see these children in cages and crying for the parents is foremost the low- est that some of the lawmakers in the United States of America can go. This looks like slavery at
its best.”
Mrs. Chloe Coney said,
“America has a long history of taking chil- dren from families. Look at Black fami- lies during
slavery times. It was wrong then and NOW. If they have to send the family back, then send all of them together or leave them together in America! Families are to be together! Trump is wrong!”
Ross Anderson said, “I don't agree. I feel that his- tory is repeat- ing itself. Let's enforce exist- ing immigra- tion laws in the interior, and make im- provements to border security, that doesn't require breaking
up families.
“A sensible solution would
include eliminating the visa lot- tery, ending chain migration, reforming the outdated practice of birthright citizenship, elimi- nating visas for unnecessary foreign workers, and reducing fraud in the asylum and refugee programs.”
Dr. Samuel Wright said, “I lack expertise on immigra- tion issues, but no one in their rightful minds would want to sepa- rate children from their par- ents. There must be a better
idea for sanctions in this re- gard.”
Otis Anthony said, “This caging of 11,000 help- less children of color is cruel, demonic, and Disgraceful. We should all disagree with this mean-spir- ited Zero-Tolerance Policy that criminalizes immigrant parents seeking legal asylum, and steals children away crying for their
mothers.
“If the American people do
not stop Trump and Jeff Ses- sions, 20,000 children will be in these crude concentration camps, by August.
“The good news is that two thirds of Americans disapprove of this hateful policy, but 55% of brainwashed Republicans approve of the policy.
“I should add that this 55% is part of a steadily shrinking Re- publican Party that most people will not join because THEY ARE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY. The wailing cry- ing of babies in cages, has fired up America!”
Billy Wheeler said, “As the so-called ‘pro- life, family val- ues’ party, this administra- tion’s decision to criminalize what were for- merly civil violations is hypo- critical. Trump and his cronies have removed the whitewashed cloak of civility as the niceties that masked the nastiness have
been discarded.
“Thankfully, most citizens
seem to oppose it. Still, in order to heal, America must under- stand the first part of fixing a problem is admitting it exists. When people say, "This is not America," and "This isn't who we are," they deny the Trail of Tears and Indian orphanages. They ignore the African fami- lies torn apart by chattel slav- ery. They fail to recall the Japanese internment camps of WW II. And they overlook the countless children of color who
are currently parentless through the unfair criminal jus- tice system. Historically, this is exactly who we are... it's who we've always been.”
Attorney Clinton Paris said, “I am encouraged that Florida’s Democratic Senator Bill Nelson is visiting the Homestead detention center to address the inhumanity of our immigration problem and I look forward to his proposed solution. Because, clearly America needs to update its an- tiquated immigration system to allow enough people to lawfully seek asylum in a timely man-
ner.
“This way they would not be
forced into criminally crossing the border to save their lives. Under the current immigration system it can take a decade to go through the lawful asylum process, which is too long for people in imminent danger.
“However, the wholesale criminalization of all persons not seeking asylum at a port of entry is resulting in the tragic separation of children from their parents. This is un-Amer- ican and does not ‘Make Amer- ica Great Again.’
“But for Native Americans, we are all immigrants and should never yield to our fears of those now seeking liberty, but rather we must have the courage to embrace them into the fabric of our country.”
Cedric McCray said, “The method that the current administra- tion is using to regulate and enforce immigrants crossing the border is inhu- mane and cruel. These egre- gious and heartbreaking tactics are not only affecting the par- ents, but have negatively im- pacted the children physically, emotionally, and psychologi- cally for years to come. I believe there are better ways to control
who enters the country without causing undue stress or harm to families seeking the ‘American Dream.’”
Mrs. Bonnye Crews said, “It's bad enough that the Trump administra- tion is sepa- rating immigrant children from parents and im- prisoning them in concentra- tion camp-like facilities, but using the Bible to justify it is
disgraceful.
“The Bible tells us to show
hospitality to strangers, for in doing so, some have enter- tained angels without knowing it. It's time for "we the people" to call on our legislators to right this egregious wrong. America is better than this.”
Ralph Smith said, “Mr. Trump is using chil- dren as bar- gaining chips to try to force his will on getting money to build “The Wall.” Holding families and children hostage for his own selfish in- terests is an affront to every-
thing that America stands for. “I am ashamed at what our country has become. Trump has caused irreparable harm to the country’s reputation around the globe. When we treat oth- ers badly, we may unwittingly be creating the very terrorist that we say we are trying to
avoid.”
Ed Narain said, “This ad-
ministration continues to misuse the Bible to jus- tify its evil policies. The separation of
families is immoral and dates all the way back to the slave trade. Children are not negoti- ation tools and the long term damage this is doing to them and their families may be im- possible to repair.
“This is happening at the same time our nation is leaving the U. N. Human Rights Coun- cil. There is absolutely NO reli- gious, political or moral justification for what is being done at our border.”
Danny Green said, “I think it is wrong to separate kids from their family. Trump has no compas- sion for any- one. Congress needs to come up with a better solution to keep the families to- gether. If they are illegal, we should give them a chance as long as they not criminals. That's what American is all about giving people opportuni-
ties.”
PAGE 4-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2018