Is Immigration Personal?

It turns out immigration in the United States is personal. If you have consistent personal contact with immigrants regardless of their origin, chances are you are against President Marmalade’s* recent executive. If you hang out in a coffee shop off of any highway in Delaware, chances are you only have limited experience with recent immigrants. And, yet, somehow, you remain blissfully ignorant.

Whit Warmoth, of Milford, said he heard many people at airport protests across the country say that the executive order was unconstitutional. He disagrees, saying it is the right of every president to use the power of the pen to sign such orders.

“He feels it necessary to move the country forward,” Warmoth said. “He’s keeping his campaign promises and moving the country in a different direction.

Can we bring these people along? Probably not. The same News Journal article that highlights ignorance about immigration was really about the interfaith service held last night at the mosque at the Islamic Center of Delaware. The News Journal needs to learn that sometimes getting the story from both sides is no longer required.

“First they came for the Muslims, and I said: ‘Not this time,” intoned Rabbi Micah Becker-Klein, of Temple Beth El in Newark.

[snip]

Attorney General Matt Denn said his office was considering legal action to fight the order, either independently or with some of the other state AGs who had already begun legal action. He called the order “A betrayal of basic American values.”

But then the News Journal gives the other side a voice:

But even as U.S. senators and faith leaders thundered against Trump, the president’s supporters argued he was moving fast to keep the country safe — just like he had promised.

“I think what President Trump has done for this country with the executive order is make it safer,” said Terry Kues, of Ocean View. “We’re a country of immigrants, so I do believe this should be a temporary ban. I don’t think the government should ban immigrants permanently, but vetting them before letting them enter the country is wise on the president’s part.”

But as I said earlier in this post, I believe that immigration is personal. I work with immigrants all the time whether they’ve come from Afghanistan, Russia, Kazakhstan,  France, Ivory Coast, India, and many other countries. Some are Muslim, others Christian, and Hindu. Hell, even my first wife was an immigrant. Though she came and stayed in States legally, unlike Melania Trump.

Though the Trump opposition has our differences — some of the fallout from the Women’s March is a good example  —, the President just seems intent on bringing us together. A friend I worked with came to the States from the Soviet Union has begun an online community called Ironed Curtains. It is set up as a space for and by Americans with Soviet roots to share our lives, our experiences, and our culture. My guess is that there are other communities springing up on online that will document what America really looks like.

I would like to thank the president for solidifying us in ways we would have never imagined, but I really don’t like being on the precipice of whatever sweet hell he is imagining for the world. The fight is going to be difficult and long. I am hoping I am totally wrong about immigration being personal, but I doubt it.

* Hell, yeah, I’m co-opting this from Trae Crowder, the Liberal Redneck.