We see immigration happening around the world. Millions of people in Africa and the Middle East have left their homelands because of violence or starvation or persecution, and this has been going on for decades. They flee to neighboring countries or to Europe. In the U.S. we welcome refugees from Africa and Asia, but for some reason we don’t welcome people coming here from countries south of Texas. Under international law, anyone fleeing their homeland because of violence is entitled to request formal refugee status in another country.

Currently Honduras is the murder capitol of the world, and our government has been giving them military aid. When is our government going to negotiate human rights provisions and provide some humanitarian aid so it isn’t necessary for so many people from Central America to come here? Sending them back into the current situation is not a solution. They will just come back again.

Some think we should build more prisons to house them. The U.S. already incarcerates more people that all other countries in the world combined, at a cost of $275 billion per year, and that is not sustainable. If we build more jails to hold another 10 million people, how much more would that cost the taxpayers?

Half of all refugees are children, the future citizens of our world. If children grow up with a history of violence, abuse and rejection, what kind of citizens will they be in the future? And they will be our neighbors to the south. If Congress cannot or will not make the necessary decisions to provide care for the unaccompanied minors coming into our country, let’s kick them all out of office and replace them with people who will.

 

Lenore Fries

Albert Lea