Why do we hate children, refugees, and immigrants? Refugees are not an invasive species
The month of December brings business people a pause to reflect on the year behind. The manic grind of commercial effort slows as the business world enters a near state of hibernation caused by time away from work, holiday parties, and the rush to create perfect family moments – activities not possible for the thousands of refugees and immigrants, many of them children, at the southern border of the US. This topic is much larger than how it affects the availability of low wage labor. Corporations today are speaking to big issues such as equality and violence. This one deserves equal time because it demands that we call evil out for what it is. I want to tilt you away from holiday comfort food into the reality of how we treat the most vulnerable among us.
My life exists because America opened its arms to immigrants. My grandfather arrived at Ellis Island in New York at the age of 20 as an immigrant escaping the poverty of Denmark. The ship’s manifest for his 1910 arrival states he was in good health, was not an anarchist or polygamist, and had $15 dollars in his pocket. Eight years later he enlisted in the US Army at the age of 28. He fought in the battles of the Meuse–Argonne, the second-deadliest campaign in American history. Laurits Sorensen would have a son, and that son of an immigrant started a family which included me. My grandfather wasn’t required to have a visa; his only cost of admission was a one-way ticket purchased on the Scandinavian America Line. Most importantly, he was merely a poor immigrant . . . and did not even have the most vulnerable status of a refugee.
Let’s look at the events of the past year. The UN Refugee Commission estimates more than 70 million people worldwide have been forced to flee their homes as a result of persecution, war, or violence. The US Government has added layer upon layer of rules that have almost eliminated successful asylum claims. Any asylum seeker from Central America (except Mexico) is effectively blocked from entry in a new rule issued in July. However, if the asylum seeker has official paperwork proving the request has been denied by another country – they might get entry. The Mexican Government says the list of people waiting in Mexico now exceeds 26,000. Asylum seekers in tent camps on the US border are often the victims of kidnapping schemes which extract ransom in the thousands from relatives in the US. The situation which has become brutal under the current administration.
The overall immigration case backlog now exceeds one million nationally, with an average court date wait of 696 days. Nearly 70,000 children have been held by the US Government this year. The conditions experienced by these children are appalling and cruel with overcrowding and chain link fencing being used to separate groups. The most recent development has asylum-seeking parents in border camps sending their children unaccompanied across the bridge to surrender to US agents.
Armchair pundits sitting safely by the fireplace in their Christmas tree-adorned homes may reply, “They shouldn’t be coming here.” But if I were facing unspeakable poverty in my home country, living in a place without the rule of law, or facing violence because of my race, religion, or sexual identity . . . hell yes, I’d try to find America. My Grandpa did in 1910. I owe my existence to a country that allowed him safe passage through Ellis Island on 27 July 1910. Everyone in this country, with the exception of indigenous peoples, shares the same bond of immigration, acceptance, and assimilation.
IdeaWorksCompany is donating $2,500 to the UN Refugee Commission to help the most vulnerable among us: child refugees and immigrants. For every reader who clicks to follow me on LinkedIn, we will donate an additional $2 through the end of 2019. Please join me in the never-ending fight against what’s wrong.