Have We Talked About This?

I think we've talked about this before but I can't remember. I also don't feel like doing an archive search to see because I'm lazy. But I think we've had this discussion so if you feel like it's a bit too dejavu and you don't want to dejado it again you can skip this blog without any judgement from me.

Just click like on the page so I think you read it and I'm a genius and we are all good.

Kidding.

Sort of.

ANYWAY...

"Stop that or I'll give you something to cry about." How much did you hate that as a child? Said when you were crying, of course. Even as a four year old I understood how dismissive it was. OF COURSE I HAVE SOMETHING TO CRY ABOUT OR I WOULDN'T BE CRYING! Now, I also never said that to my parents because I was not about to court the spank, but it always bothered me. I hope that I never said it to C. Odds are I didn't because I didn't spank him, so I'm not sure what I would have given him to make him cry. A devastating insult? Grounding? Hopefully I gave him the space to feel his feelings. Probably not all the time, I mean, we parents can be jerks to our kids sometimes.

But still, if someone is upset, even if you don't think it's worth being upset about, they are still upset. And telling someone who is crying their eyes out over their feelings that you are going to hit them if they don't stop? That's insane. Sorry, Mom and Dad, but it was.

Which brings us to the latest Trump administration moves.

He's cutting funding to the Northern Triangle. Those are the Central American countries where the greatest number of immigrants at the southern border are coming from. He's also threatening to completely close the southern border because Mexico isn't doing enough to stop the migration. He wants them to build a wall as well I guess? But since they are giving humanitarian visas to those that they feel are the most in need of it he's going to punish them.

All of this is insane.

I mean, we know the whole wall idea is insane anyway. A wall is not the same as effective border security. We need to see what the issues are and fix them at the root. And guess what? When they show up at the border seeking asylum isn't where the issues start.

They start back in their home countries. Where the gangs and the violence and the poverty are so bad that risking the trip across Mexico to come to a country that is openly hostile to them looks like a better idea. Don't you think they'd rather stay home? Honestly? I mean I know the narrative is that they are coming here to steal jobs and live off of our social safety net (also doesn't make sense, which is it? Steal the jobs or live off of benefits?) but who wants to leave everyone they know, make a dangerous trip that could result in beatings, rapes, robbery or death, only to come someplace you will have to live in the shadows, if you get in at all? How bad is it where you are that this seems like a good idea? And how much better would it have to be for you to decide to stay?

We have numbers that show that the money we spent there actually helped reduce the influx of illegal immigration. So maybe instead of stopping all of the aid we look at the programs that were shown to work and we put some more investment in to those?

Oh I can hear it already, Why help them when we have our own problems?

Well, because this is our problem. Not just because we have an influx of people at the southern border and that's an issue. But because the drug gangs are our doing. We did that. Because we want the drugs they are growing and manufacturing. Our demand is driving that industry. And that industry is driving the violence. And the violence is driving the people to leave to come here. This is our problem.

It's the same issue I had with the denial of taking in refugees from war torn countries in the Middle East. You know, the countries we tore apart? We are really good at breaking things but not so good at recognizing our responsibility in fixing them. In all the ways they need fixed. We really need to look at our part in all of these issues.

Instead we look at refugees and cancel the numbers we allow in.

We look at asylum seekers and build a wall. And cut funding to their countries.

We say, "Oh you're crying? Let's give you something to cry about!"

They already have reasons.

We need to stop being the reason.