![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Illegal-Immigration-Crossing-The-Rio-Grande4.jpg?resize=300%2C199&ssl=1\")
\u201cThe Caravan\u201d<\/p>\nIt\u2019s About Elections<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Caravan\u201d<\/p>\n
The White House has created a crisis in immigration.\u00a0 It was foreseeable, preventable, and intentional.\u00a0 It started with word that \u201ccaravans\u201d were coming from Central America, large groups of immigrants trying to get themselves, and for many their children; away from the violence of the gangs of the cities of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.\u00a0 While they crossed Mexico, the vast majority aren\u2019t Mexicans.<\/p>\n
This has happened before.\u00a0The responses of previous Administrations was to increase the amount of judges and lawyers at the border crossing, in order to more efficiently judge the asylum claims of the border crossers.\u00a0Legal crossers who passed the first, quick test determining the legitimacy of their claim, were placed out into the communities, often with ankle bands monitoring their location.\u00a0 Illegal crossers claiming asylum were arrested, held for a short period of time, then bailed out as well, their misdemeanor illegal crossing offense punished by time served. \u00a0They were allowed to work, to try to support their families. \u00a0Surprisingly, almost all came back for the final adjudication hearing, even though for many it meant going back to their home country.<\/p>\n
The Trump Administration determined not to do these things.\u00a0 They did not send lawyers and judges to the border crossings.\u00a0 They in fact, slowed legal crossings at the border, causing even greater pressure on immigrants, trapped in violent border towns, to come across illegally.\u00a0 When most of those illegal crossers presented themselves to the border patrol, asking asylum, they were placed in custody.\u00a0 Their children were taken from them.\u00a0 The backlog of court appearances meant that the adults were held for extended periods of time.\u00a0 Instead of being released into the community pending their asylum hearing, they were imprisoned, some shipped to Federal prisons throughout the country. \u00a0And those that were previously released, now are not allowed to legally work.<\/p>\n
And, as we know, their children were imprisoned as well, all over the United States.\u00a0 And a majority of the country asked the question: WHY?\u00a0Why did \u201cwe\u201d do this?<\/p>\n
IT WAS ON PURPOSE.<\/strong>\u00a0 The Trump Administration is convinced that being against immigrants is a winning political position.\u00a0 They have good reason to think so. \u00a0When Donald Trump came down the \u201cgolden escalator\u201d in Trump Tower and talked about Mexican rapists and criminals (and some good people) he tapped into a racist political energy that swept him into office.\u00a0 But once he was elected President, it wasn\u2019t enough to just rail against the Democrats for being soft on immigration.\u00a0Mr. Trump was President of the United States; he had to show he was tough on immigration. \u00a0He had to create a \u201cdesperate situation” on the border to fan the flames of his base.\u00a0 He engaged in \u201ccrisis creation.\u201d<\/p>\n The moves at the border:\u00a0no additional lawyers or judges, \u201czero tolerance\u201d for misdemeanor illegal crossing, the separation of children and the incredibly incompetent (or intentionally) slow process of returning them; all were \u201ccrisis creation.\u201d\u00a0 From the millions of people who marched last Saturday to \u201creturn the children\u201d to the \u201claw and order\u201d posts on Facebook (they broke the law they lose their kids); the President has our attention exactly where he wants it.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s one more twist coming to this saga; another play for the Trump \u201cteam.\u201d\u00a0 The Trump Administration is well aware that the clock is running on the children.\u00a0 A District Court in California has already set the deadline; the children must be released.\u00a0 The Administration is doing very little to meet that deadline, and soon the Court will order an expedited process to get them back to their parents.<\/p>\n This will give the Trump camp another political bone to chew:\u00a0 judges intervening and \u201cmaking up\u201d the law.\u00a0 \u201cPresident Trump will appoint judges who won\u2019t do that,\u201d they\u2019ll say; \u201cwe started with Justice Gorsuch, and we will continue with ______\u201d (fill in the blank on Monday at 9pm.)<\/p>\n The new Justice can now be debated on the grounds that energize Trump followers.\u00a0 He can be portrayed as a Justice dedicated to judicial restraint, not prone to making laws like the \u201cCalifornia judges\u201d (the state that gave Hillary Clinton her majority in 2016) did in the case of the children, or the Muslim ban.\u00a0 It reduces the impact of the new Justice\u2019s views on abortion, or gay rights, or labor unions.\u00a0 It is an attempt, and probably a successful one, to make the fall campaign about immigration; not the Mueller investigation, or the EPA Administrator (former), or the multiple other issues created by the President\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n President Trump feels safe campaigning on immigration.\u00a0 He has convinced a portion of America that MS-13 is streaming across the border; and that \u201cMexicans\u201d threaten us all; neither of which is true.\u00a0 It\u2019s familiar ground for him.\u00a0 It will be up to the Democrats to find ways to try to win this debate, but also to move the campaign to other topics.\u00a0 After all, for both, it\u2019s about elections \u2013 though it feels like the we\u2019re deciding the fate of the free world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"