I have been having it out with several of my liberal (small "L") and liberal-leaning friends today on Facebook about Trumps' Zero Tolerance policy, which includes separating children from their families while awaiting processing. I was shopping in a couple stores after work, trying to formulate how to explain what's going on, when I was hit by an epiphanial thunderbolt.
They are right. Trump is being very cruel and he is doing it intentionally.
That's when the second epiphanial thunderbolt hit me with what he is trying to do. It's obvious Trump does not like the current immigration situation, it's why he campaigned on a border wall. Now that we have all of this Liberal outrage over the current Zero Tolerance policy, Congress is now considering legislation to reform the immigration laws we currently have on the books and that Trump is enforcing to the maximum degree.
I have not heard any talking head expound on this, I may be the first with this idea.
If the immigration policies are rewritten to the point that the US becomes inhospitable to illegal immigrants, you don't need to build a wall on a border no one wants to cross. Physical walls can be climbed over, tunneled beneath and broken through if what's on the other side is worth it. If you get through that wall and the next thousand miles is an inhospitable wasteland, what's the point of getting through the wall in the first place?
I know why they do it. We are the only country in the world that can claim immigrants from every other country in the world. People spend two months locked in a shipping container crossing the Pacific to get here, they overload floating conglomerations of junk that sane people wouldn't use to cross a stream and cross 90 miles of open ocean to get here, they cross miles of open desert on foot or jammed into uncooled tractor-trailers. I understand all that. They risk their lives to escape abject poverty, war-torn countries, drug wars, religious persecution, all to come to a place that speaks two words to them: OPPORTUNITY and FREEDOM. Our ancestors who passed through Ellis Island thought the streets of America were paved with gold. These people who risk their lives to get here must still believe that on some level. I thank God every day that I was born here and I got the privilege to defend those ideals for thirteen years.
If any other country had what we had (or even more of it), these people would be going there, not coming here. All that being said, if we let any one enter at any time, this would not be a country. Life is inherently unfair and not everyone gets to grab a brass ring. But I digress.
There is another layer to this, again that I have not heard from anyone before. Trump is not going to get the immigration law he wants, that's a guaranteed outcome, even with the Republicans. But for every aspect (Democrat generated to be sure) that Trump doesn't like, He's going to use those Democrat-supported points to beat every Democrat over the head that supported the kooky parts of this immigration bill. Any potential "Blue Wave" will get dashed into inconsequential foam on the Shoals of Trump.
Even the timing for this is perfect, because the legislation should be crossing Trump's desk in the September-October time frame, when the campaigns are in full swing. This could flip a lot of wobbly Democrat seats, and put secure seats (like those in California) in jeopardy.
I could be wrong, I've been wrong before. All that being said, I see this situation, no matter the outcome to at a minimum not hurt Trump and probably help him while severely hurting the Democrats.
Trump is using this Zero Tolerance to lance an infected boil on the United States as a whole. The immigration issue is an issue that has greatly divided us. To lance and drain it, squeezing out the infection (and I am NOT implying illegal immigrants are the infection, rather our treatment of them) and causing short-term pain will heal it and make the US better and healthier in the long run.