“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” Donald Trump said. “They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people.”
Strong words from Donald Trump: the king of controversy.
He went on CNN saying he doesn’t regret the comments, but he added that criminals and rapists come “from all over.”
“We have this open border — it’s a sieve,” he said. “It’s like water pouring through, people coming in by the hundreds of thousands — we have no idea who’s coming in, and it’s not just Mexicans.”
Trump added that he has a great relationship with Mexico.
How? How can you have a great relationship with a nation with which you pretend to be on good terms one minute and demean the next?
Unfortunately, Trump does not end there. He said earlier on a live Fox News broadcast that he plans to build a wall on the Mexican border and have Mexico pay for it.
CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman said that building an impenetrable wall along the 1,954-mile border seems unlikely. Tuchman said many ranchers own land on the border, and in order for Trump to achieve his goal, all of them would have to sell their land to the federal government.
Currently, there is no physically uniform barrier along the border. In some spots in Arizona, there are fences; in others, a 7-foot wall. Tuchman said there are Native American reservations that sit along the border, and there are mountains, streams and elevated terrain that makes it “impossible or nearly impossible” to build a wall.
A 2014 report from the Pew Research Center said there were 11.3 million undocumented immigrants in America. Is that a problem? Yes, but building a wall and telling roughly 11.3 million undocumented immigrants that they have to have to get out of the country is rude, and it’s the wrong approach for our nation. In that situation, I don’t see Mexico cooperating with us at all on that issue.
“The first thing I’m doing is getting the bad ones out, and they’re gone, and they’re not coming back,” Trump said in a CNN interview. However, he has said he wants the “good people” to come back into the United States legally. This may present a mixed message to undocumented immigrants. How do you tell the good ones from the bad ones? Instead of kicking people out, we should find a way to provide equal citizenship opportunities for every man, woman and child.
The 14th Amendment clearly states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”
Trump said in a CNN interview that he wants to remove “birthright citizenship,” which the 14th Amendment guarantees: the idea that anyone born this nation is a U.S. citizen. It’s not only wrong; it’s unconstitutional.
His campaign slogan is “Make America Great Again.” It’s even a Twitter hashtag. However, with Trump putting forth such racist propaganda to further his campaign, we have to ask ourselves whether this “greatness” would be right for America.
I think not.
Trump said on CNN, commenting on an earlier Republican debate, that Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly had blood coming out of her eyes and “blood coming out of her wherever.” Although Trump said if he were to finish the comment, he would have said “ears” or “nose,” he remains unapologetic, saying whatever he wants to whoever will listen.
We should discourage Trump’s sophomoric, juvenile approach, not cheering and applauding. I would expect to hear Trump’s comments on a kindergarten playground, not from a presidential candidate.
Our country was founded on the idea that anyone from any nation can come to America in search of a better life.
The beautiful country we have today is founded by immigrants. Women should be treated as equals. We should not submit to ethnocentrism or sexism, and instead we should spend our energy moving forward.
Email Tim Lyman at timothy.lyman@cardinalpointsonline.com
