I read Doug Findley’s letter to the editor asking the question: “What has Trump done to make my life better.”
I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I finally thought of something that has improved for me: I know and understand a lot more history now. I read Heather Cox Richardson’s daily letters, which help me understand current events from the perspective of history. I am constantly looking things up that I don’t understand.
Recently, I did quite a bit of research on the recent history of our country’s deportations. Every year, hundreds of thousands of “illegal aliens” are deported.
Sometimes they are “caught” because they committed a crime. Sometimes they are sent home because they are found to be living here illegally (they did not enter the country legally). Specific procedures guide the correct way to remove these people from our country.
Briefly, this is the procedure: The legal process for deporting (removing) immigrants involves investigations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), often leading to formal removal proceedings before an immigration judge, or streamlined “expedited removal” for those caught near the border or with prior orders, with rights including legal representation and appeal, but fewer protections in expedited cases.
These removals have been going on in large numbers for many years. The Office of Homeland Security stated that in 1999 about 1,600,000 unauthorized migrants were repatriated (what I thought was called deporting illegal aliens — see how much I have learned?)
In 2018, the number was about 600,000, and in 2022, it was about 1,500,000. Part of our country’s law enforcement involves removing unauthorized migrants. Until I did quite a bit of research, I did not realize that this is “standard procedure” — something that has been going on for many, many years. We have been hearing so much about it in recent history that I did not realize it is a standard law enforcement procedure.
However, if you look above at the information regarding correct procedures, this is where I learned that the procedures being followed in the last year are not lawful, so I think that is the reason why we are hearing so much about these removals. Something else is going on now.
I came across the quote below, and when I read it, I thought it was about what is happening now — but I was wrong (or maybe I was right).
“Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.”
I suspect that you know the young girl who wrote this. Here’s a hint: She wrote it on Jan. 13, 1943.
Donna Ruby
Randle
