Summary
Undocumented Chinese men are alarmed by Trump’s plan to prioritize their deportation, citing baseless national security concerns about “military-age” immigrants.
Many fled political persecution or economic hardship and reject claims of being a threat.
Legal experts warn of racial profiling and expanded ICE raids, urging immigrants to know their rights. Deportation fears grow as China cooperates in repatriation efforts.
Chinese immigrants express anxiety over family separations and harsh consequences if returned, emphasizing they seek safety and stability, not harm.
Critics call Trump’s policies cruel and unjustified.
Okay, so no one has actually accepted an undocumented person into the country. We all want them documented. We just have different ideas of what to do with them once they are “caught”
I have. And I know plenty of others who have. Undocumented people are not the problem. The problem is the system that forces them to be undocumented. We should make it easy to be documented and provide benefits for being documented. As well as making immigration easier. If we did all that. There would be hardly any undocumented people. And the problem with those people wouldn’t be so much that they were undocumented. But their reasons for being undocumented. We are forcing a lot of otherwise good honest people to be lumped in with a few criminals. In order to justify and fuel National xenophobia. That’s the sad honest truth. Because there’s no way we will ever document anyone and everyone that comes in across our thousands and thousands of miles of borders. It just human or technologically possible.
I agree the process should be easier
The 2nd half of that is already true as there are definitely benefits for being documented, one which is protection from being deported.
The first part is trickier since there seems to be some confusion on what “undocumented” means. For instance if you’re already working with ICE then you are documented until the Immigration System makes its decision about you.
“Undocumented” really means that someone is here without the knowledge of the authorities at all. Ideally the US Government would simply put a stake in the ground and grant amnesty for anyone already here and then tighten things up in the future. Unfortunately we already did that back in 1986 and while the “Amnesty” part got done the other part didn’t.
Our immigration system is a dumpster fire of hodge-podged laws, executive actions, court decisions, and federal agency policies. Frankly we should scrap the whole thing and return to 'Ellis Island Style" until we can re-work it from the ground up to make it function correctly.
Ellis is how my Grandparents got here and as a system it mostly worked.
That’s a specious claim during the best of times. Considering we have a history of often deporting American citizens to Country they’ve never been to. As well as immigrants. And the fact that the Trump Administration orphaned thousands of children by doing the exact opposite. Though thankfully at Greek extra expense we were able to reunite many families. Though there are still many hundreds whose families haven’t been located and may never see their parents again. That doesn’t imply that that’s the way it is. Though it absolutely should be that way yes.
That’s a common lament of conservatives. It sounds great till you realize that there’s actually no way to do that. Otherwise we would have. Even if we spent every dollar of federal funding on useless walls they’re already circumventing. It wouldn’t fix it. Stationing the military across tens of thousands of miles would only succeed in spreading them thin and wasting money. If people want to be here. They will find a way.
Honestly, it wasn’t much better. It was weaponized against the Irish, Italians, Greeks and Jews. Much of my family predates Ellis and the pilgrims. We aren’t as fond of it.
Something to keep in mind. Entering the country without documentation is a misdemeanor. When people are fleeing political persecution they can’t get the appropriate paperwork.
A lot (not all) of these people come in and turn themselves in. The policy is (was?) recognize that minor documentation issue and let them stay while it gets resolved. In that manner yes they were accepted, if only temporarily, while their documentation problems are resolved.
I’m fine with that scenario. That’s “documented” in the sense that we know they are here. As long as they are actively seeking papers, I’m good.
But it sucks to be them in 2025