You Blame Immigrants?

With the caravan from Honduras approaching the border, some Americans are losing their shit.

Never mind that this has been an annual event for several years. Ever since the US orchestrated a coup of the democratically elected president of Honduras, turning the country into a death trap.

Never mind that they are not immigrants but refugees from those life-threatening conditions.

Never mind that at last count there were only about 5000 of them.

Now we have a military force heading to the border to stop them. Exhausted, poverty-stricken, frightened human beings forced out of their own homes, their own country where their whole life has been, where they likely have descended from thousands of years of ancestors in their immediate areas.

Never mind how much the military operation will cost. One estimate states it will cost $50 million. Yet the Pentagon made it clear that this is only “the start of operations”. Other estimates have stated the cost to be at least $200 million.

Never mind that it is likely that the National Guard will be called up for these operations, taking people away from their families for the holidays.

No, these refugees are a threat. A threat that requires military force to deter.

They have no weapons. They have offered no aggressive language. They come seeking asylum, safe harbor from dangerous conditions. A place to settle and contribute to the society which adopts them.

Meanwhile, the US is a country comprised mostly of immigrants and descendants of immigrants. People who came here seeking something better than what they had. Often, seeking safety. Others seeking profit, prosperity. Some kind of chance.

Yet for decades it has been our country causing the very conditions these people flee. More Americans are becoming aware of this on a daily basis. Those who are not aware simply do not want to be aware. Or they do not care. Worse, they may have taken active, conscious part in the dangers and atrocities these people suffer in their home countries.

No matter which of those categories you fit into, it is a statement of what kind of person you are when you object to these people seeking asylum, stability, safety. It says you are incapable of thinking or caring beyond yourself. It brands you as a coward. It says you are selfish. It says you are hateful. It says you have few, if any, redeeming qualities as a human being. If you claim to be a Christian it brands you as a false prophet, the enemy of the religion you claim.

It brands you as not being a true American.