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The Choice On Immigration
I
am not sure the legal status or process
It is bigoted. And I consider it to be un-
that my grandparents Morris and
American.
Anna Tobocman went through when
Trump's ideas and proposals about
emigrating from Poland to Detroit or that
immigration, refugees and Muslims are
of my mother's grandfather Harry Baron
bad policy. How much will the wall cost?
(from whom I got my middle name,
How will Trump get Mexico to pay for it?
Hershel) when he emigrated from Russia
How will he do more than Obama (who
to Bowling Green, Ohio.
has deported 2.5 million undocu-
I do know they were eager to
mented folks — more than all
pursue the American dream, a
other 20th-century presidents
concept of freedom and prosper-
combined) to crack down on
ity that motivated millions across
immigration? What will happen
Europe to make the journey. And
to the millions of undocumented
I know that the parents and sib-
families with no criminal history
lings of my grandmother Anna
(the vast majority of the 11 mil-
Tobocman who didn't make the
lion undocumented)?
journey were killed a decade later Steven
Let's start with Trump's pro-
Tobocm an
in Nazi death camps.
posed wall along the Mexico bor-
I view the upcoming presiden-
der. He has no specifics on how
tial election as a critical one to my identity much it would cost, how he would gain
as an American Jew. Donald Trump has
access to the private property that thou-
put the issues of immigration, refugees
sands of private citizens own along the
and religion as the central cornerstone of
border (would he use eminent domain?)
his campaign; and many observers have
and how he would pay for it (the Mexican
credited his commitment to build a wall to president says he firmly told Trump that
keep out Mexicans, inexplicably to be paid Mexico would not pay).
for by Mexico, as the campaign pledge that
Trump originally estimated it would
separated his candidacy from that of other cost $8 billion and that he would threaten
Republican presidential hopefuls.
Mexico by stopping the personal remit-
As an American Jew, I believe the
tances of Mexicans living in the U.S. if
United States plays a unique role in world
they did not pay, but has since said it
history as a place of refuge and opportu-
might cost $10-12 billion. Others place the
nity. If my Jewish ancestors, who faced
cost at $25-50 billion or more, but no one
tremendous persecution in Europe, had
knows because no serious public policy
not immigrated here, it is almost certain
experts who are concerned about immi-
my parents would not have been born —
gration think the wall is the answer.
as their parents would have almost assur-
In fact, Mexicans make up slightly less
edly been killed by the Nazis.
than half of the 11 million undocumented,
Not only has America provided a home
40 percent of whom originally entered
free of religious persecution, but it has
the U.S. legally (and have overstayed their
provided tremendous economic opportu-
visas). So this very expensive wall doesn't
nity, and my family has prospered like so
even address the majority of the undocu-
many other Jewish families.
mented.
Over the past 20 years, I have had
Moreover, Trump's fundamental argu-
the privilege of working with Mexican,
ment — that undocumented immigrants
Central American, Bangladeshi (who
are at the source of the nation's crime and
are Muslims) and Middle Eastern immi-
economic woes — is false. While there
grants and refugees (both Christians and
are legitimate discussions about issues
Muslims) who have sought to pursue the
of fairness and justice relating to those
American dream for reasons similar to
who reside in the U.S. without legal docu-
that of my own family. I have worked with mentation, the facts strongly suggest that
thousands of hard-working immigrant
they have a negligible contribution to the
families — both documented and undoc-
nation's crime rates (and numerous stud-
umented — who want nothing more than
ies suggest they have much lower crime
to provide for their families and to live in
rates) and a significantly positive impact
freedom and peace.
on the nation's economy.
In contrast, Hillary Clinton has cam-
A STARK CONTRAST
paigned on introducing within her
To label the tens of thousands of Mexican
first 100 days in office comprehensive
families who are my neighbors as "rap-
immigration reform with a pathway to
ists" and "criminals:' as Donald Trump
citizenship along the lines of Senate Bill
has done, is not just factually in error
744, which passed the U.S. Senate on a
(researchers have chronicled lower crime
bipartisan basis in 2013. According to the
rates among immigrants than their U.S.-
Bipartisan Policy Center, comprehensive
born contemporaries), but it is offensive.
immigration reform along these lines
8 September 22 2016
would shave $570 billion off the national
debt (through increased tax revenue con-
tributions) and increase our national out-
put by 0.5 percent or $90 billion through
increased earnings and productivity.
THE REFUGEE QUESTION
As an American Jew who believes this
nation plays a unique role as a place of ref-
uge, as a supporter of Israel and as global
leader for a more humane world, it is the
refugee question that most concerns me
about Trump. Trump has said that the U.S.
cannot take in refugee victims of terror,
ISIS and other forms of persecution —
including Christians being terrorized for
their religious beliefs — "until we know
what's going on." Yet he provides no sub-
stantive policy prescription.
Since 9/11, the U.S. has resettled more
than 800,000 refugees, and only a handful
have been arrested on terrorism-related
charges — and there have been zero
domestic terrorist attacks committed by
refugees.
The U.S. security clearance process
for refugees is far more rigorous than
Europe's. In fact, refugees to the U.S. are
the most thoroughly vetted visitors to our
country, requiring four federal agencies
and usually more than two years after the
United Nations has done its own vetting.
Trump seems impervious to the evi-
dence. He prefers to play on our fears
rather than focus on how to stop radical
Islamic terrorism, which requires us to
ally ourselves with Middle Eastern forces
who want to combat ISIS. He appears to
have zero compassion for terrorism's vic-
tims.
Clinton has called for the U.S. to do its
part to help address the world's largest ref-
ugee crisis since WWII. Recently, the U.S.
accepted its 10,000th Syrian refugee (less
than half of what Canada has accepted
and one-100th of the number of refugees
accepted by Germany).
I can only think about the tens of thou-
sands of Jews who sought refuge in the
U.S. in the 1930s but were turned away.
Opponents of accepting Jewish refugees at
that time condemned Jews as communists
and provided other anti-Semitic rhetoric
to stir national opinion against accepting
Jews who sought to flee Nazi persecution.
Trump is doing the same to Muslims in
America.
Talk to your Chaldean neighbors and
you will learn that the turmoil in Iraq
is their own genocide. Talk to Syrian
refugees or Metro Detroiters with family
members stranded in Aleppo and you will
learn that they are fleeing for their lives —
not some political ideology.
My grandparents and great-grand-
parents came to America for freedom
and opportunity. And they found that.
My grandmother Anna Tobocman was
a patriotic American who voted in every
election and valued the rights of citizen-
ship bestowed upon her while her parents
and siblings lost their lives in concentra-
tion camps.
When I think of the America that can
best honor those ideals, I don't see them
in the positions that Trump has taken
around immigration and refugees.
When you vote this November, I hope
you will join me in voting for the America
that welcomed your family, not for the one
that turned away Anne Frank's. *
Steven Tobocman is a former State Representative
(D-Detroit) and former House Majority Floor Leader. He
is the managing partner at New Solutions Group LLC.
Dry Bones
THIS MUST BE THE SEMESTER THAT
WE STOP THE SOS HATRED THAT
DARKENS WESTERN CAMPUSES!
IMIL
IF NOT US, MO? IF NOT NOW? MEN?
Al
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