By:  Richard Hanus, Esq.

October 15, 2024

Without question Donald Trump and his presidential campaigns have brought our nation’s broken immigration system to the headlines, albeit, frequently with questionable accuracy and unnecessarily dehumanizing language.  But what if Donald Trump engaged in measured, realistic discussion about ways to fix the real problems plaguing our nation’s immigration system?   Most likely, he would be seen as serious but mainly boring and just another politician focusing on detailed policy discussions that tend not to resonate with the general public. Instead, with social media winds behind him, Trump goes a different messaging route.

Case in point, the accusation that Haitian immigrants are eating dogs and cats in Ohio neighborhoods.  During last month’s presidential debate, Trump, on the topic of Haitian immigrants declared: “They’re eating dogs.  The people came in.  They’re eating cats.  They’re eating the pets of the people that live there”. In the days that followed, it was reported that members of Ohio’s Haitian community were subjected to widespread harassment, including 33 bomb threats.   In response, the immigrant advocacy group Haitian Bridge Alliance filed a lawsuit in Clark County, Ohio to compel the criminal prosecution of Trump and Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance, for “aggravated menacing” and “telecommunications harassment”.   That lawsuit has since been dismissed with the presiding judge commenting that it will be up to the prosecuting authorities whether criminal charges are warranted, not a civil court judge.

Despite this remark about the Haitian immigrant community being a cruel lie, it creates a sonic boom and gets attention.  Some of his supporters even enjoy watching the controversy play out,  as Trump battles those denouncing his tactics. Whether its speaking about Mexicans as drug dealers or rapists, Central Americans as gang members, or undocumented immigrants engaging in a mass conspiracy to steer US elections, the Trump campaign brand tends to fan the flames of fear and present sweeping scary generalizations.   All the while, at the heart of the conversation there indeed exists bona fide concerns about our system and among supporters who genuinely care about our national security and border enforcement.

Among the worst consequences of this approach is that serious, productive debate about fixing our nation’s problems, including the flaws of our current immigration system, takes a backseat and is practically irrelevant.  With all the screaming and noise distracting us, we unfortunately get no closer to answers to the important questions:

  1. How do we enhance enforcement of our nation’s border and immigration laws, and without compromising the due process rights of bona fide asylum seekers fleeing their home countries to save their lives?
  2. How do we accommodate asylum seekers awaiting hearings and without compromising our nation’s security or placing undue burdens on state and local governments, with regard to  housing, education and other benefits?
  3. What are practical solutions for dealing with members of our nation’s undocumented community, who are hard working and have no criminal background? Or do we really have no alternative other than to expend our nation’s resources to deport millions of undocumented who are otherwise law abiding members of our society?
  4. How can we expand legal, “right way” immigration options, so that interested immigrants and prospective employers who want to follow the law can do so without having to engage in impossible legal backflips and face half decade timelines.

Compared to the hype generated by Trump’s sensational immigration messaging, productive discussions addressing these practical questions are bland, require deep thinking and compromise and sadly, are almost extinct in today’s social media age.  Hopefully one day, we can return to productive discussions premised on facts and good faith efforts to resolve our nation’s immigration challenges and other pressing problems.

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PUBLISHED October 15, 2024 – “IMMIGRATION LAW FORUM” Copyright © 2024, By Law Offices of Richard Hanus, Chicago, Illinois