The Wall is cruel and destructive to families, who aren’t a serious crime threat

Editor:

President Trump says he is requesting  “the Wall”  “to control crime.” We believe the billions it will cost the American taxpayers (and our children and grandchildren, since we’re running at a deficit) would be better spent on supporting local law enforcement like we did with a Law Enforcement Assistant Act in the 1960’s, 70’s and early 80’s.

We believe “the Wall,” detaining most refugees, especially children and women, and deporting contributing immigrant workers is wasteful, cruel, unjust and destructive to families and children.

Are women, children, families and hard workers really a serious crime threat?

Immigrants? Conservative think tank, CATO Foundation found that “undocumented” immigrants” committed crime at less than half the rate of American citizens; documented immigrants one quarter. A recent Wall Street Journal headline:  “Mythical Connection Between of Immigrants and Crime.” Other researchers come to the same conclusion. Others, with obvious self-serving motivation, claim differently. But, when CATO and WSJ publish, against their expected bias, they are more believable.

Held indefinitely? The Wall? Better we spend our tax dollars restoring the 1968-1982 Law Enforcement Assistance Act funding to local law enforcement. We need to focus on arresting and firmly enforcing the laws against violence, domestic violence, rape and sexual abuse. According to a recent Reuters study of over 180 nations, the US is among the worst 10 in protecting women against violence and rape.

Despite our seeming current concern, US Justice’s own statistics reveal that arrest, conviction and sentences, that prevent continuation of domestic violence, remain at a very low level. The same is true with rape and sexual abuse. (Answering DV calls remains one of the most dangerous for police. Check the recent headlines.) Further, the majority of mass murderers have been too-leniently-treated assaulters of wives and women.

Are we truly concerned about children, women, police and other first responders?

Let’s invest our enforcement dollars on these anti-life crimes, rather than on private-for-profit child/women/family prisons and another “Berlin Wall” along our southern border.

Further, deporting hard-working “undocumented” (who’ve been here for many years because we wanted “cheap labor”) and now separating them, basically forever, from their American children and spouses, also is cruelly unjust.

Even President Trump said this last is impractical, but now he seems to be going in the other direction. Mass deportations will hurt the economy according to Alan Greenspan, the GW Bush Foundation and Senator Lindsey Graham(a year ago) and many other conservatives.

Further, it’s in direct contradiction to Pres. Ronald Reagan’s last speech, in which he extolled the contributions of immigrants (find it on-line).

The President is claiming that we’re under threat from drugs and gangs. The Wall will do little to stop drugs. We know how to deal with gangs: Build up local enforcement and programs. We’ve done it several times over the years. It’s not building a Wall.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert E. Golden

Chairman of Holy Family Social Justice Committee in Albion

(The committee unanimously approved this message)