Please come to an Immigration Debate

A debate about immigration will be held on January 8, 2019 at a Jewish Community Center in Newton, Massachusetts.

This is their self-description

Open to all, JCC programs include four outstanding preschools, four day camps, an overnight camp in Maine, early parenting support, a fully-equipped fitness and aquatics center, arts and culture classes for all ages, performances and lectures, Jewish holiday celebrations and more.

So when you’re looking for an amazing summer camp, a terrific pre-school or a welcoming place where you can meet other families, look to the JCC.

One of the largest Jewish organizations in the region, the JCC touches more Jews and the people in their lives than almost every other Jewish institution in the Boston area combined.  More than 50,000 people, representing 98 communities and every age, belief and ability, take part in JCC programs and services annually.

With the support of generous donors, we award more than $750,000 in scholarships each year in order to make the JCC accessible to people who could not otherwise afford to participate.

Everyone is welcome at the JCC. We hope you’ll join us.

This is the description of the event on the website of the J.C.C. in Newton.

Comprehensive immigration reform has been a hot button issue for decades in this country. Immigration policy forces politicians and citizens alike to weigh economic and security concerns against humanitarian interests.

The current administration has approached this issue with an emphasis on “security first” regarding immigration policy, looking to slash immigration to the United States. Measures including the “travel ban,” the proposed border-wall with Mexico, and pledges to deport millions of undocumented immigrants all raise questions on how to balance keeping America safe from terrorism while still being a “nation of immigrants.”

Please join us for our next Jonathan Samen Hot Buttons, Cool Conversation event as we examine the Immigration Debate: Balancing Security and Compassion. This event is co-sponsored by Vilna Shul, Boston's Center for Jewish Culture.

This is the description of the moderator.

Julia Preston is a Contributing Writer at The Marshall Project, a non-profit journalism organization focusing on criminal justice and immigration.  She previously worked at The New York Times as the national correspondent covering immigration.  Ms. Preston was a member of The New York Times staff that won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on international affairs, for a series that revealed the corrosive effects of drug corruption in Mexico.

These are the three panelists.

• Matthew Segal has been legal director of the ACLU of Massachusetts since 2012.  Leading a team of civil rights lawyers, he has litigated cases that halted the Muslim ban, overturned 21,587 wrongful convictions and protected cell phone location data.  Previously, as an assistant federal defender, Matt argued a case that led to hundreds of exonerations and re-sentencings.
  


• Rodrigo Saavedra is the Memory Program Director at the Ayni Institute, which focuses on creating a more reciprocal world through the development of training and research for social movements and preserving the wisdom and traditions of indigenous communities from around the world.  A DACA recipient and community organizer, Rodrigo has appeared in major nationwide news outlets.


• Jessica Vaughan serves as Director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, DC-based immigration research institute.  As an expert on immigration policy and operations, she educates policymakers and agencies on immigration topics.  She has been widely published in the media, and has testified before Congress several times.

The A.C.L.U.'s web page for this event uses the same description of the event, the same description of the moderator, and the same description of all three panelists.

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Information about F.A.I.R.

They are not participating in this debate, but I'm presenting this information so that you can have an advance look at some of the issues that could be discussed during this debate.

F.A.I.R. is the Federation for American Immigration Reform.  All of the following quotes were copied from the About page on their own website.

Their self-description

As concerned Americans, we all share a responsibility to look to the future and envision where current policies may lead.  Immigration is no different.

Immigration policies can determine what kind of America future generations will inherit – livable or overcrowded, successful or overburdened.  While we see our obligations to help the less fortunate around the world, we also know that irresponsible border policies can undermine our own nation’s ability to be a successful change agent for the human race.  FAIR engages in community outreach to inform affected communities of how national immigration policies affect their own situation, and invites them to engage in a meaningful dialogue on how to shape immigration policies for the 21st Century and beyond.

As a non-partisan, public interest organization with a support base comprising nearly 50 private foundations and over 1.9 million diverse members and supporters, FAIR is free of party loyalties and special interest connections.

FAIR evaluates policies, seeking out solutions that help reduce the negative impact of uncontrolled immigration on the nation’s security, economy, workforce, education, healthcare and environment.

Their Mission Statement

FAIR seeks to reduce overall immigration to a more normal level. Reducing legal immigration levels from well over one million presently to 300,000 a year over a sustained period will allow America to manage growth, address environmental concerns, and maintain a high quality of life.

FAIR puts the interests of American citizens and future generations ahead of big business and partisan demands.

What they believe

Immigration, within proper limits, can be positive. Adhering to the rule of law is central to successful assimilation and citizenship.

Tough decisions require strong leadership. Strong leadership, in turn, is underscored by defined principles that anchor public policy.

Immigration can be an emotional topic: We believe in respecting the basic human rights and the dignity of all involved. As such, FAIR opposes policies based on favoritism toward, or discrimination against, any person based on race, color, religion, or gender.

We understand that under any rational system of ordered entry, the demand will always vastly exceed available slots. Tough decisions will therefore always be necessary.

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My view

A summary of my beliefs is on the right, but the following two links are pages on another of my blogs that have much more information on this subject.

As shown by the photo above, a wall, by itself, is inadequate security for any national border.  If two people can carry a ladder to a wall, 1,000 people can climb over the wall.  Some of those people could be dedicated terrorists.  Others can be people who have diseases that can be transmitted to other people in the country they're entering (without the permission of that government - a visa).

Because a wall is inadequate security, I prefer the use of armed Army or National Guard soldiers, guided to a border location with the help of military satellites and other intelligence.

Page 1, written in December 2015, says that American sovereignty is important.  The presence of illegal immigrants is a violation of laws that were passed by both houses of Congress and signed by American presidents.  This page outlines a method for deploying 10-man squads of armed Army or National Guard troops to the border in advance of any invasion by illegals.

In November 2012, a subcommittee of the House Committee on Homeland Security produced a report titled A Line in the Sand: Countering Crime, Violence and Terror at the Southwest Border.  Terrorists are entering the United States through our border with Mexico.  This report is linked on Page 1.  The executive summary of this report was added to the page on December 31, 2018.

Page 2, spun off from Page 1 in October 2017, shows that millions of illegals in America are contributing to overcrowded schools, hospitals, and prisons.  This page outlines a five-step method for deporting groups of illegals directly from American prisons to the U.S.-Mexican border.  These transfers can be completed in 24 hours for any one group because the process uses an efficient transportation system.

Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer, the Minority Leader, said these words in 2009.  Notice that he is looking down while he speaks. This is obviously a prepared statement, not an accidental and casual remark that he would regret later.

These are the first three paragraphs of an October 18, 2018 article on the Judicial Watch website titled "100 ISIS Terrorists Caught in Guatemala as Central American Caravan Heads to U.S.".  All of these links were in their article.

In a startling revelation, Guatemala’s president announced in the country’s largest newspaper that nearly 100 ISIS terrorists have been apprehended in the impoverished Central American nation.  Why should Americans care about this?  A caravan of Central American migrants is making its way north.  Let’s not forget that Guatemala is one of the countries that bombarded the U.S. with illegal immigrant minors under Barack Obama’s open border free-for-all.  They came in droves from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala through the Mexican border and for years Uncle Sam rolled out the welcome mat offering housing, food, medical treatment and a free education

A terrorist could have easily slipped in considering the minors, coined Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC), were not properly vetted and some turned out to be violent gangbangers who went on to commit heinous crimes in their adopted land of opportunity.  In fact, the nation’s most violent street gang, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), was energized by the barrage of UACs.  The Texas Department of Public Safety even issued a report documenting how the MS-13 emerged as a top tier gang in the state thanks to the influx of illegal alien gang members that came with the UACs.  At the time more than 60,000 UACs—many with criminal histories—had stormed into the U.S. in a matter of months.  Tens of thousands more eventually made it north.

Guatemala has long been known as a major smuggling corridor for foreigners from African and Asian countries making their way into the U.S.  Last year Guatemala’s largest paper, Prensa Libra, published an in-depth piece on the inner workings of an international human smuggling network that moves migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh to the U.S.  Individuals are sent to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates then flown to Brazil before heading to Colombia.  Once in South America, the migrants are transported to Panama before moving on to Costa Rica then a central point on Guatemala.  One Spanish news report refers to Guatemala as a human smuggling paradise because it’s so easy to get fake passports.  A few years ago, the head of Guatemala’s passport division got arrested for selling fake passports to a group of Colombians, according to a government announcement.

This sentence is in the third paragraph.

"One Spanish news report refers to Guatemala as a human smuggling paradise because it’s so easy to get fake passports."

Terrorists who infiltrate groups of people traveling north from Central American countries are a reason to stop all illegal immigration and to scrutinize the legal immigrants very closely.

Please come to the moderated debate about immigration at 7:30pm on Tuesday, January 8, 2018 at the Jewish Community Center in Newton. A screenshot of the Google map is on the left.