In Search of a New Approach to the Immigration “Problem”?
In this first part of a two part series on Salon, Anis Shivani looks critically at the U,S. immigration laws as a “human rights catastrophe” that must be addressed in those terms. In the thoughtful analysis, Shivani makes a critical insight: President Trump is not the source of the problem with contemporary immigration law and policy —
“Trump’s extreme disrespect for refugees and asylum claimants is strongly rooted in existing legislation. Indeed, it goes back to well-known instances in the 1950s — under the moral panic then induced by communism and the Cold War — with the courts upholding indefinite detention of refugees or returnees from Eastern Europe, even allowing them to be held on Ellis Island in a condition of permanent statelessness.”
Watch out for the second installment next week: How the restrictions on the rights of immigrants also restrict the rights of American citizens.
KJ