Phoenix, Ariz. - 11 July 2015

Donald Trump’s plans for illegal immigrants/El plan de Donald Trump para los inmigrantes

versión en Español abajo

Donald Trump’s plans for illegal immigrants during the 2016 presidential elections may be the most aggressive position of any of the candidates. But just how much of his plans for illegal immigrants and his allegations against them are based on facts? The New York City businessman outlines his immigration reform strategy much like a business plan, listing the three core principles of “real immigration reform” and detailing his three-part plan. His three core beliefs, according to his campaign site, are:

“A nation without borders is not a nation.”
“A nation without laws is not a nation.”
“A nation that does not serve its own citizens is not a nation.”

Also, his three plans for immigration reform are to build a wall along the U.S./Mexico border and make Mexico pay for it, “defend the Laws and Constitution of the United States” and “put American workers first.”

Trump officially announced his bid for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in Las Vegas, Nev., on June 16, 2015, by immediately taking a strong stance on immigration control, illegal migration from Mexico and suggesting hardliner plans for illegal immigrants. While the media have been reporting what they deem as radical and racist sentiments from Trump toward Mexicans and other immigrants, like calling them drug traffickers, criminals and rapists, Trump’s campaign page cites his allegations to credible news sources.

Family through a fence

A bittersweet reunion lets three young immigrants see – and reach for – their deported mothers through a fence. Read more here in the June 11 The New York Times piece: Immigrants Reach Beyond a Legal Barrier for a Reunion

As a young man and two young women approached the border from the Arizona side, a cry rang out through the bars of the border fence. Waiting for their children in matching turquoise t-shirts on the Mexican side were their mothers, separated for years since their deportations for being illegally present in the U.S.

The six came together, reaching through the spaces between the thick metal poles, with sobs and laughter under the watchful (and not always dry) eyes of organizers, reporters, Border Patrol, and Mexican Federales last Tuesday – the culmination of days of travel and two months of planning. All three children are in President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program which gives qualified applicants the ability to go to school, work and in some states get drivers licenses while they wait for a more permanent resolution to their legal status limbo. It’s a way for participants to start coming out of the shadows.