Pro-immigrant Demonstration in Dallas
Erasmo Calzadilla
HAVANA TIMES – On Saturday there was a march in Dallas, Texas, against recent executive measures affecting immigration. I saw people of all ages, colors, cultures and genders, opposed to the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico and against the law that denies the entry to the US of political refugees from countries “Promoters of Terrorism.”
I witnessed an environment loaded with energy and fury; mockery and caricatures of Donald Trump. The police did not approach at all, although I did see some police cars parked about a block away.
What impressed me most was the number of super-young girls politically involved and full of inexhaustible vigor. They were on the battle front and made themselves heard without a megaphone. Also there were people from the LGBT movement with their striking flags, sympathizing with a struggle that is not exactly theirs.
I was also impressed to see so many gringos defending immigrants with such passion. There was a minimum of organization, people sharing snacks and others picking up trash. I approached one of these and told him how good it seemed that the garbage collection was organized. He told me in English: it’s not organized; I’m doing it on my own. Or so I understood.
Without more, I leave them with the photos; they say more than a thousand words. Sorry for the quality, it’s not the camera’s fault.
Click on the thumbnails below to view all the photos in this gallery. On your PC or laptop, you can use the directional arrows on the keyboard to move within the gallery. On cell phones use the keys on the screen.
The difference between Obama’s and Trump is that Obama carried out his policy without dressing it into hate and racism. Obama never called Mexicans rapists and gangsters, never told that refugees were terrorists, and never stopped green card holders to go back into the country. Trump has ignited a cauldron of racism, fear and hate and that is what has some people very happy and others very upset.
Where did you see that wall between Mexico and Guatemala? Or are you just repeating an ‘alternative fact’? There is nor wall between these two countries, only pieces of fence close to the official entrance points in the frontier. Guatemalans had it very easy to cross into Mexico.
So when you proposed protests in support of women and homosexuals in Saudi Arabia and Iran, you were not expressing your own willingness to organize such a demonstration, but rather you were simply attacking those who are demonstrating in support of immigrants to the US.
Hear, hear.
I Live in freedom in the USA I was pointing the hypocrisy from all those protester, they are probably illegals never protest in the own country but they come and try to make the USA look like the bad guys. Perhaps Donald Trump got the idea of the wall from the wall that Mexico has with Guatemala and the rigid vigilant patrolling of the its south border.
Why does every left-of-centre reporter covering this issue confuse and conflate the distinct categories of immigrant, refugee and illegal immigrant? It must be intentional, or a wide-spread ignorance. Trumps clumsy and ill-considered EO put a temporary stop to the US accepting refugees, and ordered an increase in the removal of illegal immigrants with non-trivial criminal records. Nothing in Trump’s EO stopped legal immigration, except from 7 designated countries. In 2011, Obama ordered a 6 month period of increased screening of visitors from these same 7 countries (not an outright ban, but much tighter vetting, which closed the process considerably). I don’t recall any protests at the time.
Recently, Trump has said he will make exceptions for “Dreamers”, the children of adult illegal immigrants who arrived into the US with their parents while young children. Many of these people were raised and educated in the US, have no knowledge or connection to their countries of birth, and are socially “Americans”. It is considered cruel and unnecessary to depart these Dreamers. Obama issued and EO to grant amnesty to Dreamers and now Trump appears to be ready to do the same.
It is revealing to see the woman holding the sign which reads, “Unification Not Deportation”. Is she advocating that the US and Mexico unite as a single country? Or does she advocate the US border states be annexed to Mexico? I don’t see either option as very popular in the USA.
How about the sign, “Don’t ban my brown Muslim dick”, held aloft by somebody, presumably a gay Muslim American, who must know that homosexuality is illegal in every Muslim country in the world, often punishable by death. Trump has said a great number of offensive things, but I don’t recall anything he said against gays.
For a bit of perspective: to date, the number of illegal immigrants arrested & deported by ICE officials during the last month is less than 1% of the number of illegal immigrants with outstanding removal orders. This is not the massive operation the media is making it out to be. And by the way, during the 8 years of the Obama administration, over 400,000 illegal immigrants were deported every year. But for some reason it didn’t get round the clock protests and media coverage.
On a policy level, Trumps immigration policy is not that much different from Obama’s. The difference is that Trump is actually making efforts to enforce it, while Obama was less strict. The other difference is the “spontaneous” re-appearance of protests, often by the usual professional protest organizations, which had vanished for 8 years.
I close with a question for HT readers: which countries in the world do not make any attempt to control immigration into their territory? This is an important question, because the US is being roundly criticized for trying to secure it’s borders.
Anybody? The correct answer is, None. Every country in the world enforces border controls and places limits and regulations on immigration. Every country deports illegal immigrants. Some countries refuse to accept any immigrants (China for example) while many refuse to accept any refugees. And some countries control the borders to prevent their own people from leaving, as Cuba did until very recently.
Let’s get some perspective folks. The US continues to be the country with the largest total number of immigrants and which accepts the largest number of immigrants each year. Trump happens to be married to one.
Perhaps you are in a country where you cannot demonstrate. If so, I cannot blame you for inactivity. But if you are free to demonstrate, then surely you should be organizing the demonstrations you wish to see.
Reading his reporting on the protest is kind of funny. Because you can tell that he has no idea how western democracies work! lol
Compliments of the U.S. Constitution, everyone is able to practice their First Amendment right to Free Speech. Of course that goes for both sides of the argument. The police stay away, and they only intervene if the protestors start breaking the law.
I would love to see all those people protesting in front the Mexican consulate in solidarity with the “Latinos brothers and sisters” the Cubans than the Mexican government are deporting back to the Cuban dictatorship. Or Saudi Or Iranian consulates for violations of humans rights oppression of women and death penalty for homosexuals.
In Cuba, those who disagree with the Castro regime have no such means of expressing their opinions. I hope that Erasmo takes the time to fully appreciate this difference.