Here at Task & Purpose, we’ve had a lot to say recently about US immigration policies from the veteran perspective. It feels small in the scheme of things, but here’s a thread on what we’ve been tracking and why.
1. “If our community, those of us who have shared experiences in battle and in service, cannot discuss things we don’t agree on, our country is truly f*cked.” Our founder, Marine veteran and descendant of immigrants @zachiscol, insists we do better. taskandpurpose.com/flag-national-…
2. We bore witness: “When the agent discovered I was an Army veteran, he asked me where I served. Then he abruptly told me to admit to illegally entering the United States.” taskandpurpose.com/im-us-born-arm…
3. We tracked the state-level National Guard backlash. “Under normal circumstances, we wouldn’t hesitate to answer the call. But given what we know about the policies currently in effect at the border…” taskandpurpose.com/11-states-pull…
4. We compared the financial costs of splitting up and housing migrant families in the desert to the costs of housing US service members in America's priciest metro areas. We were blown over by what we found. taskandpurpose.com/separated-migr…
5. We wondered what a former drug czar and Southcom commanding general with deep Latin America expertise thought about the Trump administration's child detention policy. So we called @mccaffreyr3. He did not hold back. taskandpurpose.com/former-top-gen…
6. Finally, staff writer @adam_linehan chronicled his experience as an Army medic in a prison camp for Iraqi detainees, and found disturbing resonances with the US’s border detention policies. taskandpurpose.com/internment-cam…
As @zachiscol wrote, we strive to be a forum for all viewpoints in the military community. But we are also faithful to the oaths many of us took, and expect our nation and its leaders to do better than they’re doing on the border today. (end)
