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1/ Trump's defects on full display in his failure at the border: cruelty, ineptitude, impatience, and arrogance. He thinks his tough-guy shtick will stop Central Americans from fleeing for their lives. Not happening. He thinks cutting aid to the source countries will work. He...
2/ ...thinks everyone else is to blame - the laws, the Dems, the judges, the Mexican govt, the Central American govts. He never thinks that maybe his strategy sucks. Well, his strategy does suck, and it will continue to suck. Cuz he fundamentally misreads the nature of the crisis
3/ This is not, at root, an "illegal immigration crisis." This is a refugee crisis. 3 Central American countries are wracked by gang violence, femicide, corruption, and, increasingly, food insecurity. 97% of those showing up are from these 3 countries. Their house is on fire.
4/ At the border, Trump has mismanaged a refugee crisis into a humanitarian crisis. Kids dying; detention ctrs overcrowded; meds taken away from ppl w conditions; asylum-skrs turned away fr ports of entry; kids abused; 100s released in border communities daily. It's a mess.
5/ Needed: A new strategy: 1) a fair chance, not a free pass: fair hearings, administered promptly, w applicants represented and w high rates of compliance thanks to nationwide case management program; 2) options away from border: refugee resettlement processing...
6/ ..in, say, Belize so eligible refugees screened and admitted in orderly process to the US, Canada, Argentina, etc. Also, help Mexico strengthen its asylum system; 3) large scale aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras so, over time, conditions causing exodus are improved.
6/ Trump is far, far away from such a pragmatic strategy. He's gonna bluster and bully, go peak cruelty, and get angry. Again, his deterrence-only strategy focused mostly on the border can't work. This isn't, at root, an illegal immigration crisis. It's a refugee crisis.
7/ Thanks for coming to my TED talk. END
