Share this page!

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
Twitter logo
26 Mar, 4 tweets, 2 min read
This article from is @saletan has a LOT of problems, and I'd strongly recommend he read the @AP memo from yesterday.

One of the biggest issues, aside from the repeated use of dehumanizing "deluge" language.? No mention of asylum—which is legal—at all!

slate.com/news-and-polit…
Sadly, there's not really much daylight between this article and what Stephen Miller and the Trump administration argued on a daily basis. About the only difference is some professed moral qualms about a belief that cruelty is the answer.

We have years of evidence that it isn't. Image
You hear this "well we can't let them all in" argument all the time, and it's so frustrating, because

1) Asylum IS legal immigration
2) Obviously not everyone is going to migrate
3) We've tried cruelty, and it does. not. work. long. term.
4) Actually we'll be totally fine.
Also, postscript, if you end your article with "I've barely begun to think through what that would mean," maybe, just maybe, don't publish an article where you speculate wildly about what it would mean?

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Aaron Reichlin-Melnick

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @ReichlinMelnick

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
29 Mar
This is a nice thought experiment, but I don't buy it. I suspect these former officials don't appreciate the state of the border pre-inauguration—esp. Mexico's rejecting families. From 12/31 to 1/20, 41% (1,293 of 3,143) of families were released. The trend was already there.
Like, this list of things Biden did actually had little/no policy effect on the border.

- Deportation pause didn't apply
- Ending MPP affected <1.2% of encounters
- ACAs suspended since March 2020
- Border wall freeze unrelated
- UCs already not expelled.
Of course, it's all a counterfactual. Is the suggestion seriously that Biden should have gotten on TV on Day One and said "America, I know I made a lot of promises for immigrants. I'm breaking every single one of them."

Obviously that would have been a political disaster too.
Read 9 tweets
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
25 Mar
I want to make it crystal clear that I've been acknowledging the unprecedented levels of unaccompanied kids, and arguing that the real challenge is how we handle those numbers safely and humanely.

The problem is conflating 12,000 unaccompanied kids with 100,000 encounters.
"Chart-makers" like myself also want people to acknowledge the facts about what's happening, and to ensure that lazy reporting doesn't throw blame around and incorrectly put the burden for the increase on specific things, or falsely conflate perception with reality.
The biggest critique of the Post article isn't that it got the trends wrong, it's that it ignored when the overall trend began, ignored the complicated policy reality on the ground, and acted as if the perception of Biden doing something was the same thing as him doing it.
Read 6 tweets
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
25 Mar
In 2018, when I helped screen separated parents, I talked to a man locked in an ICE jail who literally wept as he described being unable to put a shirt on his son's back and only eating once a day. He *begged* for a chance just to live here for a few years. I'll never forget him.
There's nothing like watching a grown man on the other side of a plexiglass wall in a remote ICE jail break down and sob and plead with you as if you alone can save him, to really drive home the point of how desperate many people migrating to our borders are.
He told me that he felt like an utter failure as a father because in Guatemala he had no land, no money, no work, and no hope. So when he heard in 2018 that families were being allowed in, he sold everything he had and came to the border. And then his son was taken from him.
Read 4 tweets
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
22 Mar
"In conclusion, may I please remind you that it does not say R.S.V.P. on the Statue of Liberty" may still be the single-best movie line ever to emphasize this exact point.

We've tried deterrence and cruelty for 40 years. How about we try openness and humanity for a little while?
Are we worse off because we accepted hundreds of thousands of Haitian/Cuban refugees? No.

Are we worse off because we accepted hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese/Cambodian refugees? No.

Will we be worse off if we accept hundreds of thousands of Central American refugees? NO!
Thomas Jefferson famously said that "The Tree of Liberty is refreshed with the blood of patriots" but to that sanguinary metaphor, I would add "The Tree of Liberty is refresh by the blood, sweat, and tears of immigrants."

We call this country a nation of immigrants for a reason.
Read 4 tweets
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
20 Mar
Strongly disagree with this entire piece as a factual matter. The border has been “surging” with single adults (who made up 72% of all apprehensions last month) since Title 42 in spring 2020, and family apprehensions remain <50% of 2019. The evidence for the thesis is missing!
Last month, 100,000 people were encountered at the border and 72,000 of them were single adults, almost all of whom were expelled. Single adult apprehensions have been spiking since spring 2020 and that FACT is literally *not mentioned once* in this piece. That actively misleads.
Also, where the heck does this number come from, tossed into the public like a bomb with no sourcing, not even "anonymous officials."?

To reach 2 million, we'd need to see an average 182,111 encounters a month for the next 10 months straight. That has *literally never happened.*
Read 4 tweets
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
19 Mar
Here's some facts for Rep. Crenshaw.

- The ACAs were suspended in March 2020. Biden terminating did not change a thing.

- Remain in Mexico enriched the cartels by creating a jobs program for kidnappers and torturers. Easily 1 in 10 people subject to it—or more—were victimized.
Rep. Crenshaw's claim that terminating the Asylum Cooperative Agreements affected the border is unmoored from reality.

The only ACA to go into effect was suspended in March 2020 due to the pandemic—and fewer than 1,000 people had ever been subject to it.

I'd like @DanCrenshawTX to take 7 minutes and watch this video from 2019 where a woman subject to Remain in Mexico describes being kidnapped and hearing her husband being tortured, and likely killed.

What he praises was a conveyor belt for inhumanity.

Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @ReichlinMelnick has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @ReichlinMelnick!

Read all threads by @ReichlinMelnick