We can legally detain people in the U.S. for 24 hours without charging them, with extensions up to 96 hours (for serious crimes, i.e., murder). Thanks to the Terrorism Act, we can apparently detain people for up to 14 days without charging them. So, depending on how long illegal immigrants are detained for, we are treating them equal to terrorists and murderers.
Actually, we are treating them worse than convicted murderers and pedophiles. Murderers and pedophiles get a bed, meals, and soap. Some even get exercise, and all serious criminals get to sleep with the lights out. Except for immigrants.
So please, let’s forget where we stand politically, and forget where we stand on immigration policies. Because it’s no longer an immigration issue; it’s a human rights issue.
Sure they’re immigrants, but they are on our soil. If we legally allow them to be treated this way, on our soil, by the U.S., we legally allow and open the door for any American to be treated that way, too.
Who’s to say that tomorrow someone we know won’t be held in unconstitutional and inhumane conditions for a long period of time, without being given a fair trial? Do we want to wait until it directly affects us before we do something? It already is directly affecting us. People are just choosing to ignore it or don’t realize what is at stake.
Why?
We are getting caught up in arguing, taking political sides, and focusing on the correlation, not the cause, of the issue.
Yeah I get it. We have an immigration problem. But this isn’t the solution. And being against the way we are treating immigrants doesn’t mean we are against border control. It doesn’t mean we want immigrants flooding in. It just means we care about human lives.
Wasn’t too long ago people were preaching “All Lives Matter.” Doesn’t that apply here? Or was that slogan never meant to be taken literally and only applicable to dismissing another human rights issue?