The Caravan: Children’s Disappointment in the Making? (Commentary)
Thomas J. Madden, Chairman and CEO, Transmedia GroupIs it our borders alone that define us as a Nation? Or is it together with our values, our beliefs, our traditions and maybe that statue in the harbor called Liberty.Chief Justice Roberts says “We do not have Obama judges.”President Trump’s tweets an Obama judge ruled against his anti-asylum executive order.Meanwhile, U.S. Troops busily prepare a barbed wire unwelcome for the caravan of immigrants trudging inexorably towards us.What a predicament.
Still the caravan keeps on marching toward a potentially disastrous confrontation at the now world-infamous, irresistibly attractive U.S. border.“What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them,” said Roberts. Really, Justice Roberts?Sorry to disappoint many of my Democratic friends, but I don’t think so. And to my Trump-loving Republican friends, I’m not exactly 100% on your side either in this escalating Caravan crisis.A catastrophe is a sudden disaster, so we might have to find a different noun as there’s nothing sudden about this caravan of immigrants lumbering toward us.When will we ever again have immigration respect, let alone immigration reform?What bothers me the most about the current crisis is that the caravan is teeming with children who are perhaps our next wave of dreamers. Today they’re dreaming they’re heading to a fantasy land where people are eternally happy, never hungry.Still this onslaught of brazen immigrants attempting to enter our country illegally poses grave and genuine problems, yet it’s their children who tug at our hearts strings, our humanity and our tradition of welcoming tired, huddled masses.I would recommend we adopt this interim policy.Grant any caravan family with children who’ve walked that far and endured that much suffering for a chance to live in freedom a probationary period of residency in the U.S., provided there’s no criminal record discernable.In my recent book available on Amazon, “Is there enough Brady in Trump to win the inSUPERable BOWL?” I offered a short chapter entitled: “Sorry, but immigrants are not the enemy.”The notion that immigrants are taking jobs away from Americans, that they’re raping us and causing all kinds of murders, mayhem and mischief, is just plain screwy and maybe is evidencing a modern form of Xenophobia.Most illegals are law abiding, don’t speak English very well, are not very educated, so they’re hardly taking good jobs away from Americans. Actually most of them are performing work few Americans would want. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to fix my roof in the sun. I live in Florida!Any idea how hot it is on a roof or how sore your back can get picking crops in the fields under a scorching sun?Next time you see an illegal immigrant, before you pounce on him or her with a citizen’s arrest while their children are watching, say you appreciate what they’re doing for America, working so hard at the dirtiest jobs, paying taxes and raising families, which ironically are helping to Make America Great Again.Well Amigo, that’s my mischievous thought for the day. Sorry if it offends.
About the Author: Thomas Madden is CEO of TransMedia Group, one of the largest independent PR firms in Florida, where it currently operates. The firm’s clients have included AT&T, American Red Cross, City of New York, GL Homes, Jordache Enterprises, McCormick and Schmick’s, Rexall Sundown, Stanley Steemer.
