EDITORIAL NOTE
OUR NEW HOUSE MUST INVESTIGATE TRUMP´S IMMIGRATION POLICIES
Photo: Archive.
What will change, if anything, with the immigration policy of the Trump administration with the new congress? The unavoidable reality of the elections on November 6 is that the investigative arm par excellence of the congress - the House of Representatives – came to the hands of the Democratic Party. This brings a series of inescapable changes to what, until now, is a total lack of legislative supervision over the antiimmigrant policies of this administration. In particular, there is the use of investigative power that the House has and that, in the past, has exposed serious cases of abuse of power by the executive, read Watergate.
There are various recent cases in which Democratic congressmen promoted, even without having the control of the House, serious investigations into the Trump administration’s abuse of its immigration police powers. The main example is the attention brought to the separation of families on the border and that led to having the director of the Department of National Security (DHS) and the Attorney General (AG) come to testify before congress. So, it will be important to see what actions the House will take now that it is in the hands of non-Trumpian interests. More so considering that the political capital used by the Democrats resulted from the antipathy generated by Trump’s xenophobic policies. So, what should we expect in this congress regarding immigration? This is a short list of things that the House should do regarding the immigration situation in our country. (Note that it is more a list of actions of legislative oversight than of bills - with the Senate in Republican hands it is unlikely that any migration law of significance will pass). - Subpoena of the Attorney General to report on the policies that have been presented in recent months that seek to accelerate deportation proceedings. - The continued investigation of DHS regarding the separation of minors and families at the border (especially the number of minors who are still detained). - The start of an investigation of the role played and influence (and interference) that Stephen Miller has had in the development and implementation of Trump’s antiimmigrant policies. (Especially if he was the one who started and encouraged the idea of separating minors from their parents while seeking asylum). In fact, Mr. Miller has exercised his functions in silence and without external supervision of the legislative power. This must change. It is necessary to ask for a who and why of these migration policies that clearly have a racist and xenophobic background. - Finally, the use of funds by DHS in the execution of Trump administration’s anti-immigrant policies should also be investigated. Where do the funds destined for the war against Trump’s immigration go? Who are the ones who have benefited economically with this resurgence of anti-immigrant mood? There, behind these questions, we will find out who is supporting a xenophobic administration to enrich itself with hate. So, what we have to do now is to encourage our representative (s) - the single Alaska member of the House and those who represent family and friends in other places - to carry out these investigations and not allow the administration an unsupervised free for all. Call: Don Young, (907) 271-597; (907) 456-0210. (I know, good luck, but if we do not call, they do not hear us. Call and make your voice heard.) |