IMMIGRANT DETENTIONS AND CONTENTIONS

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The U.S.A. population includes: Native peoples from 574 distinct nations; Black people whose ancestors were forced into chattel slavery; Europeans who came to colonize, settle and found a nation, and; a steady flow of immigrants and their descendants from all over the Earth with varying levels of acceptance. The Trump administration pursues anti-immigration policies, including expanded use of detention, limits on access to asylum for refugees, enhanced enforcement, attempts to overturn DACA protections, parent-child separation along the US-Mexico border, the construction of a southern border wall, and elimination of foreign worker visas. Some celebrate these as giving more opportunity to American workers and as enforcing the law. Others see racism and xenophobia. Congresswoman Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) offers a Pueblo perspective that makes welcoming immigrants quintessentially American: “As a 35th-generation New Mexican and a descendant of the original inhabitants of this continent, I say that the promise of our country is for everyone to find success, pursue happiness and live lives of equality. This is the Pueblo way. It’s the American way.”