{"id":600502,"date":"2018-07-06T12:00:15","date_gmt":"2018-07-06T18:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=600502"},"modified":"2018-07-09T08:51:58","modified_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:51:58","slug":"every-person-has-dignity-and-value-deserves-empathy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/07\/every-person-has-dignity-and-value-deserves-empathy\/","title":{"rendered":"Every person has dignity and value, deserves empathy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Undocumented

U.S. Customs and Border Protection<\/p>

Undocumented immigrant children at a U.S. Border Patrol processing center in McAllen, Texas.<\/p><\/div>\n

COMMENTARY:\u00a0<\/strong>In a speech promoting comprehensive immigration reform in 2006, then-U.S. President George W. Bush made a plea for reason and respect in the national debate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot build a unified country by inciting people to anger, or playing on anyone\u2019s fears, or exploiting the issue of immigration for political gain,\u201d Bush said<\/a>. \u201cWe must always remember that real lives will be affected by our debates and decisions, and that every human being has dignity and value no matter what their citizenship papers say.\u201d<\/p>\n

How far we\u2019ve fallen.<\/p>\n

Our current president speaks about immigrants who lack legal status like they\u2019re roaches. He recently accused Democrats of wanting such immigrants to \u201cinfest our country.\u201d<\/a> He also claimed<\/a> he\u2019s \u201cwatched ICE liberate towns from the grasp of MS-13,\u201d as if the United States is being invaded. (It\u2019s not.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Heath

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

The George W. Bush Presidential Center, in contrast, has a section on its website<\/a> that promotes the contributions of immigrants and debunks myths with facts: Immigrants work hard; they\u2019re responsible for a substantial portion of the U.S. labor force\u2019s growth. They\u2019re not taking American jobs; in fact, more immigrants are self-employed than native-born Americans. Those whose businesses have employees employ an average of 11 people.<\/p>\n

And immigrants aren\u2019t \u201ctaking over\u201d the United States, the Bush website states: They account for about 13.5 percent of the population, \u201cwhich is in line with historical norms.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also true that our economic system is squeezing more and more Americans. Our predominantly white middle class has been shrinking<\/a>. Suicide<\/a> and other deaths<\/a> among white, middle-aged people are rising.<\/p>\n

Many are blaming immigrants. As I\u2019ve moderated social media discussions at NMPolitics.net<\/a> about the crisis on our southern border in recent weeks, I\u2019ve seen so many comments that essentially said, \u201cWho cares? They broke the law. They took our jobs. Deport all immigrants. Close the border!\u201d<\/p>\n

One person posted \u201cWomp womp\u201d in response to an article about migrants who are fleeing violence. He was mimicking former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. During a recent television appearance, Lewandowski mocked a migrant child with Down Syndrome<\/a> who\u2019d been separated from her mother.<\/p>\n

That lack of empathy is stunning.<\/p>\n

Immigrants didn\u2019t cause the great recession, the mortgage crisis, or so many other problems. We\u2019re all victims of deep-rooted, oppressive systems<\/a> that need reform and a government that is too corrupt and paralyzed to do it.<\/p>\n

So many people in the United States are struggling to make ends meet. I feel that pain. I\u2019m among those spending more under Obamacare for less health insurance coverage than I had before.<\/p>\n

And there are so many people in other nations whose lives are in danger every day. Even as our president likens them to pests, they see the United States as a safer and better opportunity. So they keep coming<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur new immigrants are just what they\u2019ve always been: people willing to risk everything for the dream of freedom,\u201d Bush said in his 2006 speech. That was before the base of his party revolted, killed immigration reform, and made the GOP into a nativistic bunker for people with hardened hearts.<\/p>\n

If we continue on this path, polarization will increase. Violence will intensify. And I fear for our future.<\/p>\n

We can choose something better. It starts where Bush focused 12 years ago \u2013 on the American ideal that we are \u201cone nation out of many peoples.\u201d We are best when we work through our differences and come together.<\/p>\n

It starts by choosing to have empathy for each other. It\u2019s not too late.<\/p>\n

Heath Haussamen<\/a>\u00a0is NMPolitics.net\u2019s editor and publisher.\u00a0Agree with his opinion? Disagree? NMPolitics.net welcomes your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George W. Bush said it 12 years ago in a speech promoting immigration reform. It\u2019s not too late to choose that path.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":593761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[140,3668],"class_list":["post-600502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-george-w-bush"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}