I’m A Legitimate Asylum-Seeker, And I Support Trump’s Border Wall

Sailor said:
https://thefederalist.com/2019/05/20/im-legitimate-asylum-seeker-support-trumps-border-wall/

This is an interesting view on what is going on at the borders. First hand experience. Posted in entirety. Please do not bother on commenting unless you read the whole thing.



Like many people, I used to think President Trump was exaggerating the situation at the southern border. Then I learned my application for asylum was being delayed to preference people deliberately breaking U.S. laws.

Like many immigrants, I came to the United States through legal means to obtain an undergraduate degree in engineering. I have been paying taxes ever since, from school jobs to internships to post-grad jobs. In fact, the United States was the first country to ever grant me work authorization, something I believed to be a privilege considering I was on a temporary student visa.

Everything was going well for me until I decided to leave Islam. Coming from a community that is virtually 100 percent Muslim, I knew I could never go back to my home country afterward. My decision to leave and criticize Islam publicly forced me to resort to asylum.

Once my attorney and I filed my asylum case, everything went well in the beginning. Within 45 days, I had my biometric services appointment (where you get your photo and fingerprints taken) and my interview scheduled. The interview was thorough and I was confident that the officer did a great job gathering all the facts he needed to help him reach a decision. At the end of my interview, the asylum officer gave me a decision pick-up notice and instructed me to come back in exactly two weeks to pick up my decision.

You can imagine how thrilled I was knowing that no matter what the decision was, it would all be over within two months of filing. No more worrying, wondering, and being in limbo. I was counting the days, until I received a phone call the following week informing me that a decision would not be made by the specified date, and sent in the mail whenever it is made.

It took me a few seconds to gather myself and ask when I should expect a decision. I was told they have no idea when and that the fact that I had legal status might be a factor in the delay since priority is being given to illegal immigrants.

I couldn’t believe that illegal immigrants would be given higher priority than someone who followed the law. It just seemed unfair to me that jumping in line would put you ahead. Hoping that the asylum office employee was mistaken, I went through United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) website. It indeed stated that longer processing times might be required if an applicant has legal status.

Realizing I had no choice but to wait, I kept checking my mail daily and calling the asylum office at least once a month, until I gained the ability to check my case status online. Since then, checking my status has been the very first thing I do every single morning. It has now been more than seven months.

My personal experience, which might disqualify me from being objective to some, made me dig into illegal immigration and its effects on the country in general, and on legal immigration in particular. If you had asked me two years ago, I wouldn’t have cared for the border wall debate, or even known enough to form and articulate my position on the matter. Like many people, I used to think that President Trump was exaggerating the situation at the southern border.

Unfortunately, it took me, a legal alien, being personally affected by illegal immigration to look at the data and realize that there is indeed a crisis at the southern border. The crisis is affecting both the American people and those who take the right, legal steps, and wait their turn to come to the United States.

Since I filed my case, about 460,000 illegal crossings took place. The vast majority of the crossers claimed asylum and basically got priority processing over everyone who filed their cases legally, myself included. If you don’t think there is a problem here at all, you must be living in a mental utopia, or are just too distant to see the direct effects of this crisis, as I once was.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against honest Central Americans fleeing persecution in their home countries to claim asylum. I sympathize with their position and my case is not any more important than theirs. However, if they know they have a legitimate asylum case, they should file for asylum legally at a port of entry, as some do, instead of illegally crossing the border first to undermine the system in place.

That is exactly why I’m for the border wall. True asylum seekers will still be able to file for asylum at the ports of entry, maybe even in their home countries soon, if Sen. Lindsey Graham’s new asylum law package is implemented. A wall can significantly lower, if not eliminate, illegal crossings, especially when coupled with recommended, location-specific operational tactics. It would discourage economic migrants from making the dangerous trip, and it would certainly gut the smuggling business in the region.

A wall would also help U.S. Customs and Border Protection operate much more efficiently by concentrating manpower in areas where physical barriers would be limited, such as the Rio Grande River. Finally, and most importantly, a wall would save taxpayers money in the long run.
Mahir Ahmed is an Ethiopian ex-Muslim, currently residing in the United States. He holds a bachelor of science degree in manufacturing engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. You can follow him on Twitter @MahirAbramo.
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Thanks , mariner.
 
There is this place in the world known as America! It is not a country! It is an entire Hemisphere of our planet including two continents, the USA, both our neighbors of Canada and Mexico, and all of the countries of Central and South America.

Yes, that's right- we are all American over here in this Hemisphere. No one country in this Hemisphere can lay any more claim to the title of "America" than any of the others. Being "American" just means that you are from one of the countries in the "American" Hemisphere. Mexicans are Americans, Canadians are Americans, Bolivians are Americans and just because we like to call ourselves America here in the USA, Mexicans are no less American than people from the USA. Our country is not America, and we are actually the United States of America.

From a United States World Policy perspective, it is not that we don't care what goes on on the other side of the world in the other Hemisphere, but that it is our first priority to protect ourselves, our immediate neighbors to the North and South of our own country, and all the countries that exist in our own Hemisphere.

What happens in our own Hemisphere are the things that are going to affect us here in the USA first. When there are problems of Civil unrest within any country in the America's, or conflicts between any two or more countries within the America's, it is a concern and a priority for all the countries that make up the Americas.

A pandemic, immigration, humanitarian, natural disaster, or welfare problem in any country of the Americas is a major concern for all the countries of the Americas because every country in our own hemisphere is effected much sooner than later.

You do not wall out the problems. No, you help your neighbors, and we should all be helping each other in this Hemisphere- in the Americas.
 
Sailor said:
https://thefederalist.com/2019/05/20/im-legitimate-asylum-seeker-support-trumps-border-wall/

This is an interesting view on what is going on at the borders. First hand experience. Posted in entirety. Please do not bother on commenting unless you read the whole thing.



Like many people, I used to think President Trump was exaggerating the situation at the southern border. Then I learned my application for asylum was being delayed to preference people deliberately breaking U.S. laws.

Like many immigrants, I came to the United States through legal means to obtain an undergraduate degree in engineering. I have been paying taxes ever since, from school jobs to internships to post-grad jobs. In fact, the United States was the first country to ever grant me work authorization, something I believed to be a privilege considering I was on a temporary student visa.

Everything was going well for me until I decided to leave Islam. Coming from a community that is virtually 100 percent Muslim, I knew I could never go back to my home country afterward. My decision to leave and criticize Islam publicly forced me to resort to asylum.

Once my attorney and I filed my asylum case, everything went well in the beginning. Within 45 days, I had my biometric services appointment (where you get your photo and fingerprints taken) and my interview scheduled. The interview was thorough and I was confident that the officer did a great job gathering all the facts he needed to help him reach a decision. At the end of my interview, the asylum officer gave me a decision pick-up notice and instructed me to come back in exactly two weeks to pick up my decision.

You can imagine how thrilled I was knowing that no matter what the decision was, it would all be over within two months of filing. No more worrying, wondering, and being in limbo. I was counting the days, until I received a phone call the following week informing me that a decision would not be made by the specified date, and sent in the mail whenever it is made.

It took me a few seconds to gather myself and ask when I should expect a decision. I was told they have no idea when and that the fact that I had legal status might be a factor in the delay since priority is being given to illegal immigrants.

I couldn’t believe that illegal immigrants would be given higher priority than someone who followed the law. It just seemed unfair to me that jumping in line would put you ahead. Hoping that the asylum office employee was mistaken, I went through United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) website. It indeed stated that longer processing times might be required if an applicant has legal status.

Realizing I had no choice but to wait, I kept checking my mail daily and calling the asylum office at least once a month, until I gained the ability to check my case status online. Since then, checking my status has been the very first thing I do every single morning. It has now been more than seven months.

My personal experience, which might disqualify me from being objective to some, made me dig into illegal immigration and its effects on the country in general, and on legal immigration in particular. If you had asked me two years ago, I wouldn’t have cared for the border wall debate, or even known enough to form and articulate my position on the matter. Like many people, I used to think that President Trump was exaggerating the situation at the southern border.

Unfortunately, it took me, a legal alien, being personally affected by illegal immigration to look at the data and realize that there is indeed a crisis at the southern border. The crisis is affecting both the American people and those who take the right, legal steps, and wait their turn to come to the United States.

Since I filed my case, about 460,000 illegal crossings took place. The vast majority of the crossers claimed asylum and basically got priority processing over everyone who filed their cases legally, myself included. If you don’t think there is a problem here at all, you must be living in a mental utopia, or are just too distant to see the direct effects of this crisis, as I once was.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against honest Central Americans fleeing persecution in their home countries to claim asylum. I sympathize with their position and my case is not any more important than theirs. However, if they know they have a legitimate asylum case, they should file for asylum legally at a port of entry, as some do, instead of illegally crossing the border first to undermine the system in place.

That is exactly why I’m for the border wall. True asylum seekers will still be able to file for asylum at the ports of entry, maybe even in their home countries soon, if Sen. Lindsey Graham’s new asylum law package is implemented. A wall can significantly lower, if not eliminate, illegal crossings, especially when coupled with recommended, location-specific operational tactics. It would discourage economic migrants from making the dangerous trip, and it would certainly gut the smuggling business in the region.

A wall would also help U.S. Customs and Border Protection operate much more efficiently by concentrating manpower in areas where physical barriers would be limited, such as the Rio Grande River. Finally, and most importantly, a wall would save taxpayers money in the long run.
Mahir Ahmed is an Ethiopian ex-Muslim, currently residing in the United States. He holds a bachelor of science degree in manufacturing engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. You can follow him on Twitter @MahirAbramo.
Click to expand...

I’m a strong supporter of building a border wall too. No really, but as I’ve said before, Trump and I just disagree on where. It really needs to be built on the north shore of the Ohio River.

Joking aside Trumps Wall is by far and away the dumbest political idea floated around this country in my lifetime.

He is purposely throwing red meat to people who are the least capable of critical thinking who based on racial resentments and xenophobia think this gran Fallon of a bad idea could actually work. He might as well be selling bridges to rubes and given Trumps professional background, that’s something hey is very talented at.

The native peoples of this region have been immigrating in and out of this region of North America for millennia. Massive obstacles of mountains and desserts have never stopped them and, as history has proven over and over again, neither can any wall. It could only at best be a temporary obstacle and a waste of tax payers money and a monument to stupidity on a grand scale.

Why? Because not only would it not work it doesn’t even address the real problem. It’s a temporary treatment of a symptom.

The truth is these immigrants are not our enemies and are not a clear and present danger to our national security and the militarization of our Southern border with Mexico is just plain dumb. The notion is a populist ploy to attract votes based on bigotry and ignorance and I’ll have no part of it.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
I’m a strong supporter of building a border wall too. No really, but as I’ve said before, Trump and I just disagree on where. It really needs to be built on the north shore of the Ohio River.

Joking aside Trumps Wall is by far and away the dumbest political idea floated around this country in my lifetime.

He is purposely throwing red meat to people who are the least capable of critical thinking who based on racial resentments and xenophobia think this gran Fallon of a bad idea could actually work. He might as well be selling bridges to rubes and given Trumps professional background, that’s something hey is very talented at.

The native peoples of this region have been immigrating in and out of this region of North America for millennia. Massive obstacles of mountains and desserts have never stopped them and, as history has proven over and over again, neither can any wall. It could only at best be a temporary obstacle and a waste of tax payers money and a monument to stupidity on a grand scale.

Why? Because not only would it not work it doesn’t even address the real problem. It’s a temporary treatment of a symptom.

The truth is these immigrants are not our enemies and are not a clear and present danger to our national security and the militarization of our Southern border with Mexico is just plain dumb. The notion is a populist ploy to attract votes based on bigotry and ignorance and I’ll have no part of it.
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I agree with all of that. To a point. There is nothing wrong with immigrants coming into this country legally. The keyword, legally. Go through the process.
 
moon said:
Dullard- if the cases exceed the courts' capacity then you increase the capacity. An administration that can't do that isn't fit for purpose.
Blaming the refugees is cynical- and very stupid.
Click to expand...

You are a simple minded person if you really believe government works at the speed of sound.
The president does not name immigration judges, but he does name appeals judge that have to be confirmed by Congress. Look how well that is going. The jack asses block the appointments simply because the judge was named by Trump.

By October 2018, Sessions had hired an additional 128 immigration judges. How many more judges will be necessary to handle a case count that will approach one million in the near future.
Last year Sessions ordered judges to speed up the hearings. He wanted judges to hear 700 cases a year. I’ll let you do the math to calculate how many judges are necessary.

Currently Barr will make moves to streamline the process.

You assholes are such hypocrites. You criticized and called Trump racist for trying to keep asylum seekers out of the country. The illegals will now be in the country for years so you criticize him for not processing them for deportation or asylum fast enough.
 
moon said:
Dullard- if the cases exceed the courts' capacity then you increase the capacity. An administration that can't do that isn't fit for purpose.
Blaming the refugees is cynical- and very stupid.
Click to expand...

I never blamed the refugees but now that you mention it. There is a process to seek asylum and this is not it. This punishes the immigrants that goes through the process the right way which brings us back to the start of this post and the immigrant that wrote of his experience with the broken system.
 
Tkaffen said:
You are a simple minded person if you really believe government works at the speed of sound.
The president does not name immigration judges, but he does name appeals judge that have to be confirmed by Congress. Look how well that is going. The jack asses block the appointments simply because the judge was named by Trump.

By October 2018, Sessions had hired an additional 128 immigration judges. How many more judges will be necessary to handle a case count that will approach one million in the near future.
Last year Sessions ordered judges to speed up the hearings. He wanted judges to hear 700 cases a year. I’ll let you do the math to calculate how many judges are necessary.

Currently Barr will make moves to streamline the process.

You assholes are such hypocrites. You criticized and called Trump racist for trying to keep asylum seekers out of the country. The illegals will now be in the country for years so you criticize him for not processing them for deportation or asylum fast enough.
Click to expand...

He was basing that on how fast the government got him for those bestiality charges with his goat.
 
Asylum seekers are looking for border guards and turning themselves in to get a hearing. These evil people are looking for a better life for their families, just like our forefathers did.
 
Tkaffen said:
You are a simple minded person if you really believe government works at the speed of sound.
The president does not name immigration judges, but he does name appeals judge that have to be confirmed by Congress. Look how well that is going. The jack asses block the appointments simply because the judge was named by Trump.

By October 2018, Sessions had hired an additional 128 immigration judges. How many more judges will be necessary to handle a case count that will approach one million in the near future.
Last year Sessions ordered judges to speed up the hearings. He wanted judges to hear 700 cases a year. I’ll let you do the math to calculate how many judges are necessary.

Currently Barr will make moves to streamline the process.

You assholes are such hypocrites. You criticized and called Trump racist for trying to keep asylum seekers out of the country. The illegals will now be in the country for years so you criticize him for not processing them for deportation or asylum fast enough.
Click to expand...

You think that Trump can stumble about with the processing of refugees and, like him, you blame the refugees for being there.
You're just one moronic step behind the asshole, bath-tub, who wants to plant anti-personnel mines along the border.

If the problem with the processing is clogged courts, dumbass, then the solution is to unclogg the fucking courts- no matter what it takes in the way of expanding the system.
Never mind new death-dealing military R&D, fighting Izrael's wars or the pathetic pursuits of moon and Mars chasing- spend the money on PEOPLE. Anybody would think, reading crap like yours, that Socialism was the politics of extra-terrestrials.

' Right, Jesus ? ' ' That's right, Ms. moon, si '
 
moon said:
You think that Trump can stumble about with the processing of refugees and, like him, you blame the refugees for being there.
You're just one moronic step behind the asshole, bath-tub, who wants to plant anti-personnel mines along the border.

If the problem with the processing is clogged courts, dumbass, then the solution is to unclogg the fucking courts- no matter what it takes in the way of expanding the system.
Never mind new death-dealing military R&D, fighting Izrael's wars or the pathetic pursuits of moon and Mars chasing- spend the money on PEOPLE. Anybody would think, reading crap like yours, that Socialism was the politics of extra-terrestrials.

' Right, Jesus ? ' ' That's right, Ms. moon, si '
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Of course we blame the "refugees" for being there. Who else should we blame, stupid foreigner?
These "refugees" are clogging our ports and illegally crossing our borders at an alarming rate, yet
assholes like you think we should just let them in. Bullshit! If they want in, let them get in line with
those who wish to come here legally and wait their turn...and learn English!
 
RB 60 said:
Of course we blame the "refugees" for being there. Who else should we blame, stupid foreigner?
These "refugees" are clogging our ports and illegally crossing our borders at an alarming rate, yet
assholes like you think we should just let them in. Bullshit! If they want in, let them get in line with
those who wish to come here legally and wait their turn...and learn English!
Click to expand...

Dip-shit. They are refugees because of ' our ' failure . The ' West ' has produced them.
Now that they exist- address our inadequacies. Blathering about the fault being theirs is dummer than dum.
 
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