Oh, Michigan. What a disappointing time to live in our state.
Farmington, Michigan is home to the University of Farmington. According to the Department of Homeland Security website this is an accredited institution that accepts students under the F-1 visa.
In reality the university is fake and the students have all been arrested, and sometimes deported, by U.S. Immigrations and Customs.
Since January of 2019 over 250 students have been lured in and tricked by paid government agents, acting as recruiters and administration, to register and pay for classes at the university. Once enrolled the agency swoops in on the students, even if they drop out of registration, and arrests them for attempting to defraud their visas.
They lie to students about the school, admit them, collect tuition, then treat them like they’re trash—disposable and worthless.
This problem extends far beyond the University of ICE in Farmington, Michigan.
This problem is everywhere in our country; an explosion of anti-immigrant behavior makes the case that racism was never dead or dying in the United States. It was simply hiding.
That was until Donald Trump became President of the United States. It was hidden until the rhetoric and vitriol from his speeches and policies invigorated his supporters to start showing their true colors.
According to the Journal of Adolescent Health, Anti-Semitic hate crimes increased 60% in 2017.
Mexican-Americans feel unsafe in their communities and homes.
25% of minorities in the United States experience “interpersonal discrimination attributed to race, ethnicity, or ancestry.”
In a paper by Daniel Griswold, a senior research fellow at George Mason University, called “How to Fix Illegal Immigration Without a Wall or Mass Deportations” Griswold states that “hunting down and deporting millions of people would be an economic and humanitarian disaster. It would tear families apart, disrupt important sectors of the U.S. economy, and cost taxpayers billions of dollars.”
Griswold is of the mind that the best way to deal with illegal immigrants already in the country is “earned legalization for those who are already living and working here.” This does not mean there would be blanket forgiveness, the newly legal citizens would pay fines and back taxes and submit to background vetting.
We do not have to be the enemy of those seeking shelter. Let’s do better by all those attempting to make a life in America, the land of the “American Dream” that we all strive to reach
Or we can listen to the quote written on the base of the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”