I have been watching the exodus of people from Ukraine. As with any fleeing their homeland because of war or persecution, my heart goes out to them. As I understand it, we, meaning America, (USA) have committed to providing asylum to 100,000 Ukrainians, as we should.
This is where my mind starts to wonder. South America, Afghanistan, Syria and all the other places in the world where people want to escape from and come to our country. It was not that long ago that we needed to get individuals out of Afghanistan, (we still do). What happened? Is that yesterdays news? Are we still trying to get our allies who helped us while we were in their country? Are they still in hiding because we have abandoned them? The women are losing their rights they’ve gained while we were there. Where is the help for them?
What about the endless flow of South Americans trying to come into this country? That is a mess and it has been for years. No presidents have tackled this problem in any productive way. Either they are too lenient or too strict. I don’t have the answer, but it would be nice to see politicians actively working on solutions that might work. It is long overdue!
My family are immigrants from Italy. Both sides of my grandparents are right off the boat from Italy, in the early 1900’s. From what I understand there was a “quota,” on immigration. A certain amount of immigrants from different nations had to wait for their turn in immigrating to the US. Do we still have that?
My final thought, (really my first thought) is that, are we giving asylum to the Ukrainians above everyone else seeking asylum because they are white? I just can’t help thinking that.