While the republican President Donald Trump’s policy of separating children from parents seeking asylum at the southwest US border as set out in the April 6, 2018 memo is very unpopular among most Americans, it has the approval of most republicans in the president’s base.
It’s time for us who are part of the resistance, to contact our US Congress representatives to hold them accountable for their lack of action. Please include discussion about the president’s April 6, 2018 memo via the Attorney General Jeff Sessions where he’s ordering the separation of children from parents seeking asylum at the US southwest border. President Trump can alter this practice with one phone call. Asking refugees to apply for asylum only at designated points of entry is not a realistic direction as most are turned away, only to wait for weeks to gain entry.
One recommended the phone number is 877-650-0039. Other contacts phone members and fax methods are listed below.
Find Your Representative · House.gov – U.S. House of Representatives
TO FAX: Resistbot will do it all for you. Text “RESIST” to 50409 or message Resistbot on Facebook and it will walk you through the steps to fax your Senator and will tell you when your fax has been delivered.
The main US Senate phone line 202-225-3121 (202-224-3121) or YOU CAN FIND PHONE NUMBERS FOR EVERY SENATOR HERE. or U.S. Senate: Senators of the 115th Congress.
Here is the rest of the story…
On June 18, 2018, Dylan Matthews of VOX penned the following report, “Polls: Trump’s family separation policy is very unpopular- except among Republicans” (“One finds 66 percent of Americans opposed and only 27 percent in favor.”)
Excerpts:
“Two new polls find that the US government policy of separating children from their parents at the Mexican border is very unpopular with the general public, but retains majority support among Republicans.”
“A new Quinnipiac University poll, released Monday (6/18/18), asked voters, “As you may know, some families seeking asylum from their home country cross the U.S. border illegally and then request asylum. In an attempt to discourage this, the Trump administration has been prosecuting the parents immediately, which means separating parents from their children. Do you support or oppose this policy?” As my colleague Dara Lind notes, this characterizes most of the reason for family separation, though some families seeking asylum legally at ports of entry have also been separated.”
“Sixty-six percent of voters — including 91 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of independents — told Quinnipiac they opposed the policy. Whites with college degrees were likelier than non-college whites to oppose the policy, and young people of all races were likelier to oppose it than old people. Women were likelier to oppose the policy than men, and black and Hispanic Americans were more likely to oppose it than whites (though a large majority of whites still oppose the policy).”
“But by a large, 20-point (55 percent to 35 percent) margin, Republicans supported the policy:”
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/11558605/Screenshot_2018_06_18_14.13.30.png)
“A poll conducted by Ipsos exclusively for the Daily Beast found similar results. Ipsos asked respondents if they agreed with this statement: “It is appropriate to separate undocumented immigrant parents from their children when they cross the border in order to discourage others from crossing the border illegally.” The wording is slightly different from the Quinnipiac poll, foregrounding the deterrence rationale the Trump administration has used to defend the policy.”
“Fifty-five percent of respondents stated they disagreed (42 percent “strongly” disagreed), while 27 percent agreed. As in the Quinnipiac poll, women and nonwhite people were likelier to disagree with the policy; unlike the Quinnipiac poll, differences based on education were minimal, and 18- to 34-year-olds and 35- to 54-year-olds had similar opinions. (People 55 and up were likelier to support the policy.)”
And as in the Quinnipiac poll, more Republicans approved of the policy than not (46 percent to 32 percent). Note that unlike the Quinnipiac poll, the Ipsos poll found only a plurality of Republicans supporting family separation, not a majority.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/11558669/daily_beast_tables_1.png)
Chris Warshaw, a political scientist at George Washington University, notes that both the Quinnipiac and Ipsos polling suggests the policy is less popular than any major policy proposal of recent American history, including the extremely unpopular Obamacare repeal bills of last summer:
Chris Warshaw@cwarshawTwo polls are out on Trump’s policy of separating families of illegal immigrants. Both show it is historically unpopular. @QuinnipiacPoll: 66% oppose – 27% supp (-39% margin)@ipsosus 56-27 (-29% margin)
For context, these numbers are lower than any major bill in past 30 yrs.
“That could mean that Republicans who disagree with Trump, and in particular his immigration policies, are likelier to identify as independents rather than Republicans now, which in turn artificially inflates support for Trump among self-identified Republicans. If you polled people who identified as Republicans as of November 2016 and asked what they think of the family separation policy, you might get different results.”
“That said, Trump’s popularity has been rising in recent weeks, which could mitigate that effect.”
The polling here matches up with a longstanding public opinion trend of Americans becoming more supportive of immigration. An NBC poll last summer found that the share of Americans saying that immigration strengthens the US had grown from 47 percent in 2010 to 64 percent in 2017, rising among Democrats and Republicans alike. Pew Research Center has reached similar findings, and political scientists Daniel Hopkins (at the University of Pennsylvania) and Michael Tesler (at University of California Irvine) have found that the 2016 campaign made Americans more pro-immigration.”
Gronda Morin 
Gronda, the Trump base has a major case of cognitive dissonance rage needs constant assuaging from Trump and his sycophants. When these mouths and fingers must lie to defend their position, that should be telling. It just shows how nefarious these sycophants are.
As for Republican Party support, as you imply, I feel the percentage overstates his relative fan base. These days I pay attention to two sets of numbers – what do independent voters and all voters believe. I find both parties lacking, but it is not a normal distribution. The amount of lying in the GOP base dwarfs that of the Dems. This lying preceded, but enabled Trump’s rise. He knows he can lie with impunity to his base. Keith
LikeLike
Dear Keith,
This issue has finally moved some republicans to stand up to President Trump. Senator Lindsey Graham has stated for the record that the president could change this policy with one phone call. Senator Ted Cruz is introducing legislation to end this.
But the lying still continues with President Trump, the DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, press liason Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The truth tellers are the Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the chief of staff General John Kelly and the president’s senior adviser Stephen Miller. The hard-line anti -immigrants have the president’s ear.
Hugs, Gronda
LikeLike
Gronda, at your impetus, I posted the following email on several Senators and my Congressman’s website. Please feel free to use and modify. Keith
I am saddened my country has bullied our allies, threatened to leave the UN and separated children from their parents. How low must we go before our leaders in Congress will act to rein in a reckless and indecent man in the White House? We are not living up to our ideals and are not only ceding our global leadership role, we are becoming a pariah.
We are better than this. I beg members of my former party to remember their conscience and realize the damage being done by this man and act. Please.
Sent from my iPhone
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Keith,
I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to contact / email our US lawmakers. It is right on point. The lawmakers have been hearing from their constituents but I don’t know if they can get their act together to pass something to end this practice.
It is the president who actually thinks that he is winning with this policy with his base.
Hugs, Gronda
LikeLike
Gronda, on this occasion, the President could not make the real world go away, so his optics did not work. Now, if he does sign this executive order this afternoon (still an if), he will accept credit and blame Democrats. Keith
LikeLike
It’s nothing but human blackmail. Trump is crying in his milk, and as long as he doesn’t get his way he will make someone else suffer. In this case it is those who want to come to America, with their children!
I, up here in the north lands, have no say, of course, but I wish I could go down to South and Central America and pay for any family who wanted to go, to travel to the USA/Mexico border and just overwhelm Trump with numbers.
It’s not ethical, it’s not moral, it’s not even sane, but it would be hurting Trump financially, as well as calling his bluff. Give him a million kids to house and feed and see what he does then. His true colours would show as he started lining the kids up and just mowing them down, then burying them in mass graves…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Rawgod,
Please don’t give President Trump any ideas. This story is getting lots of media coverage to where I am praying that there is enough pressure on the president to back track on this policy.
I also wish I could go down to Texas but I would be of little use.
Hugs, Gronda
LikeLike
If I thought Trump was following your blog I would not have said anything, nor would I have used (please pardon the expression) black humour. But this particular subject is getting beyond everyone’s ability to deal with it, which is why I wrote what I did.
No, I would not want to give him any ideas, but this cannot be allowed to go on any longer, it is the most serious and unimaginable thing he has ever done in his life, let alone as president. If his psychophants go along with this, which most of them are, they will cheer when he uses nuclear bombs to blow up northern Mexico to stop the flow of immigrants and refuge-seekers. Making the ground unpassable would work better than a wall, would not cost him a red cent since the bombs already exist, and would solve that problem for decades. The fact it might wipe out life in California, Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Florida, southern Mexico, half of Central America, and who knows what else obviously would not phase him one bit.
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL, now that’s a plan! I was wondering when Trump would put DHS and FEMA to “good” use, by good i mean that in the most sarcastic way. We’ve all heard about the FEMA death camps under Obama, i could only imagine the immigrant roundup under dictator Trump! Oy vey meshuggeneh. 🙂
LikeLike
Dear 1EarthUnited,
The FEMA death camps under President Obama are long ago debunked right wing conspiracy theories.
Google: FACT CHECK: Obama Quietly Orders Millions of Disposable Coffins?
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/false-coffin-corner/
Google: FEMA camps – Snopes.com
Google: FEMA Camps – Debunking FEMA Camp Myths – Popular Mechanics
Google: Glenn Beck Recycles X-Files Plot to Spread Fear of Obama | HuffPost
Hugs, Gronda
LikeLike
Yes i know FEMA death camps are right wing conspiracy theory, but under Trump, who knows….. it may become reality (like Japanese interment camps during WWII). Scary thought, but i wouldn’t be surprised, the way this administration is conducting policy!
LikeLike