Con
Donald Trump declared his presidential candidacy for the 2016 election on June 16 inside Trump Towers. During that night he spit out some sugar and some spice and some of it wasn’t so nice. Several comments offended extremely. His comments about immigration and the economy gained him publicity. They also made him sound racist, hypocritical and unrealistic.
In a nutshell, Trump supposedly will raise America back up by jeopardizing undocumented workers and low wage sectors. No one can gain citizenship if they are born in the United States to illegal parents, according to his plan. He’s going to build a wall to prevent further illegal immigration and is going to make Mexico pay for it. And he’s going to deport over eleven million people that are working jobs that most United States Citizens would rather not do.
Comments regarding immigration gained Trump the most publicity. He claimed to have spoken to the border guards. He declared the other countries are not sending “the right people.” He accused Mexicans of being rapists, criminals, and drug dealers. He said that South and Central America were sending the same unlawful type of people. The Middle East was possibly doing the same. He accused Mexicans and Chinese for causing unemployment.
Trump put out a six page immigration plan. He would rid the U.S. of immigration problems. But in reality his ideas are unrealistic and impossible.
For one, Trump would stop birthright citizenship, the legal right of all children born in a country and guaranteed in the Constitution since Fourteenth Amendment of 1868. As taught in every history class at one point or another, it is a daunting task to amend the Constitution, Mr. Trump.
But the most rotten apple in the barrel of Trump’s ideas is a plan to round up 11 million or more undocumented immigrants and send them back to their supposed ‘homeland’l in 18-24 months.
How exactly would Trump do that? He would have to deport 485,333 immigrants per month or 15,277 immigrants per day according to Jorge Ramos, an immigrant, journalist and anchor for Fusion’s America.
Has Trump forgotten 11 million people who “perform jobs that the native-born workers refuse to do, such as migrant farm labor or in garment sweatshops” as the Industrial Workers of the World states? Deporting 11 million immigrants would hurt our economy–not make America great again, as Trump suggests.
Even harder yet, how does Trump plan on sending everybody home? He’d have to put people on buses, planes, and ships. And he won’t separate families. No, Trump will send them all home together. So he’s also going to send back the citizen children of undocumented immigrants. Irrationally, he’d have to load up over 30 commercial airplanes, every day for two years, costing $137 million, according to Fusion.
In addition, Trump wants to build a “permanent border wall” at Mexico’s expense, adding to the two 1,945 mile long, 10-15 foot fences already built.
So, yes, Trump has said some hefty things. It’s most concerning that he threatens the American Dream that probably brought his family to the country. He is that citizens who forgets that many generations ago his ancestors were immigrants. As President Obama put it, “Unless you are Native American, your family came from some place else,” and “we always are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too.”
Pro
Written by Devil’s Advocate
You can say what you want about Donald Trump, but the truth is that he is leading the Republicans with 36 percent of the pollers in favor of his candidacy. While his views may be slanted, his manners boorish and his speeches offensive, he’s slowly eliminating every other candidate.
Trump’s campaign has been filled with headlines, tweets and speeches packed with offensive quotes. He has caused a media craze that starts and ends with him. This forces other candidates to rush to state their views, not the politically roundabout pageant queen views, but real actual opinions on topics that matter. Trump has pushed all of the other candidates into saying their actual ideas about immigration, war, and the economy. In this way, Trump provides a needed service to the U.S. by showing what our potential presidents look like behind their politically neutral masks.
Trump never backs down from his views either, especially when they cause an outrage. He may not be nice or sweet, but he is a strong man who doesn’t work for the applause of his voters. And though a majority of young Americans don’t support these views, he is speaking truthfully for a group of Americans that do hold these views.
Donald Trump might not be a great presidential candidate, he may not even be a good one, but he’s doing things that no other candidate can, and for that he deserves some respect. And by the look of his latest polls, the American public is giving it to him.
