On Refugees

With more than 3.5 million refugees fleeing Ukraine because of Russia's aggression, many European nations have exceeded their annual treaty-rooted obligations for refugee settlement. Many on the the American Right are also open to Ukrainian refugees, precisely because Russia has invaded their sovereign country. The irony and hypocrisy is hard to escape though.

While Trump was president, he and many Right wing pundits decried illegal immigration as an invasion, only most of these people were fleeing lives of poverty, ecological displacement, drug wars, and political infighting, and they were not armed as an invading army would be. Plus, because some came from war-torn nations, they were seeking refugee status, while others were seeking asylum. Trump held people outside of the border from properly processing. Many on the Right were also quick to claim that these refugees and asylum seekers from Latin America (mostly) should fix the problems in their own country. 

Juxtaposed to Ukraine, where they are pushing 10% of their population becoming displaced, while at the same time they fervently strive to hold off Russia, Americans across the board are quick to aid the fight and receive some of Ukraine's migrants. We aren't saying to them "fix it yourself," or denying the severity of the situation and keeping their refugees from relocating. Why? 

I am not one to jump to the race card as conscious factor, but we do seem to differentiate severity of the impoverished Latin areas and the wealthier Caucasian lands. Is this a subconscious bias? Perhaps we just see a greater problem in overt war than we do crime wars, political autocracies, drug wars, and climate emergencies. Regardless, people on all these fronts are dying and seeking betterment, safety, and security. Shame on the Right for dehumanizing and categorizing so simplistically. Yes, we need to be concerned for Ukraine, especially because of the existential threat Russia poses with its nuclear arsenal. Yet, we should not categorize people in our neck-of-the-woods as the invader, especially when they may be in just a dire predicament as any Ukrainian. Just a thought.