I have to agree with Ray Masson in his letter of July 11 that his cartoon (Citizen, July 4) was not a denigration of Christ. Nonetheless I do find the cartoon reprehensible because it falsely and completely misrepresents American immigration policy.
The cartoon depicts border guards denying entry to Christ because of his origin from the Middle East and having a beard, saying such people are banned from entering the U.S. In his letter Masson also says Muslims are banned. And the cartoon indicates they don't like to let Mexicans in. None of this is true.
There is no Muslim ban, never was. There is a travel ban from seven countries that happen to be majority Muslim, countries that had been flagged as untrustworthy for visa issuance by the Obama administration. Non-Muslims from these countries are also banned from entering the U.S. And 90 per cent of the world's Muslims do not live in these countries and the ban does not apply to them. The U.S. admits well over 100,000 Muslim immigrants per year.
Almost 200.000 Mexicans immigrate legally to the U.S. every year, which would seem to indicate that Americans are rather fond of them, contrary to what Mr. Masson's cartoon says.
What the U.S. administration is not fond of is illegal immigration. The U.S. is a nation of laws and some of those laws apply to persons entering the country illegally. Most illegal immigrants sneak in from Mexico and they are the targets that the border agencies are aiming at as they enforce the laws as they are required to.
In his letter defending his cartoon, Mr. Masson referred to President Trump as "the Baby Jailer," no doubt referring to the practice of separating the children of jailed illegal immigrants and detaining them in separate facilities.
This is not a Trump policy. The first pictures of "kids in cages" that started the whole kerfuffle were from the Obama era. Why was no-one outraged by this practice then? Because Obama was president. Why are the same people outraged now? Because Trump is president. That's the only difference. Separating families wasn't actually an Obama policy either, it's the law. In 1997, activists sued, claiming it was inhumane to jail children with their parents, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed and ordered that the children be separated.
Trump recently gave into pressure and signed an executive order changing that policy but he doesn't actually have the authority to override the courts so it isn't valid. If challenged, the courts would strike it down.
By the way, it's standard practice to separate children from parents who are sent to jail; it happens thousands of times a year in all countries. Often they are detained and then go into foster care. Happens in Canada too! And of course, there was the usual comparison of the Trump administration to the Nazis. Yawn. Such ridiculous comparisons are de rigueur for those suffering from TDS but really, can't you think of anything else?
Art Betke, Prince George
