5 ms·

Yet another of these awful stories. And yet again, the same "Trump administration blablabla. Since Trump blablabla". This shit has been going on for a long ti

by dudul 7y ago

Yet another of these awful stories. And yet again, the same "Trump administration blablabla. Since Trump blablabla". This shit has been going on for a long time, Trump seating in the oval office has nothing to do with how CBP is behaving. Making it about which party is currently in power is playing the game these agencies are to happy to see you play. Do people really think that voting democrat in a few years will change anything?

dctoedt 7y ago
> Trump seating in the oval office has nothing to do with how CBP is behaving. Highly doubtful. Practically as soon as the Trump administration came in, they fired the outsider police- and FBI veteran that the Obama administration had brought on to head up the CBP and change its insular- and overly-confrontational culture. The fired outsider was strongly opposed by the border-guards union, which, surprise, had prominently endorsed Trump's candidacy because of his emphasis on border security during the campaign. [0] [0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/border-patrol-chief-resigns-after-clashing-with-powerful-union/2017/01/26/23025c3e-e3f1-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/borde... (scan down toward the end of the article)
- bonestamp2 7y ago
  I agree that Trump has influence on CBP, but it's still true that warrantless searches of laptops and phones predate Trump (and Obama). It's not just the US either, I had my laptop searched returning to Canada once. I get that it's in the name of security, but the violation of privacy without any evidence to warrant it, is indecent and dehumanizing. One difference though, Canadian Customs didn't say I wouldn't be allowed to enter the country (I am a Canadian citizen after all). They just said my laptop wouldn't be allowed to enter. I suspect the same is true for the author. Even if they said he wouldn't be allowed to enter, I don't believe that's consistent with US law.
atemerev 7y ago
While it is correct that none of the administrations since 2001 has improved anything in this regard, under Trump things are definitely not becoming better. Those who are telling us "but only illegal immigrants suffer", are wrong -- everybody is having it much worse, illegal immigrants (who are people too, and most of them are not doing anything wrong), legal immigrants (waiting times and quotas are getting nearly impassable), and American citizens, who have their rights violated. Some of the Americans still think that most of these things are good, they think that all immigration is intrinsically bad for America, and perhaps they voted for Trump because of that. I, of course, do not agree (as an immigrant myself, from Russia to Switzerland), but as American voters, it is up to them to decide, this is a valid point to start the discussion -- as long as the truth is acknowledged, and not hidden behind statements like "it's only about illegal immigrants".
- dudul 7y ago
  I totally agree and in a way this is exactly my point. Why blur the discussion with a spiel about Trump when we all know this has been going on for a long time. TSA, CBP, Guitmo, etc Trump didn't set up all of these. By constantly blaming the Trump administration, all these articles are doing is 1)lure anti-Trumpist to believe that all we have to do is vote for the other guy to fix it, 2) alienate Trump-supporters who will feel attacked and basically stop reading.
  - justaaron 7y ago
    That would be ignoring the very deliberate and massive shift in behaviour from both CBP and Fatherland Security ushered in deliberately and noisily by Trump. It's sufficient to have been an international traveler before Trump and since Trump to bear witness to the night & day difference, as well. It's worse under Trump than even the worst excesses of the Bush Jr. time. It IS politics as this "man" has staked his entire administration upon being mean and harsh and fighting a war with the entire world at once. Spare me.
  - jkoudys 7y ago
    I'd say it's symptoms vs cause. America has grown increasingly xenophobic, and as a result you have a POTUS with a base that rallies around him more when he fear-mongers in direct contradiction to easily verified data. Things definitely weren't going swimmingly before Trump, but trying to separate Trump completely and pretend like Obama's border policies were just as bad is also inaccurate.
yokaze 7y ago
> Do people really think that voting democrat in a few years will change anything? It is the Trump administration, which is responsible how CBP is behaving now. When Obama was in power, it was the Obama administration's responsibility. How would you name the current administration, so it isn't about party politics?
- ncmncm 7y ago
  This. It doesn't matter now who created the problem, or who failed to fix it before. What matters now is who is failing to fix it now who could, and who (as it happens) is deliberately making it much worse now. If the only way to fix it is to get that person out as quickly as possible, that is a legitimate thing to say -- any man-baby feelings at risk notwithstanding. If the best way to fix it would be to abolish the Agency, then the only means open is to back whoever would, and oppose whoever wouldn't. One who seeks to abolish the Agency and also fix numerous other disastrous practices is not, therefore, less appealing. Not seeking to fix numerous abuses should be.
mindslight 7y ago
Each team does represent different entrenched interests, and so the results of an election will affect which agencies get worse. Given his focus on marketing "border security" (read: build a wall to keep us in), associating this specific tooth in the totalitarian ratchet to Trump is justified. The equivalence is that it's foolish to be goaded into voting support for the blue team by this specific outrage. A change in team won't reform the long term rot of these particular thugs, but rather just direct the lucrative decay onto other aspects of society.
brighter2morrow 7y ago
Yeah the visa processing times that immigrants are experiencing now are way faster than the times I experienced waiting for visa processing during Obama's second term.

by dudul 7y ago

dctoedt 7y ago

> Trump seating in the oval office has nothing to do with how CBP is behaving. Highly doubtful. Practically as soon as the Trump administration came in, they fired the outsider police- and FBI veteran that the Obama administration had brought on to head up the CBP and change its insular- and overly-confrontational culture. The fired outsider was strongly opposed by the border-guards union, which, surprise, had prominently endorsed Trump's candidacy because of his emphasis on border security during the campaign. [0] [0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/border-patrol-chief-resigns-after-clashing-with-powerful-union/2017/01/26/23025c3e-e3f1-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/borde... (scan down toward the end of the article)

bonestamp2 7y ago
I agree that Trump has influence on CBP, but it's still true that warrantless searches of laptops and phones predate Trump (and Obama). It's not just the US either, I had my laptop searched returning to Canada once. I get that it's in the name of security, but the violation of privacy without any evidence to warrant it, is indecent and dehumanizing. One difference though, Canadian Customs didn't say I wouldn't be allowed to enter the country (I am a Canadian citizen after all). They just said my laptop wouldn't be allowed to enter. I suspect the same is true for the author. Even if they said he wouldn't be allowed to enter, I don't believe that's consistent with US law.

atemerev 7y ago

While it is correct that none of the administrations since 2001 has improved anything in this regard, under Trump things are definitely not becoming better. Those who are telling us "but only illegal immigrants suffer", are wrong -- everybody is having it much worse, illegal immigrants (who are people too, and most of them are not doing anything wrong), legal immigrants (waiting times and quotas are getting nearly impassable), and American citizens, who have their rights violated. Some of the Americans still think that most of these things are good, they think that all immigration is intrinsically bad for America, and perhaps they voted for Trump because of that. I, of course, do not agree (as an immigrant myself, from Russia to Switzerland), but as American voters, it is up to them to decide, this is a valid point to start the discussion -- as long as the truth is acknowledged, and not hidden behind statements like "it's only about illegal immigrants".

dudul 7y ago
I totally agree and in a way this is exactly my point. Why blur the discussion with a spiel about Trump when we all know this has been going on for a long time. TSA, CBP, Guitmo, etc Trump didn't set up all of these. By constantly blaming the Trump administration, all these articles are doing is 1)lure anti-Trumpist to believe that all we have to do is vote for the other guy to fix it, 2) alienate Trump-supporters who will feel attacked and basically stop reading.
- justaaron 7y ago
  That would be ignoring the very deliberate and massive shift in behaviour from both CBP and Fatherland Security ushered in deliberately and noisily by Trump. It's sufficient to have been an international traveler before Trump and since Trump to bear witness to the night & day difference, as well. It's worse under Trump than even the worst excesses of the Bush Jr. time. It IS politics as this "man" has staked his entire administration upon being mean and harsh and fighting a war with the entire world at once. Spare me.
- jkoudys 7y ago
  I'd say it's symptoms vs cause. America has grown increasingly xenophobic, and as a result you have a POTUS with a base that rallies around him more when he fear-mongers in direct contradiction to easily verified data. Things definitely weren't going swimmingly before Trump, but trying to separate Trump completely and pretend like Obama's border policies were just as bad is also inaccurate.

yokaze 7y ago

> Do people really think that voting democrat in a few years will change anything? It is the Trump administration, which is responsible how CBP is behaving now. When Obama was in power, it was the Obama administration's responsibility. How would you name the current administration, so it isn't about party politics?

ncmncm 7y ago
This. It doesn't matter now who created the problem, or who failed to fix it before. What matters now is who is failing to fix it now who could, and who (as it happens) is deliberately making it much worse now. If the only way to fix it is to get that person out as quickly as possible, that is a legitimate thing to say -- any man-baby feelings at risk notwithstanding. If the best way to fix it would be to abolish the Agency, then the only means open is to back whoever would, and oppose whoever wouldn't. One who seeks to abolish the Agency and also fix numerous other disastrous practices is not, therefore, less appealing. Not seeking to fix numerous abuses should be.

mindslight 7y ago

Each team does represent different entrenched interests, and so the results of an election will affect which agencies get worse. Given his focus on marketing "border security" (read: build a wall to keep us in), associating this specific tooth in the totalitarian ratchet to Trump is justified. The equivalence is that it's foolish to be goaded into voting support for the blue team by this specific outrage. A change in team won't reform the long term rot of these particular thugs, but rather just direct the lucrative decay onto other aspects of society.

brighter2morrow 7y ago

Yeah the visa processing times that immigrants are experiencing now are way faster than the times I experienced waiting for visa processing during Obama's second term.