Bill Clinton e Donald Trump no US Open 2000
Record number of border guards, deporting twice as many illegal immigrants – said Bill Clinton, 31 years ago.
When Donald Trump gave his State of the Union (almost two hours, the longest ever in the USA), talked about immigration – as you would expect.
“We now have the strongest and most secure border in U.S. history, by far.”
“In the last nine months, no illegal immigrants have been admitted to the United States. But we will always allow legal entry to people who love our country and will work hard to keep it,” commented the US president.
Trump also attacked “illegal immigrants”, blaming them for drug problems, corruption – and even car accidents – us United States.
“Many, if not most, illegal immigrants do not speak English and cannot read even the most basic traffic signs that indicate direction, speed, danger or location”, he said.
The US president also tried to convince lawmakers to pass a law that prevent os immigrants without documents to obtain driving licenses to drive commercial vehicles, to be drivers – something that led to a standing ovation from the majority of Republicans who were in the session.
Even so, highlights , Donald Trump even avoided talking about his most aggressive and controversial immigration policies, including the recent ICE campaign in Minneapolis.
Even so, it was the target of criticism, mainly because of the idea of banning immigrants from being drivers.
Bill Clinton, 1995
However, in recent weeks, the situation in 1995 began to be recovered, also in the State of the Union.
At that time, Clinton also spoke about immigrants: “All Americans, not just in the hardest-hit states but across the country, are – rightly – concerned about the large numbers of illegal immigrants entering our country.”
“The jobs they hold could be held by citizens or legal immigrants. The public service they use imposes burdens on our taxpayers.”
And he highlighted the restrictive measures: “That is why our administration has acted incisively to reinforce securityour borders, chiring a record number of new border guards, deporting twice as many illegal immigrants with criminal records, cracking down on illegal hiring and prohibiting illegal immigrants from accessing social benefits”.
“In the budget that I will present to you, we will try to do more to speed up deportation of illegal immigrants arrested for crimes and to better identify illegal immigrants in the workplace.”
“We are a nation of immigrants. But we are also a nation of laws. It is wrong and ultimately counterproductive for a nation of immigrants to allow the kind of abuse of our immigration laws that we have seen in recent years, and we must do more to stop it,” added Bill Clinton.
31 years later, the impact of the statements is different, highlights Janet Elaine Parks: “We’ve all forgotten this.”
At the time, continues the well-known digital content creator, the Democrats “applauded and supported the message”. But now, with Trump, “accusations, interruptions” reign – and the Democrats are sitting on their hands.
“This isn’t about idolizing one president or criticizing another. It’s about recognizing that protecting citizens, enforcing laws, and ensuring border security were once bipartisan ideas…spoken by a Democratic president and celebrated by both parties,” he writes in .
For Janet, the big question is: “Did the policy change… or was it the party? We may be a nation of immigrants. We can welcome the opportunity. We can show compassion. But we can also be a nation of laws – and these ideas were not in conflict in 1995.”
Nuno Teixeira da Silva, ZAP //
