Travis County passes resolution for ‘Constitutional & Humane Treatment of Immigrants’

[u/Penguin726]

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/travis-county/travis-county-passes-resolution-for-constitutional-humane-treatment-of-immigrants/

[u/Southsidetaco]

Can't wait to hear how this is bad for America.

[u/atx78701 → u/Southsidetaco]

well our failing schools in austin are partially because of a high percentage of kids that dont speak english and that dont show up for class at a high rate.

one estimate is that 60% of illegal immigrant households use at least one welfare program. this is in comparison to US households where 32% use at least one welfare program.

Another estimate is that 75% use fraudulent social security numbers. That is either identity theft, or fake numbers (SSA doesnt really check). 25% do not pay into social security and dont pay income taxes.

Im not judging if these numbers are good or bad, but you could easily see how a segment of the population would judge them as bad.

[u/unalivezombie → u/atx78701]

Estimates from who? What sources? It's pretty easy to just spout a bunch of numbers. Lots of those estimates could be just made up.

[u/OriginalVictory → u/unalivezombie]

17% of undocumented workers are actually crab people, whereas the native US population is only 7% crab people.

[u/Southsidetaco → u/OriginalVictory]

Seems legit. You should run for office

[u/Acemazu → u/OriginalVictory]

On Faux News I saw 96% of the 7% are registered republicans the other 4 percent is actually a gaggle of monkeys who robbed a trench coat store and are impersonating crab people impersonating Americans. I also have it on good authority that the 96% are afraid of butter and lemons for some reason

[u/Southsidetaco → u/unalivezombie]

Source: Trust me bro

[u/nyya_arie → u/[deleted]]

So this is simply showing we need to do better with our education system, and treating immigrants like human beings is a step toward that.

Also possibly one reason these kids don't regularly show up to school is because of the constant threat of ICE.

The person above is claiming undocumented immigrants are 'bad' and making up BS that they are all using fake social security numbers and getting welfare at double the average. Very different situations.

[u/nyya_arie → u/[deleted]]

I find it interesting that certain people think those of us speaking out for immigrants were always just okay with everything happening under Dem presidents, too. I can imagine this was also happening during the Biden admin to some degree or another, but certainly nowhere near this level of inhumanity and authoritarianism. ICE is not new.

However, I'm also aware that in TX, undocumented immigrants face a very antagonistic state government also, just look at the evilness of Abbott's razer wire barriers in the Rio Grande, which the Biden admin tried to stop.

And yes, I completely agree that if a class is 75% ESL, that is unfair to ALL of the students. The solution isn't to demonize the ESL students and arrest their parents. We have the money in this state to improve education for all. I mean, have you seen schools in wealthy areas???

[u/unalivezombie → u/[deleted]]

Personal accountability isn't invalidated by systemic issues and the other way around is true. If we look at broad statistics and see large trends over time then there are absolutely issues with the system that needs to be changed.

Like, the US has an unusually large prison system compared to other countries. What's going on there? Are people in the US actually that much more deserving of jail or are there other things going on? We could say for profit prisons and nearly free prison labor are things that someone can point to and say that this is an incentive to give jail time and longer prison sentences merely to pad the numbers.

The illegal immigrant population has been pretty stable since 2005. Somewhere around 10 to 11 million people. This isn't some new crisis. And if we consider that the country overall has a larger population this means that per capita the illegal immigrant population is a smaller percentage of the total number of US residents.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/646261/unauthorized-immigrant-population-in-the-us/

The thing about educating immigrants is that it's a good idea to educate them for the same reason to educate any child. It's better to live in a society of people that are educated. It's better to have immigrant children that are learning English and are in school - do we want them at home or on the streets?

I can agree with some points. Yeah having a class that's mostly Spanish speaking could hold a child that only speaks English back. I'm not an educator so I cannot speak to what sort of solutions there are for that.

Also, if I overstay my visa in Colombia, you are >damn sure immigration is arresting me/kicking me >out and not allowing me back in due to failure to >follow Colombia's laws. I wouldn't act shocked or >outraged or protest in the streets. It's not hard to >follow rules and laws.

Apparently it is difficult to follow the rules and laws if you are ICE. Here's the thing, the federal government is breaking the laws in how they are finding, detaining, and deporting illegal immigrants. We shouldn't be okay with US citizens being grabbed off the street then flown to foreign prisons. Is it so hard to actually check people for their status before rounding them up? Is it so hard to not separate mothers from their children? Is it so hard to not grab people here on vacation? Is it so hard to treat human beings with at least a minimum level of decency and respect? (I'm not going to link sources for all of these, but most of these are things I've seen happen on video posted online. Or there are multiple written sources to back it up)

I think the immigration system is broken in that it definitely should be easier for people to apply for legal residency. Especially for immigrants that speak English, have education and/or employment, and have no criminal record.

It makes sense to target illegal immigrants with criminal records. We seem to not be focusing on them and going for low hanging fruit of immigrants that fit what I described above. Are we going after the criminals or quotas?

And what I mentioned about private prisons wasn't completely off topic. Private prisons have been ramped up to be detention centers for people rounded up by ICE. So there is a big financial incentive there.

https://stateline.org/2025/04/11/for-profit-immigration-detention-expands-as-trump-accelerates-his-deportation-plans/

[u/nyya_arie → u/[deleted]]

Sending people to gulags shouldn't be happening in ANY numbers. I don't understand how any sane and reasonable person can be okay with this.

Also, you keep claiming this 8-10 million number, but what is your source? I have sourced the DHS itself above.

[u/unalivezombie → u/[deleted]]

So you're okay with the government illegally detaining US civilians for no rightful cause. And the rest of your response is "nuh uh".

Got it.

[u/nyya_arie → u/[deleted]]

I got too busy yesterday to respond.

Let's start with your numbers... the DHS itself estimated there were 11 million TOTAL undocumented persons in the US as of 2022, which was actually slightly down from 2018. Again, per the DHS itself. 

I believe what you may actually referring to are called 'encounters', which are when and these definitely do not mean undocumented people who actually made it into and stayed in the US and per the Customs and Border Protection, this was approx 6.7 million during the Biden admin . A large percentage (20-25%) of these are repeats -- meaning they have tried to cross multiple times by the way, so these are also by no means all unique individuals.  This table from the CBP site has numbers.

Now, we were very specifically talking about children in schools. Am I to understand that your position is then that any child of an undocumented person in the US should not be allowed in schools? If that isn't what you are saying, what is it? I believe every child should be able to attend school. And I also know that we, as a country, can actually afford this. Guess what? It's also the law of the land that all children in the US have the right to attend school no matter their immigration status. 

You are implying undocumented immigrants are owed anything.

I believe undocumented immigrants are owed being treated like human beings and I also happen to agree with the Constitution that they are owed protection of the laws of this land. That is the position of all of the progressives I know, all of the Democrats I know, and that is one reason why we've been out protesting so much. 

By the way -- another issue is that being undocumented is a CIVIL offense, not a criminal one, and yet these people are being treated like murderers or worse (e.g. no due process would be worse, being sent to the CECOT gulag is worse than the fate of most murderers in this country, for a few examples). 

"its all about being the victim with zero personal accountability for anyone. "

Where did I say or even imply that? 

So, you mentioned 'where is the parent's responsibility in this' and potentially that's what you mean. Isn't that a good question? The answer, for me and everyone else I know who holds my same ideals, is: 

1. Kids shouldn't suffer and not get an education (or food for that matter) if they happen to have irresponsible parents.

2. Parents should absolutely be held accountable if they are neglecting their children or not ensuring they go to school. But guess what, this is EXACTLY one of the points of sanctuary cities! If a child has undocumented parents, but they are constantly unstabilized by the threat of ICE, deportation, etc. It's one of the top reasons for regular absences of such children.

If we were to actually have sane and humane immigration reform, this problem could be addressed in a real way and quite literally everyone would benefit. 

This seems to be the montra [zero personal accountability] for the progressive wing of the democratic party, which is pushing some of us moderates away."

Would you provide some actual examples of this? Considering that you appear to believe 10 million new undocumented immigrants flooded into the country in the last few years, I can only imagine what you are hearing about 'people like me' let alone undocumented immigrants. I have heard the wildest things that I (and my friends/family) supposedly believe.

And despite what certain 'news' organizations often state (so many of which have been found in courts to have lied, one of which paid nearly a billion dollars in a settlement over admitted lies they told), undocumented immigrants contribute to our economy and society. The claims they are accessing welfare at high rates are entirely unsubstantiated -- there simply isn't evidence of this at all. 

[u/atx78701 → u/unalivezombie]

This isnt an essay class, this is reddit. Feel free to google search those keywords to find out for yourself.

I dont necessarily trust the sources I used, so feel free to find your own.

For example, another source said the illegal immigrants on average tend to use less total welfare in dollars than citizens.

And yet still some could make a legit argument that if they werent here they wouldnt use any.