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| White House of Chief of Staff John Kelly |
WHEN JOHN KELLY was picked to be Donald Trump's chief-of-staff, most people gave a sigh of relief, describing him as the adult in the room, a calming influence on Trump's erratic temperament, lies and exaggerations.
Well, as Kelly has recently demonstrated, just because one is calm doesn't mean you're always right.
In an interview with NPR, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said that immigrants crossing the border would not assimilate into the United States, that they don’t integrate well, and they don’t have skills.
First he said immigrants are not all criminals, they're not all bad people, contradicting his boss. Then, he said,
“But they’re also not people that would easily assimilate into the United States into our modern society,” he said. “They’re overwhelmingly rural people in the countries they come from — fourth-, fifth-, sixth-grade educations are kind of the norm. They don’t speak English; obviously that’s a big thing. They don’t speak English. They don’t integrate well; they don’t have skills. They’re not bad people. They’re coming here for a reason. And I sympathize with the reason. But the laws are the laws.”
It is not surprising that Kelly's comments would attract attention.
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, who immigrated to the U.S. as a young child, responded to Kelly in a scathing Friday tweet, denouncing his claims that immigrants "don't integrate well" and "don't have skills."
"John Kelly, you don't understand how immigrants have built our country," wrote Hirono. The Hawaii senator was born in Japan, moved to Hawaii, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen when Hawaii became a state in 1959.
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) Chairwoman Judy Chu, D-Calif., released the following statement in response:
“If John Kelly thinks immigrants don’t integrate well and don’t have any skills, then he needs to visit California, where we are a majority minority state and thriving with one of the strongest economies in the world.
“John Kelly’s understanding of immigrants in America is inaccurate and it relies on old assumptions. With every new wave of immigrants in our country’s history, xenophobes have used the exact same charge as a weapon to galvanize nativist opposition. And every time, they were proven wrong. That’s the history and reality of the United States – a nation of immigrants.
“In every sector, immigrants continue to be a source of strength for our country. But at every turn, the Trump Administration has sought to deny those contributions by falsely painting immigrants as criminals and degenerates. It was only a few months ago that I sat at a table with Mr. Kelly and explained that his ‘chain migration’ slur was not only offensive, it was not factual. I explained how family migration is part of the reason immigrants rely less on government services and own homes in greater numbers than native born individuals.
“The fact is, all he has to do is go into any community in America and he will see Americans from every background and every religion working and living together. Other than indigenous Americans, we are all the children of immigrants. And had the John Kelly’s of their day triumphed, none of us would be here. We cannot let that change now.
“Ironically, this is the start of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, a chance to celebrate the contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, 60 percent of whom are immigrants. Next week, I’ll be celebrating their accomplishments in the United States Capitol. I urge Mr. Kelly to join us to see another side.”
This is not the first time Kelly expressed his anti-immigrant views that reinforced Donald Trump's own viewpoint.
Kelly is one of the White House advisors who helped sink a bipartisan immigration deal that emerged from Congress.
The retired 4-star general warned Trump the agreement would incite anger among his base, who expect him to deliver on his promises to build a border wall and deport undocumented immigrants, reported CNN. And he sent word to Capitol Hill, where like-minded Republican lawmakers were summoned with minutes to spare to attend a White House sit-down with the crafters of the deal, who later claimed they were blindsided by the move.
Don't forget Kelly comes from the Department of Homeland Security where he enacted some draconian measures to change the entire culture of immigration in the department.
According to America's Voice, as DHS Secretary, Kelly ...
“If John Kelly thinks immigrants don’t integrate well and don’t have any skills, then he needs to visit California, where we are a majority minority state and thriving with one of the strongest economies in the world.
“John Kelly’s understanding of immigrants in America is inaccurate and it relies on old assumptions. With every new wave of immigrants in our country’s history, xenophobes have used the exact same charge as a weapon to galvanize nativist opposition. And every time, they were proven wrong. That’s the history and reality of the United States – a nation of immigrants.
“In every sector, immigrants continue to be a source of strength for our country. But at every turn, the Trump Administration has sought to deny those contributions by falsely painting immigrants as criminals and degenerates. It was only a few months ago that I sat at a table with Mr. Kelly and explained that his ‘chain migration’ slur was not only offensive, it was not factual. I explained how family migration is part of the reason immigrants rely less on government services and own homes in greater numbers than native born individuals.
“The fact is, all he has to do is go into any community in America and he will see Americans from every background and every religion working and living together. Other than indigenous Americans, we are all the children of immigrants. And had the John Kelly’s of their day triumphed, none of us would be here. We cannot let that change now.
“Ironically, this is the start of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, a chance to celebrate the contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, 60 percent of whom are immigrants. Next week, I’ll be celebrating their accomplishments in the United States Capitol. I urge Mr. Kelly to join us to see another side.”
This is not the first time Kelly expressed his anti-immigrant views that reinforced Donald Trump's own viewpoint.
Kelly is one of the White House advisors who helped sink a bipartisan immigration deal that emerged from Congress.
The retired 4-star general warned Trump the agreement would incite anger among his base, who expect him to deliver on his promises to build a border wall and deport undocumented immigrants, reported CNN. And he sent word to Capitol Hill, where like-minded Republican lawmakers were summoned with minutes to spare to attend a White House sit-down with the crafters of the deal, who later claimed they were blindsided by the move.
Don't forget Kelly comes from the Department of Homeland Security where he enacted some draconian measures to change the entire culture of immigration in the department.
According to America's Voice, as DHS Secretary, Kelly ...
- Released new deportation guidelines that sought to strip immigrants of privacy protections, enlist local police officers as enforcers, erect new detention facilities, discourage asylum seekers, and speed up deportations.
- Considered separating mothers and children at the border to “deter” immigrants from coming to the U.S.; accused refugees of trying to manipulatethe system.
- Ordered ICE to portray immigrants as criminals to justify sweeping ICE raids across the country.
- Supported lifting polygraph test requirements for certain new CBP and ICE hires, despite a history of ICE and CBP abuse. Former officials from these agencies said this would compromise the integrity of those agencies.
- Renewed temporary protected status for Haitians for only six months, even though living conditions in Haiti won’t be hospitable for years to come. DHS later ended TPS for Haitians with an 18-month delay despite popular pushbackand urging by 19 attorneys generals for a solution.
- Grossly mishandled his final ICE raid, in which 70% of immigrants detained were not even the original targets of the raid.
- Chaotically mishandled the Trump Administration’s Muslim ban, which led to travelers being stranded inside airports and outside the country; courts struck down multiple versions of the ban.“This is all on me,” Kelly, who supported the Muslim ban, testified.
So what if he's calm and collected; he's still scary as hell.
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