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It might seem that hope is lost. I've felt that way for a long time. When President Trump was elected, the world turned upside down. My friends were being yelled at by people walking home from school to go back to their home countries... they were born here. I'd like to believe that each person has goodness inside them, but for a long time, I didn't believe there was any in Trump. That's why I wrote this letter and one of the reasons why I wanted to share it with all of you. I don't know if he'll read it or even if I'll get a response, but there's something worth wild, believing in humanity. I don't know if I'm just being naive or simply hopeful, but as I said in my letter, I'm trying to find the best in him so that he can find the best in me. I might be wrong, but there's no harm in trying. Let's be honest, just like a celebrity, do we really know any of them at all? Anyway, this letter is something I wrote for my communications class at Gonzaga, it's about the injustice that immigrants face in our country. I thought about submitting my letter, to say the Spokane Review, but I'm ambitious. Anyway, I hope you enjoy learning about all the things I've learned in immigration law and feel free to respond if you disagree, I'd love to discuss it with you. Thanks.
Dear Donald Trump,
My name is ****** *******. I am a student at Gonzaga University. I’m addressing you today to talk about a very important issue within our nation… immigration. I know your stance on the current climate with immigrants coming from the Middle East to Latin America and I’m hoping to discuss with you the different problems that are occurring with federal and state immigration laws. Currently, immigration laws have a lot of terms such as “inadmissibility”, “unlawful presence”, “extreme hardship”, and “refugee/asylum status” that aren’t clearly defined. Many states define these terms differently, against federal definitions, creating a lot of political bias and inconsistency. Most immigration case outcomes then depend upon the state at which the immigrant is staying in which is unfair. Today, I would like to discuss with you some ways in which we can define these terms while also addressing other such issues within immigration such as detention center conditions and the 3 year/10 year bar.
To start off, I want to talk a little about the different vocabulary that comes with immigration laws. One being “unlawful presence” which can be interpreted in many ways. Does this mean felonies or misdemeanors? I believe that question also leads to what is considered a felony verses a misdemeanor? I know that under federal court, a felony will get an immigrant deported which is defined as one year or more of persecution. I also know that in Washington state, we made a misdemeanor a max of 364 days of persecution for that reason. We don’t want to see immigrants deported. We don’t want to rip families apart. I know this is something that is probably on your mind and so I want to address it. I know not all deportation is striping families apart and I know that part of your job is to make the hard decisions. I know a lot of immigrants coming into this country are doing so illegally, lying to the federal government, and I know this is a strong offense, but should we not consider the reasons for why these people are lying? Should we not consider the reasons why someone would go behind your back? I know that many immigrants don’t speak english, they might not even know exactly what they are doing. They might do it to protect themselves or their families. All I know is that each situation is circumstantial and assuming that everyone is the “bad guy”, that every immigrant is simply trying to spit you just so they can live in the U.S. without paying taxes, well, that’s very narrow minded and I know that’s not the case. “Extreme hardship” was another term that I wanted to address in this letter. I know that this is something that is very difficult to represent and demonstrate to a court since the hardship usually comes after the person is deported and so I wanted to know how we could define this word for judges so that it will make lawyers and other officials’ jobs easier. I’m not sure how to represent something like this and so I’m hoping you have some ideas, but I believe it is a necessity that needs to happen in the near future if we are going to solve the increasing population of illegal immigrants.
The next part I wanted to talk to you about was the 3 year/10 year bar. This I believe should only account to immigrants who have committed a felony, living illegally or not in the U.S. This means that an immigrant staying in the U.S. illegally, who has not committed a felony, should not be deported. I say this because many immigrants who are deported are left in countries they don’t feel safe in, with their families abandoned in the U.S. without that extra income, and no emotional, financial, or any kind of support system. This can be extremely harmful to people and that is why I believe that only for the worse cases should immigrants be deported. I also believe that the 3 year/10 year bar is a reason why we have such a high population of illegal immigrants in the U.S. since many immigrants that come illegally don’t want to come forward to obtain a green card because of fear of being deported, put in a detention center, and sent away from their families, with no idea if they will ever come back. This is a very serious matter and I think that you and I need to put ourselves in their shoes and think about what it means to be deported and banned from the U.S. What does this mean for every circumstance, an illegal or legal immigrant, a worker or a family man, a rich man or a poor man… I could go on, but it is important to know that we all have different circumstances and identities that control our decisions. It is important to note that we all have a variety of reasons for why we make the decisions we do and I hope, since you are a family man yourself, someone that would do anything for your children, could understand this. Sometimes we break the law, but it’s not always for the reasons you think.
Detention centers were the last topic that I wanted to address. As you know, many hunger strikes are found to be the center focus for activists protesting outside the centers. It is important that we listen to these voices that are screaming at us because we are obviously not listening. It is important to remember that these people in these centers are not all convicted felons, that they are people with families and children who need our help. These people are not monsters, they are human beings that deserve respect just as much as you. You are our president, and as president of the United States, you must acknowledge that we are founded on immigrants, we are a mix of different races, ethnicities, genders, sexualities, religions… I could go on, but we are all here to live our lives and contribute to society in a productive way, to grow the economy and thrive. Detention centers now have some very horrible conditions where detainees earn $1 a day for working all day long. To think, imagine if you only earned a $1 a day, what could you buy with that $1? Maybe a really cheap stick of gum. How about in a week? $7, what can you get for seven dollars? Not much, and anyway, these people are in a center, what can you really buy in there anyway? Imagine, for one second, that you aren’t the president of the United States, that you aren’t rich, imagine that you are poor. What would you want the president of the United States to do for you? You’d probably want some help. You’d want help because your family is starving, you are starving, and your children are crying. Am I wrong? Maybe. I’d like to think the best of you. I hope you can think the best of me. Detention centers are like prisons, no immigrant who has not committed a felony should be in prison and yet that’s how it is. There are people in this world that are born without money, born in a unsafe country, and did they ask for this? No, of course not. If you were born in the world that they live in, you would want help to. You would want change.
It might seem that hope is lost. I've felt that way for a long time. When President Trump was elected, the world turned upside down. My friends were being yelled at by people walking home from school to go back to their home countries... they were born here. I'd like to believe that each person has goodness inside them, but for a long time, I didn't believe there was any in Trump. That's why I wrote this letter and one of the reasons why I wanted to share it with all of you. I don't know if he'll read it or even if I'll get a response, but there's something worth wild, believing in humanity. I don't know if I'm just being naive or simply hopeful, but as I said in my letter, I'm trying to find the best in him so that he can find the best in me. I might be wrong, but there's no harm in trying. Let's be honest, just like a celebrity, do we really know any of them at all? Anyway, this letter is something I wrote for my communications class at Gonzaga, it's about the injustice that immigrants face in our country. I thought about submitting my letter, to say the Spokane Review, but I'm ambitious. Anyway, I hope you enjoy learning about all the things I've learned in immigration law and feel free to respond if you disagree, I'd love to discuss it with you. Thanks.
Dear Donald Trump,
My name is ****** *******. I am a student at Gonzaga University. I’m addressing you today to talk about a very important issue within our nation… immigration. I know your stance on the current climate with immigrants coming from the Middle East to Latin America and I’m hoping to discuss with you the different problems that are occurring with federal and state immigration laws. Currently, immigration laws have a lot of terms such as “inadmissibility”, “unlawful presence”, “extreme hardship”, and “refugee/asylum status” that aren’t clearly defined. Many states define these terms differently, against federal definitions, creating a lot of political bias and inconsistency. Most immigration case outcomes then depend upon the state at which the immigrant is staying in which is unfair. Today, I would like to discuss with you some ways in which we can define these terms while also addressing other such issues within immigration such as detention center conditions and the 3 year/10 year bar.
To start off, I want to talk a little about the different vocabulary that comes with immigration laws. One being “unlawful presence” which can be interpreted in many ways. Does this mean felonies or misdemeanors? I believe that question also leads to what is considered a felony verses a misdemeanor? I know that under federal court, a felony will get an immigrant deported which is defined as one year or more of persecution. I also know that in Washington state, we made a misdemeanor a max of 364 days of persecution for that reason. We don’t want to see immigrants deported. We don’t want to rip families apart. I know this is something that is probably on your mind and so I want to address it. I know not all deportation is striping families apart and I know that part of your job is to make the hard decisions. I know a lot of immigrants coming into this country are doing so illegally, lying to the federal government, and I know this is a strong offense, but should we not consider the reasons for why these people are lying? Should we not consider the reasons why someone would go behind your back? I know that many immigrants don’t speak english, they might not even know exactly what they are doing. They might do it to protect themselves or their families. All I know is that each situation is circumstantial and assuming that everyone is the “bad guy”, that every immigrant is simply trying to spit you just so they can live in the U.S. without paying taxes, well, that’s very narrow minded and I know that’s not the case. “Extreme hardship” was another term that I wanted to address in this letter. I know that this is something that is very difficult to represent and demonstrate to a court since the hardship usually comes after the person is deported and so I wanted to know how we could define this word for judges so that it will make lawyers and other officials’ jobs easier. I’m not sure how to represent something like this and so I’m hoping you have some ideas, but I believe it is a necessity that needs to happen in the near future if we are going to solve the increasing population of illegal immigrants.
The next part I wanted to talk to you about was the 3 year/10 year bar. This I believe should only account to immigrants who have committed a felony, living illegally or not in the U.S. This means that an immigrant staying in the U.S. illegally, who has not committed a felony, should not be deported. I say this because many immigrants who are deported are left in countries they don’t feel safe in, with their families abandoned in the U.S. without that extra income, and no emotional, financial, or any kind of support system. This can be extremely harmful to people and that is why I believe that only for the worse cases should immigrants be deported. I also believe that the 3 year/10 year bar is a reason why we have such a high population of illegal immigrants in the U.S. since many immigrants that come illegally don’t want to come forward to obtain a green card because of fear of being deported, put in a detention center, and sent away from their families, with no idea if they will ever come back. This is a very serious matter and I think that you and I need to put ourselves in their shoes and think about what it means to be deported and banned from the U.S. What does this mean for every circumstance, an illegal or legal immigrant, a worker or a family man, a rich man or a poor man… I could go on, but it is important to know that we all have different circumstances and identities that control our decisions. It is important to note that we all have a variety of reasons for why we make the decisions we do and I hope, since you are a family man yourself, someone that would do anything for your children, could understand this. Sometimes we break the law, but it’s not always for the reasons you think.
Detention centers were the last topic that I wanted to address. As you know, many hunger strikes are found to be the center focus for activists protesting outside the centers. It is important that we listen to these voices that are screaming at us because we are obviously not listening. It is important to remember that these people in these centers are not all convicted felons, that they are people with families and children who need our help. These people are not monsters, they are human beings that deserve respect just as much as you. You are our president, and as president of the United States, you must acknowledge that we are founded on immigrants, we are a mix of different races, ethnicities, genders, sexualities, religions… I could go on, but we are all here to live our lives and contribute to society in a productive way, to grow the economy and thrive. Detention centers now have some very horrible conditions where detainees earn $1 a day for working all day long. To think, imagine if you only earned a $1 a day, what could you buy with that $1? Maybe a really cheap stick of gum. How about in a week? $7, what can you get for seven dollars? Not much, and anyway, these people are in a center, what can you really buy in there anyway? Imagine, for one second, that you aren’t the president of the United States, that you aren’t rich, imagine that you are poor. What would you want the president of the United States to do for you? You’d probably want some help. You’d want help because your family is starving, you are starving, and your children are crying. Am I wrong? Maybe. I’d like to think the best of you. I hope you can think the best of me. Detention centers are like prisons, no immigrant who has not committed a felony should be in prison and yet that’s how it is. There are people in this world that are born without money, born in a unsafe country, and did they ask for this? No, of course not. If you were born in the world that they live in, you would want help to. You would want change.
Thank you,
****** *******
I think you should make better use of the paragraph. I did not finish reading your letter, because it just looks like a huge wall of text, and I strongly suspect that my attention span is at least as good as Mr. Trump's. It's unlikely that he will read the letter, anyway, but you can improve your chances by writing clearly and concisely, and with clear breaks that give the reader's eyes (and mind) rest breaks.
Trust me on this. I used to work in the news, and one of my first jobs was helping manage letters to the editor. I did not make the final decision about which ones were published, but I did learn quite a bit about how that choice was made. If your writing would not make it to the pages of a small-town newspaper, it probably won't make it to the president's desk, either.
Last edited by Catgirl64; 12-03-2018 at 01:55 AM..
I think you should make better use of the paragraph. I did not finish reading your letter, because it just looks like a huge wall of text, and I strongly suspect that my attention span is at least as good as Mr. Trump's. It's unlikely that he will read the letter, anyway, but you can improve your chances by writing clearly and concisely, and with clear breaks that give the reader's eyes (and mind) rest breaks.
Trust me on this. I used to work in the news, and one of my first jobs was helping manage letters to the editor. I did not make the final decision about which ones were published, but I did learn quite a bit about how that choice was made. If your writing would not make it to the pages of a small-town newspaper, it probably won't make it to the president's desk, either.
Wow thats twice in 24 hours that I completely agree with you. Perhaps there is hope for us all? hahaha
I just read a lot of “I believe”. It is the choice of the person who breaks our laws by entering this country illegally. There are proper ways to become an American citizen. And, it is their choice to break up their own family.
If this person who wrote this attends Gonzaga, they need to enroll in remedial English. Mispellings, no paragraph breaks, no support for his premises, just emotional pleas.
I just read a lot of “I believe”. It is the choice of the person who breaks our laws by entering this country illegally. There are proper ways to become an American citizen. And, it is their choice to break up their own family.
If this person who wrote this attends Gonzaga, they need to enroll in remedial English. Mispellings, no paragraph breaks, no support for his premises, just emotional pleas.
They also spoke about immigrants being deported and families being separated. Immigrants aren't deported but illegal aliens are and they should be. As for separation of families there is nothing stopping the whole family from leaving together, unseparated. Breaking of our laws seemed insignificant to them which does not pull on one's heart strings as I'm sure the writer intended their whole emotional plea to be.
I think you should make better use of the paragraph. I did not finish reading your letter, because it just looks like a huge wall of text, and I strongly suspect that my attention span is at least as good as Mr. Trump's. It's unlikely that he will read the letter, anyway, but you can improve your chances by writing clearly and concisely, and with clear breaks that give the reader's eyes (and mind) rest breaks.
Trust me on this. I used to work in the news, and one of my first jobs was helping manage letters to the editor. I did not make the final decision about which ones were published, but I did learn quite a bit about how that choice was made. If your writing would not make it to the pages of a small-town newspaper, it probably won't make it to the president's desk, either.
Thank you, that's very helpful and I did consider that. I tried to limit it, but this was also a representative anecdote to my essay and so it needed to hit a lot of different points. Anyway, thank you for the advise.
Thank you, that's very helpful and I did consider that. I tried to limit it, but this was also a representative anecdote to my essay and so it needed to hit a lot of different points. Anyway, thank you for the advise.
Advice, with a "c."
Sorry...occupational hazard. You need to hone your writing skills and pay attention to spelling and grammar if you expect to be taken seriously. The fact that there are lots of different points should actually help you break your essay into paragraphs.
Think about the writers you enjoy reading, particularly columnists and other commentators. You shouldn't attempt to imitate them, but you can learn from them.
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Perhaps there is hope for us all? hahaha
