I  am Daryl Eddings, Sr.

I understand what will and will not work in securing our border.

I have seen the terrain from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.

Same Southern Border, Varied Views - Photographs - NYTimes.com

I have experienced the challenges facing our Border Agents.

I understand the circumstances which prompts parents to send their children to the USA.

We cannot solve the humanitarian crisis at our southern border by constructing a wall.

We cannot prevent desperate people from attempting to enter our country by refusing to process asylum claims in an efficient and timely manner.

Forcing families to remain for prolonged time in Mexico while USA INS fails to accept and process their paperwork does not work.

All immigrants, even those who enter without visas, green cards or passports, are not “murders”, “rapists”, and “drug dealers.”

Anti-immigrant rhetoric inflames.  It does not solve the humanitarian crisis at our borders or keep our country more secure.

Instead it forces people underground, making it more difficult for law enforcement to identify, arrest and prosecute real criminals who truly threaten the lives and safety of citizens in this and in neighboring countries. 

Dreamers are an asset to our country and should be given citizenship. 

No minor should appear in Immigration court without an advocate and legal counsel..

Family reunification must be a priority once applicants are screened for non-immigration violations of US law and criminal behavior in other countries.

We should focus resources on curtailing drug cartels and gang violence, not on the people who are victimized and terrorized by these unsavory elements.

Immigration reform with a path to legal residency and citizens for those who  live and work here peacefully will make us all safer. They should be allowed to come out from the shadows into the light. his is safer for our citizens and fairer to those who are already here.

We have a backlog of applicants from troubled zones around the world seeking asylum who have been screened.  Refusing to process their applications is cruel and counterproductive.

In many cases, these applicants are persons who worked with our military and performed critical service to our forces, risking their own lives and those of their families. It is cruel and inhumane to abandon our allies and refuse speedy consideration of their asylum claims.

We can curtail the high demand for entrance here by helping bring peace to troubled regions and stopping International crime syndicates from preying on vulnerable people..

Like many veterans seeking employment with the Federal Government, I entered Federal Civil Serve through a job with INS. After 2½ years I transferred to the US Marshal’s Service. I saw problems in INS which should be corrected. Politicizing Immigration makes it more difficult to find workable, fair solutions. 

I traveled to Brownsville in 2018 with the ACLU in solidarity with the families whose children had been  separated by INS.It is inhumane to make children suffer to punish desperate people from seeking asylum. Refusing to allocate sufficient resources to process claims causes backlogs and increases the humanitarian crisis caused by gang violence and crime in Mexico and Central America. Discriminating against applicants because of their religion, race, gender or country of origin is unfair.