Immigration Meme

9/23/16

I'm tired of seeing this meme. It shows an American Indian with the comment, "Let me get this straight; you're afraid of refugees coming to America, killing you and taking your property?"

It is mocking people who are in favor of enforcing immigration laws and protecting the country from a massive invasion of Syrian refugees covering for terrorists to prevent what is happening in Germany, Sweden and elsewhere across Europe.

When the first colonists, who were not refugees looking for a free ride, came in the 1600s the Indians were a hundred or more mostly nomadic people groups without defined borders, most of whom had been at war with each other for centuries. Treaties were made and land was purchased from the Indians by the colonists. It was the Indians who broke those first treaties and followed the winds to support the French and then the English against the American colonists. What happened to the Indians in the 1800s with broken treaties by the U.S. Government and reservations was a national disgrace, but the situations don't compare.

The Indians have legitimate complaints over the way they've often been treated over the last 180 years, especially the Cherokee Trail of Tears. Today we are at war with ISIS and other Muslim terrorist groups that have openly stated their intent to destroy America. Vetting the Syrian refugees to root out potential terrorists from coming into the country is common sense for our own protection. We are not breaking treaties with them, persecuting them, threatening or endangering them, wiping out their villages or killing them.

That's why this meme is an insult to the native Americans and an affront to all Americans who believe in the rule of law, including immigration laws. The Indians have legitimate complaints, the Syrian refugees have none. This meme exploits the just cause of Native Americans, many of whom have suffered because of inept government policies, by comparing it with the unjust cause of non-Americans who have never suffered due to any policy of the United States.