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If you ever spend any time slogging through the apparent responses on internet forums about the current immigrant caravan, you are going to have to read a lot of uninformed opinions. I shouldn't say uninformed, but rather misinformed. A lot of these people believe all the rhetoric they hear from the president and hear on Fox News and other right-wing sources about the status of immigration and the immigrants.

           I understand that a lot of people think that America just can't take in everyone that wants to come here, and in reality we shouldn't. We don't accept criminals, despite what the president has said. And those who come here aren't entitled to federal funds that help those who are struggling to survive, despite what the right-wing would like you to believe. Their argument mostly rests upon the fact that if they have American children, then those children are entitled to help, and that just means the parents are getting it. Sure the parents are the recipients of the check, your parents would be your recipient too if you were underage, but the amount of whatever funds they receive is always tempered by the actual numbers of those eligible. In other words, if they have a family of four, and only one is eligible, they aren't getting a check that would cover four people, but only the one eligible person.

           But that isn't really the current issue is it? So many of my conservative friends are up in arms about the migrant caravan heading our way. "Their rapists, their criminals, and they are a diseased mob of invaders." That is the usual shit I hear and read from people about this situation. This has been debunked thousands of times before and I don't care to go into it that heavily. The people in the caravan are by and large people trying to escape criminals of all types, violence, and rape. They are no more diseased than the next person you are likely to meet. They aren't bringing back smallpox, it is a disease that disappeared from earth in 1977, so no they don't have it.

           The fact is though that those in the right-wing don't want any of these people, no matter their plight at home. It is basically the same situation those from Italy and Ireland faced in the 19th century and early 20th. They think the whole immigration system needs to be overhauled and the only people we let into the country should be those who deserve it. Now, there is something to be said about that form of immigration system, but it isn't the way America has done things. Until 1921 there really was no immigration system in place that limited the number of people allowed in the country. That means that almost all the people who are complaining about immigration limits had relatives who never had to worry about the modern immigration system we have. Their relatives emigrated to the country and were considered Americans, if they came before 1921.

           So the argument that is most often used that these immigrants should do it the same way our family did it (legally), is a complete misunderstanding of history. These people are essentially all doing it the same way the majority of these people did it, they came en masse and sat at the border to have their names and situation written down.

           However, the system has changed, and technically the immigrant caravan isn't the correct way to come here - unless you are seeking asylum. I understand that. Here is some interesting information though. The numbers of people that are quoted in this caravan aren't the total number of people that are going to show up at the border. Only a third usually reach the border and apply for asylum here. Those that do come are usually applying for asylum, not trying to just enter the country. We have rules regarding this and have signed a treaty about asylum seekers. The fact that the current administration has categorized all entrants as criminals contravenes the signature and tradition of our nation. How can you call out other nations about human rights abuses, when we disregard those rights in our own country?

           Still, as I said earlier this administration wants to completely overhaul the immigration system. They want to do away with the way a lot of people get here legally - by way of the family. The same way that the vast majority of all people have ever come into the country, now needs to be done away with. They also want to get rid of the lottery system which is how the fewest number of people get here. Could it be because these ways of immigration are used mostly by people who don't look the way they want refugees to look? And those who say that they should all come in through this lottery system, which they believe is the only legal way, which it isn't, those same people need to understand that only 4% of all migrants are let in that way. At most that is 50,000 people a year. That is insanely low for any major nation and a laughably small chance of getting a visa when you consider about 13 million people file a year.

           Of course this all comes down to the current rhetoric that is spouted from on high about how diversity is "not" our strength. That is a slogan from the current crop of modern Nazi's - the white nationalists - of which our president has now claimed affinity too. They also claim that the costs to the taxpayer would be onerous. That seems like a legitimate complaint until you start to calculate the costs of sending national guard and soldiers to the border. At last count we have close to 2,000 national guard - shoveling shit and repairing CPB vehicles. If we calculate the last expense of having 4k national guard at the border for 2 years back in 2006 and upscale to the modern day, we have spent somewhere close to 600 million dollars for the national guard alone. And they aren't "securing the border" against an invasion by holding back the virulent masses of immigrants.

           So let's just send the army, or say a small portion of about 15,000 - which by the way is more troops than we have in the entire theatre of war in Afghanistan today. No one knows the exact cost of sending that many soldiers, but it will be a small portion of the pentagon budget of 700 billion. So let's say it will cost somewhere near the same as the national guard, though that would likely be laughable as the army needs their weapons and equipment, and then add in the cost of deployment. More than likely it will cost somewhere close to a billion dollars just to have them there for a three month stretch as it is expected to be. Will they do the same thing again next year when a new caravan sets out for Mexico and America, or will they just permanently put the troops there?

           But why send any Army soldiers or Marines there in the first place unless you are saying there could be violence. In fact, Trump and some of his supporters are expecting and hoping for it. If they throw a rock, Trump wants the military to open fire on them. confrontation is unlikely unless we have a bunch of right-wing "volunteers" there instigating it. By the way, there will be American militia men pretending to be citizen soldiers also there at the border, and when you see how the right-wing has acted lately inciting violence throughout the country, is it less likely that armed civilians with a grudge won't do the same thing? But then, maybe that is all according to plan. A modern day example of the Camp of the Saints ending. Why not? After all so many white nationalists and alt-right adore that book. Wouldn't it just be great if we could re-enact that ending with real people and real bodies at our own border instead of France.

           Just to state this as one last aside. No one who the president opposes has ever claimed to want a completely open immigration system. Democrats don't want it, and neither does anyone else.