For roughly 100 days, Thomas says he faced harsh detention conditions, despite agreeing to deportation
Thomas, a 35-year-old tech worker and father of three from Ireland, came to West Virginia to visit his girlfriend last fall. It was one of many trips he had taken to the US, and he was authorized to travel under a visa waiver program that allows tourists to stay in the country for 90 days.
He had planned to return to Ireland in December, but was briefly unable to fly due to a health issue, his medical records show. He was only three days overdue to leave the US when an encounter with police landed him in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody.
From there, what should have been a minor incident became a nightmarish ordeal: he was detained by Ice in three different facilities, ultimately spending roughly 100 days behind bars with little understanding of why he was being held – or when he’d get out.
Fine, I’ll concede and move passed the murder rate.
We are talking about the risk to travelers. America currently has a government sponsored effort to detain people who are visiting here, sometimes even when they are here legally. Mexico is not doing that. The risk to travelers is pretty damn clear right now.
Edit: Just to be clear, I don’t think that the gang violence rate breaks down differently for the US—before this latest ICE takeover, I would have said it is safe for travelers here too.
Where the travelers are traveling to, and away from, generally tells you all you need to know about where the overall quality of life is better.
Again, Mexico’s net migration is literally negative. If two bordering nations have one nation that has a net loss of population to emigration, and the other has a large net positive from immigration from the bordering nation, saying that the former is “bread” and the other is “shit”, sounds pretty ridiculous on its face.
Not to mention that it comes with it the heavy implication that you know better than the majority of those who actually undertook the endeavor of leaving their home country behind in search of better surroundings.
I see now, you’re offended about my opinion of America being the shit in the shit sandwich.
Ok, I’m willing to flex a little on that. It is currently shitty for some travelers, specifically ones who are not white or wealthy, in ways that it has not been previously. Overall, it has some opportunities for residents that may be better than other countries.
Likewise, Mexico has some problems for poor residents that sometimes make them choose to seek a better life elsewhere. As a travel destination though, I stand by my opinion that it is a good place to visit.
Happy?
Not offended, just pointing out the objective absurdity of the comparison, on the axis of overall average danger.
Don’t project your emotional response onto me.
On that point we will simply have to disagree. It is much more dangerous legally for someone to visit America on a visa than it is to visit Mexico on one right now.
I don’t mean to project anything, I’m just trying to understand the undercurrent of hostility that I have felt from your replies, amigo.
The “undercurrent of hostility” exists only in your imagination. I just stated some facts that contradict the assertion, which I think is fair to say is much more hostile in nature than anything I wrote, ironically.
I certainly never compared Mexico or anything in it to feces, anyway.