According to Quartz*, last October was the first month since records began in 1980 that the US settled no refugees.  For a country that was built upon immigration and refugees this is a startling  matter.  It is one thing to restrict immigration and be picky about who you let in, but quite another to refuse the victims of war and terrorism, the oppressed and hungry, the children without parents.

Epicureans care for these poor people and want to help them.  This is in the fine old tradition of taking in the poor, the sick and the oppressed.  Ever visited the statue of Liberty?  It now seems that, in order to appease the fundamentalist “christians”, immigrants in general, the sufferers of violence, along with those whose religions are “suspect”,  are being refused entry.  Navigating the bureaucracy is hard enough, even if you speak the language, have useful skills and come from a politically “acceptable” country, without this recent and short-sighted policy. (These are the sort of people who will eventually delivery your Amazon parcels and stand on tall ladders clearing your gutters.  We need them!).

Meanwhile, the famous wall is being built on the Southern frontier.  If this monument stopped the massive importation of the very drugs used by some Americans and which are a primary cause of the Latin American gang violence and the need to get the hell out, perhaps one could support it.  But, of course, it won’t.  In any case, as the effects of climate change worsen no wall is going to be effective.

*(I had to Google Quartz.  It is a business magazine with editions devoted to the US Africa, India and the UK).  Looks interesting.