# The Trump Administration: A Clusterfuck in the Making **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 7, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070 "2016-12-07T00:25:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1597
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31925 "2019-04-12T09:13:28Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Why would sending asylum seekers into Sanctuary Cities give the Representatives of that city headaches? Properly integrating immigrants into a community includes making sure they have housing, a means to obtain food, and some social/cultural support for a period of time before they are entirely on their own. For those immigrating for jobs or joining family that is done privately. For asylum seekers and refugees that aid is provided by the government at various levels. Simply busing people into a city and literally leaving them on the street is sort of the opposite of what should be done. It means adding to a city’s homeless/unemployed population, which is not good. Downright cruel to people stranded in a foreign country who usually don’t speak the dominant language, or don’t speak it well, have no local contacts or means of support, and likely no money either. A headache for the social services agencies who have to try to find emergency housing and food for folks until they can get longer term shelter and support for these folks. That is why there is supposed to be a _system_ for asylum seekers and refugees, so they don’t wind up sleeping on the streets and eating out of dumpsters. We used to do be able to do this. What’s wrong with us that we can’t seem to do this now? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31926 "2019-04-12T09:19:30Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Perhaps. But is it a standard thing to release asylum seekers to the place where any family members live? Yes, for decades the government either encouraged or actively reunited families. When large groups like the Hmong have been brought in they weren’t all settled in the same place but were settled in groups so they could have some community, which also tended to have families wind up in the same location. It was not required, but ethnic communities often have social services for newcomers to help them adjust, deal with bureaucracy, and so forth. Why _wouldn’t_ we want to reunite family members? (Assuming no abuse issues, of course) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31927 "2019-04-12T09:22:10Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > I’m not sure why you’re talking specifically about “asylum seekers”, when the article seems to be indicating that the proposed “detainee dumping” would involve undocumented immigrants in general. Because the current administration’s attempt to put all incoming foreigners into the same barrel labeled “dangerous” is starting to bear fruit. Trump clearly does not distinguish between “illegal immigrant”, “asylum seeker”, “refugee”, and “dangerous criminal”. He doesn’t want anyone else to be able to make the distinction, either. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31928 "2019-04-12T09:22:42Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Isn’t he the guy that went on TV with the spray-on hair? He survived the embarrassment? Can he be embarrassed? Like so many xenophobes, he’s one of those people who wouldn’t let their own ancestors immigrate. If he can survive that kind of mental disconnect, he can survive anything short of a nuclear blast. Maybe the blast as well. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31929 "2019-04-12T10:36:29Z")
32,000. Gdamn. ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31930 "2019-04-12T11:46:03Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > 32,000. > > Gdamn. And that’s just the Clusterfuckedness that we know about. Imagine if we knew about all the behind the scenes Clusterfuckery, how long this thread would be. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31931 "2019-04-12T12:14:30Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Yes, for decades the government either encouraged or actively reunited families. When large groups like the Hmong have been brought in they weren’t all settled in the same place but were settled in groups so they could have some community, which also tended to have families wind up in the same location. It was not required, but ethnic communities often have social services for newcomers to help them adjust, deal with bureaucracy, and so forth. > > Why _wouldn’t_ we want to reunite family members? (Assuming no abuse issues, of course) Is that what we do now? A family from Honduras requests asylum, they get processed, and they say “We have family in Detroit”. Are they sent to Detroit to live with that family? What if they have no family in the US, what happens to them? Cages in Texas somewhere? ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31932 "2019-04-12T12:58:29Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Properly integrating immigrants into a community includes making sure they have housing, a means to obtain food, and some social/cultural support for a period of time before they are entirely on their own. For those immigrating for jobs or joining family that is done privately. For asylum seekers and refugees that aid is provided by the government at various levels. > > Simply busing people into a city and literally leaving them on the street is sort of the opposite of what should be done. It means adding to a city’s homeless/unemployed population, which is not good. Downright cruel to people stranded in a foreign country who usually don’t speak the dominant language, or don’t speak it well, have no local contacts or means of support, and likely no money either. A headache for the social services agencies who have to try to find emergency housing and food for folks until they can get longer term shelter and support for these folks. > > That is why there is supposed to be a _system_ for asylum seekers and refugees, so they don’t wind up sleeping on the streets and eating out of dumpsters. We used to do be able to do this. What’s wrong with us that we can’t seem to do this now? I think at last report I heard, they’ve “dumped” about 25,000 in Phoenix, on the street, at a construction site next to the Greyhound station since Greyhound said no mas ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31933 "2019-04-12T13:13:18Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Why _wouldn’t_ we want to reunite family members? (Assuming no abuse issues, of course) Ooh, I can answer that! Because the point of the policy isn’t whether it is better or worse for the asylum seekers or whether it’s better or worse for the United States, but whether it is cruel which will make sure people like my immediate family, and the rest of the MAGAs, continue to support him. And this policy is needlessly cruel to the right people, and is a perceived attack on political enemies. It’s MAGA orgasm. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31934 "2019-04-12T13:40:06Z")
The proposed policy is mostly a reflection on how Trump sees immigrants. That the administration sees human beings with no proper documentation as some sort of smallpox blanket that he can inflict upon his enemies says everything you need to know about this bunch. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31935 "2019-04-12T13:52:40Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > The White House tried to get immigration authorities to release detainees in the districts of political enemies. > > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/white-house-proposed-releasing-immigrant-detainees-in-sanctuary-cities-targeting-political-foes/2019/04/11/72839bc8-5c68-11e9-9625-01d48d50ef75\_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/white-house-proposed-releasing-immigrant-detainees-in-sanctuary-cities-targeting-political-foes/2019/04/11/72839bc8-5c68-11e9-9625-01d48d50ef75_story.html) Straight out of Genghis Khan’s play book. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31936 "2019-04-12T13:55:51Z")
There seems to be some confusion here. An asylum seeker is not the same thing as a refugee. Asylum seekers are not eligible to receive refugee support, and they cannot receive other social services either, such as SNAP (“food stamps,” etc.). Refugee resettlement agencies do NOT receive funding for helping asylum seekers, so if they assist an asylum seeker, then it’s purely on a charitable basis. (There is a program to help Cuban-Haitian asylum seekers, but that has been complicated by issues regarding the TPS, and the elimination of the wet-foot/dry-foot policy for Cubans). Once an asylum seeker is granted asylum by an immigration court, then they receive refugee support. Until then, they are pretty much on their own. The only “benefit” asylum seekers may receive (and it’s not automatic) is approval for a work permit, which they typically receive in about 180 days. So that’s six months of depending on family or the charity of others. So leaving a bunch of asylum seekers suddenly in one community is clearly going to be problem, until they can work. And, as noted above, they have to periodically go to court where their case initiated, and they probably don’t have the funds to be travelling around a lot. Because asylum seekers typically don’t have legal representation, they often aren’t aware of these issues. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31937 "2019-04-12T13:56:35Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Is that what we do now? A family from Honduras requests asylum, they get processed, and they say “We have family in Detroit”. Are they sent to Detroit to live with that family? > > What if they have no family in the US, what happens to them? Cages in Texas somewhere? I general once you have been granted asylum you are a legal resident (or pending legal resident) and you can go wherever you want. I can find information about resettlement of refugees, who are selected and vetted while oversea and thus arrive in more orderly clumps, but not on what happens to a single mother from Honduras who doesn’t arrive with a plan for where to go in the US. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31938 "2019-04-12T14:00:34Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > There seems to be some confusion here. Also, undocumented immigrants are obviously not a part of this equation, by definition. Asylum seekers are documented. That’s the whole point. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31939 "2019-04-12T14:06:18Z")
> [@naita](#): > > I general once you have been granted asylum you are a legal resident (or pending legal resident) and you can go wherever you want. Well, you are a refugee for one year, after which, you must apply for residency, or leave the country. You can go wherever you want, except you can’t leave the country without special permission. > [@naita](#): > > I can find information about resettlement of refugees, who are selected and vetted while oversea and thus arrive in more orderly clumps, but not on what happens to a single mother from Honduras who doesn’t arrive with a plan for where to go in the US. As I noted above, such a person is pretty much on their own, and until she gets a work permit, is relying on the help or others (or savings, if any). It should be noted that even refugees don’t get much support. A single refugee has eight months to become economically self-sufficient. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31940 "2019-04-12T14:38:03Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > That the administration sees human beings with no proper documentation as some sort of smallpox blanket that he can inflict upon his enemies says everything you need to know about this bunch. Close but rather, I am of the opinion that the current administration and the plutarchs who support it view _all_ human beings as nothing more than entities from which all possible money is to be squeezed, rather like a lemon. MAGAts, OTOH are foolish people who have bought the snake oil the plutarchs are peddling. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31941 "2019-04-12T15:11:50Z")
I’ll amend my previous statement: whether or not relocation to a sanctuary city is good or bad for the migrants in question is almost beside the point. This policy says 2 things about the Trump Administration, both of which are despicable: (1) that he sees American cities as enemies to be punished; and (2) that he sees immigrants as nothing more than a weapon to punish people with. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31942 "2019-04-12T15:21:02Z")
I bet Chris Christie is wondering why his career ended over something similar, yet less serious. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31943 "2019-04-12T15:41:28Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > I bet Chris Christie is wondering why his career ended over something similar, yet less serious. I’ll bet a LOT of people are wondering that. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/31944 "2019-04-12T15:42:55Z")
Okay, [this cartoon](https://images.app.goo.gl/M3mNs6hSSA3cF9zv6) about Trump is puerile in the proper sense! Yet another childhood favourite [del]spoiled[/del] put to good use. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1596) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1598)