Oroonoko Related to Deportation

In Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko, the main character, Oroonoko, is a nobleman in Coramantien, which is now Ghana, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Surinam, in South America. This is a tragic story of love and loss that can be used to look at today’s  problems with immigration and deportation policies that may be put in place soon in America.

Oroonoko was forced to leave his country against his own will. Given, the circumstances were  much different and his kidnapping was not punishment for being in the country illegally, but was done in order to make money for those selling him into slavery.

Nowadays there are approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants in America. President Trump is planning on putting in place a new policy on deportation of these immigrants. He is planning on making deportations faster, hiring more agents and judges, building new jails to house immigrants awaiting trial, sending undocumented immigrants back to Mexico (even those from other countries such as Guatemala or El Salvador), deputizing local police, and building a wall.

Faster deportations will take place, this means that there will be far more expedited removals than there were previously. Expedited removal used to only been done in cases within 100 miles of the border and two weeks of arrival. They will now be able to be removed in this fashion anywhere in the US and within two YEARS of arrival. This means that some undocumented immigrants that have already established themselves in society many be removed without getting to appear in front of a judge. So just as Oroonoko was kidnapped, these people will be removed without due process.

Figure 1: undocumented immigrants being arrested.

            The ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) will be hiring on about 10,000 additional agents and training local police officers, mainly in border states. This will create distrust between immigrants and their local officers. More judges will also be hired to be able to speed up the process for those who are able to have their cases seen. It is harder to have quality control when there are so many judges, so some might not have as fair of trials as others.

Undocumented immigrants used to be returned to their countries, but Trump has a different idea. He plans on sending them all to Mexico and is speaking to the Mexican government, trying to get them to agree with this policy and work with him. Some people trying to escape their crime ridden areas may be sent to an unfamiliar place without being helped, this would be terrifying for those involved. Like Oroonoko, they would be left in a place where they don’t know anyone.

Figure 2: America-Mexico Border fences

            Finally, Trump is planning on expanding the wall that was built under the Obama administration and is almost finished. There were 2,000 miles of walls and fences built along the Mexican-American border, this is going to be expanded upon and is expected to cost about $21.6 billion. All in all this seems like a lot of money to be spent on the removal of these people, who are probably terrified of the future.

 

 

Women Should Be In Control

In The Tempest by William Shakespeare, Prospero, the main character, is very controlling over his daughter Miranda. He wants to marry her off to Ferdinand, a prince, but once she falls for him, Prospero makes sure that this marriage will happen in the way he wants by forcing Ferdinand to do manual labor for him.

Historically, women tend to get the short end of the stick when it comes to controlling their lives and bodies. In some places this is much worse than in others, some women are raped and killed with no punishment to the offender. In America, this is not the case, however, women lose control of their lives systematically.

On January 23, 2017 President Donald Trump signed an executive order to defund Planned Parenthood internationally, meaning that those overseas who are benefited by their services may have a hard time getting them in the future. Planned Parenthood claims that they will find funding elsewhere in order to be able to continue these services, but who knows how many jobs and services will be lost overseas if they can’t get the funding. He is also planning on defunding them in America as well…

Planned Parenthood is an organization that provides care for women, such as providing them with birth control, the morning after pill, detecting and helping them find care for cancer, such as breast cancer or cervical cancer, and they occasionally help women obtain abortions, (which are not funded by the government except for cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother’s health). Trump claims that, though abortions take only 3% of their funding to his knowledge, he wants to stop funding them altogether because of this. He claims that the rest of their services are great and very helpful to women, but due to him being pro-life, he can’t ignore the abortions.

I personally have never been serviced by Planned Parenthood, but I have taken a friend. She wanted to get birth control, but was afraid to tell her parents or go alone. They helped her to get the medication to prevent pregnancy without her parents knowing even though she was not yet 18. They took their time with her and explained how it worked and what to do and expect when taking it. Services like these prevent teen pregnancy and reduces need for abortion, so by defunding them, would this cause a higher need for abortions? So, by defunding Planned Parenthood, abortions will likely be done by shady doctors and be very dangerous and there will be more unplanned births, which may cause even more government spending to support some of these children.

Women in the USA definitely have it better than most, but this action by the government would make things difficult for some to get preventative care and medical assistance and would be a step back for women in America. Women would systematically lose control over their own bodies because of the decisions made by mostly men in Washington DC. Men and women are definitely different biologically, the average male has more muscle than the average female and male blood is heavier and more oxygenated than female blood, women carry babies, men don’t. A woman should be able to choose whether or not she wants to go through with carrying, giving birth, and caring for the child for at least 18 years. I personally would not go through with an abortion, but I think women should have the option because some may choose to or need to for one reason or another.

Elective abortions are not funded by the government, so why stop funding an organization that helps millions of women because 3% of their total funding (not all of which comes from the government) goes to helping women obtain abortions?