And now we love them. . .

They were, not so many years ago, precious. Their country was at war, and they needed  help, needed a shield against the violence spreading across their country when Putin, who denied any such plans, determined he simply take over territory he deemed spiritually essential to reconstitute Mother Russia--or whatever. "No, I'm not going to invade Ukraine," he told everyone. And then he did.

That was about three years ago--February 24, 2022, to be exact.

So some of the refugees came here, even here to northwest Iowa, and, as immigrants have frequently done throughout history--and our own history, they took the jobs they could get here in America, despite their employment record or level of education back home. And now, the ones our church helped, appear to be doing well. 

But now they've been told they're not far from an seat on a jet taking them and a full house of others to wherever the wheels of the plane come down.

It seems, and it is, terribly, terribly wrong.

And it's not just here, of course. It's happening throughout this country because Donald E. Trump is doing exactly what he said he was going to do--he's reversing his predecessor's soft heart by enlisting his own, now huge, private army to grab immigrants wherever he wants and then flying them home--including Ukrainians. 

His fascist character has forever been on display, but somehow a majority of American believed him to be the only one who could carry the U. S. o A. out of strife. They voted the bigot in for a second term, and now he's doing exactly what he promised to do. A full 85% of my neighbors here in the county voted him in.

And now--wouldn't you know it?--the country doesn't think much of what he's up to. Here's the headline this morning: 

Gallup poll shows 79% of Americans favor immigrants, a significant increase from a year earlier and a high point in a nearly 25-year trend

All of a sudden, the fickle American public just love immigration. And it's perfectly understandable because at some level they know the immigrants around have become more and more essential to our way of life. They milk our cows, plaster our walls, paint our ceilings, clean our houses, build our highways, and do almost everything else good moms and dad don't bring up their children to do.

What's more, they absolutely hate the gestapo look and gestapo tactics of Trump's hooded police force. Americans don't like people being stopped on the street by hooded or masked guards. They don't like military vehicles rolling up to city parks, even though there's no one there. They don't like thugs. Except Trump.

Despite the fact that this was one of the issues that marked the presidential election and delivered the presidency to Donald Trump just eight months ago, support for immigration in the country has now reached record highs, even among Republicans. About 8-in-10 Americans, 79%, say immigration is “a good thing” for the country today, up sharply from 64% a year ago and a high point in a nearly 25-year trend. In contrast, only two in 10 U.S. adults say immigration is a bad thing, down from 32% last year.

Amazing. That's the good news this Monday morning. The bad news is that we're going to have Trump's masked crusaders around for another three years. 

 And he's talking about a third term too.  Ain't we got fun?