Asylum and Podcast about Trump and Immigration

Today we learned what the term asylum means and how it applies to immigration. Asylum means to seek protection and safety because you aren't safe in your nation. We also talked about having a debate in class about the migration growth and if our class would be able to do it. We were using the example of how Trump is handling immigration. While we were talking about this we listened to a podcast to get some background information to support or go against Trump. In the podcast the question was, if the president is undermining the original concept of asylum in the United States, or is he restoring it to the way it started. Asylum started right before World War 2 in 1939 when 900 Jews fled Germany and went to the USA, Canada, Cuba, Argentina, etc. and were denied because they didn't go through the whole process of being able to enter a country. Because of this they were sent back to Germany and 700 of them died in Nazi death camps later on. The United States wasn't involved in the war yet, but after getting involved and helping the victory, they still had a guilt trip about not helping the first Jews because if they could help a war, they should've helped the 900 people. After the war in 1951, the United Nation decided that they had responsibility over immigrants who needed asylum and they insisted that they never turn anyone away again. But of course, you can't just take a bunch of people into your country for no good reason, so they made criteria for the people that could receive asylum. In order to receive asylum you must prove you're being persecuted by your own government either for race, nationality, political views, religion, or social groups. The biggest reason the United States took so many people in, even people they were in conflict with or didn't like, was because it made the United States look wonderful and the other countries look terrible. For example, nothing was happening to Albert Einstein, but they give him asylum because he was a famous genius and he would benefit them. They wanted to prove that democracy and the American way is the best. At some point though, if there were too many of your people, the United States would stop giving you asylum, especially if you don't benefit them in any way.