I was trying to make the point that saying “Tsk, tsk, America. Shame on you” is not going to change things very much. Umair is not really offering practical solutions.

In many ways, American democracy is working the way it was designed. The camps to house illegal immigrants are indeed horrid. And for those caught up in this mess, I feel for them.

But there is sufficient protest happening to prevent these camps from escalating. For example, I don’t see any camps to detain high ranking Democrats and any left-leaning Medium writers being set up any time soon. The current powers to be have pushed a little too far, and the citizenry are pushing back.

Illegal immigration is a big problem in the United States. A good part of this problem is that that business and rich people want to hire illegal immigrants for much less than the going rate of the average American worker. So illegal immigrants know that the United States is a place where they can hide for decades. Even though their life is still uncertain (think of the mouse in a cage with a cat outside), living in the USA is still preferable than in their home country. Until the USA deals with illegal hiring, the immigration problems won’t be resolved. But neither party is willing to deal with illegal hiring.

And of course, I could talk about US meddling in these home countries that support dictators which displaces the people of these countries, but will be a long paragraph.

Much of Umair’s writing is making some good points. But I doubt he is making much inroads into the Trump base.

We need to change the electoral structures DRAMATICALLY. We need to have a system where the likes of Mr. Trump and Ms. Clinton do not rise very high.

If we don’t make this change, the next populist president is likely going to be much smarter than Mr. Trump. You and I just might meet personally in one of these detention camps.