Commentary #1

In my classmate Sam's blog, he thoroughly explains the concerning factor of redistricting and gerrymandering. Texas, as long as many other states redistrict every ten years according to the census. With that being said, the number of Democrats vs. Republicans in both chambers of the house play a big role in whether or not the representation of minorities and political parties are accurate. As of right now, Republicans have the majority of both the House and the Senate. This means that Texas will be redrawn according to the likings of Republicans, leaving the Democrats at a disadvantage due to the lack in numbers of people. Sam brings up an important point, "This is an issue, but it is simply too much work for us too attempt to make the perfect map, and we'll continue to live in a Tetris State." Politicians don't seem to care whether or no representation is equal throughout the districts, they only care about getting votes and have their "party" numbers increase. Politics are heavily revolved around social media and trying to influence anyone to join their "cause" or "fight."
Even though the number of Democrats are increasing steadily, as of right now the Republican will be the party that calls all the shots and vice-versa when the Democratic regain control. "Texas bleeds red" is not an empty expression. Lastly, I loved how Sam showed the district distribution in Texas with a visual representation, it enhances and portrays a visual idea of redistricting and gerrymandering.

Blog 5 (continuation of stage 3)

I am truly heartbroken with the number of families in Texas in which ICE has been detaining at an alarming rate. I currently reside in Austin but I was born and raised in Dallas. On April 3rd, ICE agents arrested and raided a tech repair firm in Allen, Texas which is a Dallas suburb. Officials say it "is one of the largest enforcement actions of its kind in a decade." An estimated amount of about 300 people were arrested and placed in immigration customs. Trump's administration at the start was very controversial, mostly for Texas in which we are the state that has the privilege of bordering Mexico. He has not held back from the very beginning of his campaign and continued this into his term. Using propaganda and the false idea that ALL illegal immigrants are bad. I agree to disagree, basic economics does show that because of the influx of immigrants through the past decade, it has become a problem of national security. This I get, it is very dangerous to allow people that are unknown and undocumented to reside within the U.S. However, Trump has implicated false allegations against illegals and referring to them as "outlaws" and "rebels".
Refer back to my post on this situation in Blog 3 titled "Border Crisis or Overreacting?". Statistics do show that crime cannot only be blamed towards illegals, anywhere can have crime, but it does not come with a certain race or ethnicity. This what Trump uses to fuel his argument, but the numbers clearly show it is not because of illegal immigration. I just hope on the near future, hopefully, after Trump serves out his term and possibly another one, we can adjust and find a solution to this topic.