The migrant crisis is mostly a problem of the United States making, namely that there are not enough public resources to adequately address the crisis. Asylum seekers, the only legitimate migrants to cross the border without authorization, aren’t being provided with secure, decent housing while they await a decision from an immigration judge, while those decisions are not being handed down quickly enough.
First off, migrants and asylum seekers should be in the care and custody of the federal government. They should not be sleeping on the streets or asking for housing in public shelters for the homeless. The federal government should operate detention centers for asylum seekers, similar to other minimum security prisons the federal government operates. No cells or handcuffs, but also not free to roam the streets or do as they please. It should have the atmosphere of a college, but with a fence or other barrier to keep asylum seekers and the public safe while they await processing. Asylum seekers should get three healthy meals a day, a safe and warm bed to sleep, common areas, and a library to learn the law. Medical care should be provided. There should be a place they can meet with immigration attorneys and family already in the United States. Safe and comfortable, but at the same time not some place people would aspire to unless they are legitimately fleeing prosecution in their own country. This would take an enormous burden off state and local governments.
Second, asylum seekers should be processed promptly and without unnecessary delay — a speedy but fair proceeding. A first step could be after initial processing, where the asylum seeker explains his or her case to an immigration officer, the data including fingerprints is uploaded to a computer and checked against public and private records of the federal government. The migrant’s case, typed up, would be fed into the database, and a score of the likelihood to secure asylum status based on machine learning of past immigration judgments would be generated. The score would be constantly updated based on new rulings of immigration judgments, with a higher priority given to more recent judgments. The asylum seeker within 72 hours would be provided with the score of their likelihood to succeed. If the asylum seeker so chooses after getting their score to voluntarily leave the United States, they could do so then or any other time during the process.
Computer scoring can be wrong, machine learning can reflect existing biases in the system. Asylum seekers would retain their option to appear in front of immigration judge, with those granted a higher score getting higher priority in front of the judge, so they can be moved forward to moving out into community sooner rather then later. But no migrant should be required to wait more then 90 days for a judgement, if the federal government fails to brings to the asylum seeker in front of an immigration judge for a ruling within that timely period, the migrant would automatically win the right to stay with a green card. This puts the pressure on the federal government to act in a timely fashion on all cases, lest undesirable persons with a problematic background be let in on grounds of default. The pressure would be on Congress to provide adequate funding for immigration judges, while also on Immigration and Customs Enforcement to act in a timely fashion.
These steps would go a long way to fixing a broken system. Maybe not popular — immigration advocates might not like the idea of securing asylum seekers in essentially minimum security prisons or the idea of relying on computer models which can reflect existing biases in the system. Anti-immigration advocates might argue that the timeliness requirements could let criminals, terrorists, and other bad people in should the government fail to do its job and make immigration decisions in a timely fashion. But the federal government should be forced to do it’s job and protect the public by acting quickly. Anti-immigration advocates could argue that providing asylum seekers with decent housing, even if it’s like a minimum security prison, is essentially coddling migrants, though I would push back and argue that’s really not the case.
you know the one that’s been going around. I’m hoping it’s just a breathed in too much smoke last night.
Some forecasts are talking about windchills especially tonight around 0 degrees. I am not sure I want to be camping out in, plus my camp stove has been acting up in the cold. I’m having issues again with the campstove regulator getting jelled up and plugged with dirt and condensate. I think when I can get home this week, I am going to order a second regulator for the campstove, plus another Big Buddy filter. 
My other propane stove, whose burners ultimately burnt out a second time, had a few issues with this occassionally but this new stove I got last summer has constant issues now that it’s cold, though oddly not all on the Christmas trip to Madison County, though I stored it in the warmth of my truck. 
Though if the Big Buddy filter works like it does with the Big Buddy Heater and the lantern, I expect smooth sailing going forward. 
It’s good to have back ups.
that I want to be on the road by 11 AM. I am going to sip my coffee, then take my campsite down before it gets too late. I could for a walk, and the road is hard enough for a bike ride now, but I think I’d rather just head home and avoid the risk of driving on snow-covered roads. Its not like I am on the other side of the earth — it’s a 21 mile drive that takes roughly a half hour, as most of the road is 55 MPH bar Clarksville and Rensselearville. I’m right on a plowed dirt road, and 1,000 feet from asphalt so I’m not worried about being snowed in, but driving home on those hills in snow and ice, could be kind of miserable.
that would be downright cold, I’m afraid. Wind worries me more then cold, as it sucks the heat away from your body. That said, my gear is really good for camping down to about 10-15 degrees, much colder then that at night in my unhreated truck cap it gets cold. In 2023, we had light snow in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 19 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1957.
Just a night in the woods puts a smile on my face. Despite the woods being wet from rain we’ve had, it was cold enough up here in the State Forest that ground was frozen solid and was able to have a good fire. I’ll head home, get unpacked — it’s not that much stuff for one night 
— and shower. 
Maybe go for a bike ride this afternoon 
or down to the library 
if conditions aren’t too harsh. Or maybe cook up a big pot of chicken soup, 
especially if I’m not feeling good. I am thinking my next trip will be Presidents Day to Moscow Hill Horse Camp 
in Madison County, but we’ll see. Get some nice weather, and maybe I’ll head back to the wilderness sooner for a weekend trip, like during my 41st birthday weekend, though winter is tough. Next weekend will be too cold it appears, plus the Reszin documentary. 
