Several years ago on my drive home from work, I was tormenting myself with the bleating of a local radio personality who called himself “The Kimmer.” Typical of Atlanta radio, he was the sort of mean-spirited lout who aims for laughs by poking fun at the homeless and other unfortunates. On this particular afternoon, he was decrying a local government initiative that provided breakfast at school for disadvantaged kids, and his callers were chiming right on in.
Listener after listener was given a minute or two to vent along the lines of “Why are the schools spending our money to feed these kids,” and “Why don’t their parents give them breakfast.” The venom was astonishing. For the first and only time in my life, I picked up my cell phone and dialed “The Kimmer” and, wouldn’t you know it, I got through to the producer. I gave him a quick summary of my point of view and, after a moment on hold was on the air. “What kind of people are in favor of punishing children for the sin of being poor,” I said. “A society that doesn’t make a priority of caring for its children is doomed.” That was quite enough for the Kimmer, who cut me off and doubtless lambasted his producer for putting a caller through who wasn’t on the team.
I thought about this while watching the ugly images of Americans in border towns in California, Arizona and Texas, protesting the arrival of children from Central America. These are children from countries where there is no hope for a productive life, whose parents have paid “mules” to transport the children thousands of miles in the hope that citizens of the Land of Opportunity will offer them a shot at a normal, peaceful life.
The countries—Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala—are wretched places beyond the imagining of most Americans. Their governments are corrupt, their police forces are a joke, and they are ruled by violent gangs. An example? A correspondent with The Arizona Republic described on NPR one Guatemalan woman’s predicament: She has three daughters, and one day there was a knock on her door. “Get their bags packed,” a man commanded her. “They are coming with us.” Her daughters were about to become the “girlfriends” of one of the gangs. In these desperate countries, you don’t pick up the phone and dial 911. You say goodbye to your children, perhaps forever, in the hope that someone in the benevolent U.S. will provide with them with safety, security, a life.
And here in the U.S., people who call themselves good Americans are greeting these children with signs, shrieks and bile. “They have diseases,” one man told a reporter. “We don’t really know who they are.” Yes, we do. They are children, and that’s all we need to know.
Many commentators have weighed in on this topic with far more eloquence than I can muster. David Gergen, a man who has served presidents of both parties, compared the current border crisis to the refusal of the U.S. government in 1939 to allow the German ship St. Louis to disembark its passengers, Jews who were fleeing the Nazis. The ship was forced to turn back, and 255 of the 620 men, women and children on board would die in World War II, some of them in concentration camps. “Moments inevitably come that define who we are as a people,” Gergen wrote. “How we respond to these thousands upon thousands of desperate, destitute children is one of those moments. Will we turn our backs, as we did so shamefully to those Jewish refugees years ago? Or will we live by our ideals? That is the choice we now face.”
What are we to make of people who will stand in front of a TV camera and say they don’t want “those” people in their town? What are we to make of people who know so little of their beloved country’s history that they will make a mockery of the Statue of Liberty’s welcoming torch by greeting busloads of terrified children with shouts of “Go back where you came from”?
The U.S., where we each throw away more cash every day in supermarket plastic bags than some of these children’s families make in a month, needs to show the world that it has not relinquished its ideals. “My God. This is a humanitarian crisis,” a woman named Kathleen McQuillen said to CNN. The Iowa Program Director of the American Friends Service Committee, McQuillen pointed out that the cost of saving these children is a pittance compared to the trillions we so willingly spend on war. “It’s a simple thing to say,” she added. “What’s important in this world?” The answer is: The lives of children.
Steve Robinson moved to Flagler County after a 30-year career in New York and Atlanta in print, TV and the Web. Reach him by email here.
PCer says
I think many of those people have forgotten the words on the Statue of Liberty that welcomed many of their parents and grandparents when they entered the US.
The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
THE VOICE OF REASON says
PCer:
Just to set the record straight, the words at the end of that poem, so oft quoted as being printed on the statue, originated with the poem. They do not appear anywhere on that statue.
Anonymous says
Well America is not the America it used to be , everything done here has been at the expense of the taxpayers, DSS has ruined our open arms policy we can no longer afford open arms because of their uncontrolled policies and hand outs. This is not the melting pot it once was.
Outsider says
Steve, the problem is not that Americans don’t like children or are not compassionate; that’s simply untrue. The real issue is how they are handling this problem. Like so many times before, the federal government is shoving this down our throats and people are getting sick of it. They are doing it with complete disregard for the health and welfare of the people that actually are taking care of their own children and those children themselves. I can’t enroll my kid in school without producing documentation of vaccinations and health screenings, yet the government is shipping these kids across the country in airplanes and forcing communities to accept them not knowing what diseases or health needs they have. What’s the point in taking care of our kids only to have them exposed to who knows what? Beyond that, the government is going to great lengths to keep all of this a secret, at the expense of our rights. They are limiting press coverage, who I believe are entitled to certain freedoms under the First Amendment by prohibiting the taking of pictures, interviewing healthcare workers, and devising government approved press coverage through staged photographs and canned responses to questions. They are trying to prevent people from protesting the forced migration into our communities of people who are totally unscreened; it is not only children who are being allowed in you know. In Texas, one of these adults who was released murdered a woman and raped a child. Liberals seem to think that anyone who comes from Latin America is automatically a saint when in many instances the opposite is true. And can you explain something to me, Steve? We see on these very pages occasional criticism of the government child welfare agencies who continually drop the ball when it comes to taking care of other people’s’ children; we see strained government services and budget deficits to the tune of trillions, and yet, you say, we CAN take all these children. Where is the logic in that? We obviously have people who suck at taking care of their own kids, and yet, we’re going to take even more? I have a better idea: we can donate to charities that operate programs in these countries, and I will bet a dollar sent down there will buy a whole lot more than a dollar run through our bureaucratic nightmare of a federal government, and the kids can stay with their own families. This is just another straw on the camel’s back whereby the government is ignoring the will of it’s own people, and these kids are bearing the brunt of people”s frustration. We’ve had enough of the incompetence and arrogance of the federal government.
PCer says
You said, ” Liberals seem to think that anyone who comes from Latin America is automatically a saint when in many instances the opposite is true.” Are you implying that Conservatives think that anyone who comes from Latin America is automatically a rapist and murderer? Press coverage would say yes. We seem to forget, there are plenty of rapists and murderers born to nice white families right here in the US. Fortunately, there are more people who are genuinely good people. How about we focus on taking care of these children…. because they are children and that is our responsibility as an advanced society… rather than complaining about the what ifs and creating the Liberal v. Conservative political fight.
Phil Chanfrau says
Thanks for speaking up. I agree. I wonder why we raise a gauntlet, generation after generation, trying to bar admission to “foreigners.” We are supposedly the home of the brave, yet cower in the face of children. Conduct like that displayed on TV exists because of a vacuum in true leadership, made worse by political gridlock.
ted bundy says
and who pays for these kids and their soon to be families?
Steve Wolfe says
Yes, we certainly should respond to the children in a humanitarian manner. But I think we deserve to be able to exercise control over immigration, and not simply accept anyone who shows up at the door prepared by Mexico with enough information to subvert our process. We need to be able to determine true desperation and refuse the gangs and cartels accommodation.
Currently we have no coherent policy at our southern border. Instead, we have chaos, and our Border Patrol is overwhelmed. Unfortunately, this seems to be part of a wider failure of the president’s administration. There is no leadership. There is the appearance of weakness at the top, and bad guys are taking advantage. Putin will probably get away with shooting down the airliner, because our guy won’t stand up to him. A couple more sanctions won’t slow down Putin. Central American nations will push their poor people northward to ease their inability to deal with their own domestic issues. I really wish the people of those nations would force their governments to wrest control from the cartels and end their culture of corruption. Many of the people seeking admittance here bring that culture with them. But chaos at the border means, “Y’all come. We give up.”
I would like to examine the possibility of our foreign embassies expanding their capacity to entertain entrance applications. This would allow the U.S. to have an advance look at the asylum seekers, determine their legitimacy and suitability. But in order to funnel applicants through the embassies, we have to close the border and say, “No mas.” A border is supposed to represent something besides a welcome mat. Further, we should stop sending foreign aid to the nations of origin until we at least recover the cost caring for their citizens. We have our own domestic issues that deserve attention, too. Just ask the citizens of Chicago.
Obama seems unwilling to respond to the many international crisis. Perhaps he is shy because of how he screwed up with Syria, Libya, Iraq, and soon Afghanistan. (Walking away is not victory, nor is it an adequate foreign policy.) But doing nothing except attending fund raisers, blaming Bush, and sending pink slips to military personnel in theater is telegraphing to the world that the United States is off-duty, that we’re done exercising our role as hegemon, even though no one else is able to pick up that role. And that very weakness, of refusing to wield the big stick in order to give the bad guys pause, and the appearance that no one is at the switch, that we’re pulling the shades and turning out the lights, has manifested in chaos all over the world. There hasn’t been this many bad things happening at one time since the 1970’s. Meanwhile, Nero fiddles.
Anonymous says
Mr. Wolfe….you summed it up very well! No leadership at all. We don’t hate children…but we can barely take care of the ones we have in our country now. And these are not only children who are flocking in. The illnesses are a danger to our society as well. So we are supposed to pay for all that as well. We cannot support the whole world. I am sad for the children….but we just don’t have the capacity to care for them.
Steve Wolfe says
Thanks for your kind words. But I don’t support a view that we can’t help these kids for any of the reasons given. I believe that we are supremely qualified and equipped to help them; however, it can’t be an unsupportable endless flow of the world’s poor, or even just Central America’s poor. The proper way to support the children in the long run is to support the policies and partnerships that will lift their home countries out of the mess they are in. I don’t think we have. When we dumped Sadaam we showed the Iraqis how to prosper in their new freedom. When we liberated Europe and Japan from their evil leaders we rebuilt their nations and showed them how to take advantage of liberty. With Iraq it didn’t take, but they are mostly .
to blame for that. The model had screaming success in Europe and even spread beyond Japan into Asia.
The model is simply this: Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. TEACH a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime. I think that’s already been said somewhere…
Why have we not pursued such policies for Central America? Do we have to go to war with Mexico before we help them out of their corrupt government? It is in our national interests to have a safe border and a friend to our south as we do to our north. It just seems to be smothered out of our southern neighbors by something. And as we have seen in Iraq recently, American values do not sell themselves to all cultures. We have to make a better case for that. I believe that is a job for an American leader with the vision and the will to resist his own corrupting influences from American firms that have a heroin addict’s craving for cheap labor. And that, my friend is a great topic for further discussion. Crony capitalism is NOT a conservative value. Competition IS, but not at the current expense.
Robert Lewis says
Steve –
I respect that you have an opinion on this matter; but I do not believe in what you have to say. I believe that your solution is disastrous to our nation. We open our borders and allow an influx of people to come into society. Folks, that right now are non-skilled workers, unable to care for themselves and create a financial burden. How is allowing our economy to be inundated with dependents good for the nation?
Folks coming here are not all the skilled workers that built this nation. And please save your tongue, that we were all immigrants at one point. The skilled workers that do come here, send billions of dollars back home and support their economy. We remove funding from our economy to support another nations. Eventually, there will be nothing left. When the skilled workers leave, we are left with the bottom of the barrel. We are left with the law breakers, drug users, gang members, unskilled, entitlement demanding and government dependent maggots – that crowd our prisons, utilize our government resources and contribute nothing to the greater society. We are left with the undesirable that wish to achieve little and gain much.
There comes a time when leaders must say no. It sounds great and makes bleeding liberals feel all warm and cozy inside that we play world police. We spend billions on foreign aid, when right here at home, there are issues that have not yet been addressed. We take on the responsibility for caring for others, and pass the price along to our children’s generation. It is socially and fiscally irresponsible.
Our economy is pumping more money out then it is taking in. Our economy is burdened with the notion of caring for others. Yet, right here in Flagler County we have high unemployment rate, poverty and children that are homeless. Do we do anything to correct this measure? There are families in our community, that are struggling, yet they get turned away because they do not “qualify” because of some bureaucratic rule. Yet, we continue to allow this to go on. But at the idea of bringing in someone from another country and taking care of them – people jump all over that.
It feels great to be a humanitarian. Its noble. But at the same time it is impractical. When 47% of the Nation is on government subsidies and assistance – to add more to an over burdened system is like adding fuel to the fire. Eventually the economy collapses and our nation becomes the nation in desperation.
I disagree with your stance, and wholeheartedly feel it is time our nation says no. When we fix the problems at home, and ensure that there is never a child that goes hungry, without shelter and without the basic necessities to sustain quality of life, then I will support this. Our government easily and readily turns down those “playing by the rules every day” and now bleeding heart liberals look to give car blanche to those that are violating the law.
Retired FF says
I agree we need to care for children, but we have scores of children in our own country that go hungry every day and our president isn’t asking for billions of dollars to feed or care for them. We have enough problems of our own and can’t and should not be the keepers of every culture that can’t control their own country. We have millions of people already not contributing and working just leaching off our tax base. These children will only add to the drain on our system and will cause American kids to do without.
Rick says
Retired FF,
Thank you so much for your train of thought. It’s comfortating to see I’m not the only one who thinks this way. I was beginning to feel I was not processing my thoughts logically, despite the fact it always made sense to me.
I have felt this way from the beginning. Why are we taking on more responsibilities from other countries when we can not begin to take care of our own. I could never get my head around that one. To this day it still does not make any sense to me what so ever. Kids in our very own country going to bed hungry. WTF?
Would one hand out funds & whatever else to a neighbor or whoever while they thenselves constantly shuffle in & out of a bread & soup lines? Sorry, but I wouldn’t. Priorities need to be set…..& held.
Once one is in a position to do so, be generous as I have, then by all means select carefully & have at it. I find that it is one of the greatest feelings in the world, to help those who not only genuinly need it but are grateful for it as well.
Mike says
Everone is entitled to an opinion, but I am glad you are not a politician and could actually make a difference by being able to vote or rule on this. We (the USA) cannot just take in every person who illegaly scrosses the boarder and give them wellfare and health benefits, educate them and so on. Do companies just give people jobs because it is the right thing to do, no it costs money and when they do not have money they lay people off. I feel for these children, but a warm meal and a blanket then back to where they came from, we already spend trillions of dollars in foriegn aid that we can not afford to do. I am not some cold nut job at the boarder but I cannot agree with them staying here at a cost to us, my Granparents arrived in 1915 and had to learn english, get jobs and become citizens all on their own, do not ask what your country can do for you, what can you do for your country, we really need to live that motto.
Sunflower says
The borders are secure. Just ask Harry Reid. No need to worry about this problem. And if there are some illegals that made it through, Nancy Pelosi said she would love to take them all! Yeah! The US has purchased a motel for 50 million to house 600 illegals but for our own people, we give them a tent! This is all a ploy to pump up future Democrat votes. You want to know what is truly deplorable STEVE. Playing with little children’s lives for a political cause. Just where do you think we can get the money to fund all this….may I remind you $17 trillion in debt and climbing. I just heard that they are gonna take retired folks savings to pay off the debt. Yeah! Steve, I am sure you are fine giving away all your hard earned money.
confidential says
My great appreciation for the human compassion and realistic words in your editorial. Americans like you is what still makes America #1 in the world!.
All those heartless zealots also themselves children of immigrants arrived maybe some generations before and demonstrating their hate in the very soil that until 1848, was Mexico’s land open and welcoming then all their Central American neighbors… have forgotten that?
What a tragic, cruel carnival that shame us worldwide miss using our flag to shamefully display bigotry. We are talking children looking for refuge…”refugees”
They came here for several centuries for the same reasons – freedom and hope — and then a Frenchman created a statue that embodied their hopes and dreams. And it embodied America’s promise as well. “Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free…”
Eve if the administration has to look for volunteer Latino or any worthy families to help host these children
common sense says
And….. How do we pay for this? Come one come all, children from every nation the independently wealthy U.S. of A. will take you all in, feed, insure, house and educate you. Any idea how much we already give in humanitarian aid around the world expecting nothing in return? How about the amount every year that already goes to insure, house, feed and educate our own (many whom abuse this) and now how about how much we area in debt? We have nothing left to give, what we have is not ours and what more we give only hurts us and the next several generation who will have to pay for it. This is where… stand by…. charity comes in and if you are so passionate adopt a child and make a difference that way. or donate to private organizations that YOU personally give to instead of saying “we need to take in all children”. Opinions are one thing but I’ll tell ya what, fact is you can not give or spend what you don’t have and any government that does is sure to fail as we currently are.
Jim R. says
This is from the Declaration Of The Rights Of The Child.
The child that is hungry must be fed
the child that is sick must be nursed
the child that is backward must be helped
the delinquent child must be reclaimed
and the orphan and the waif must be sheltered and succored
the child must be the first to receive relief in times of distress.
Pierre Tristam says
We do have a very serious crisis: America’s gone sour, callous and cowardly to the point of fearing what 52,000 children could do to this country. (Not that we ever paid attention when the annual number, year after year, hovered between 20,000 and 40,000). So we have a slight increase to 52,000! The equivalent of one state college campus population: we should be so lucky to have them, if they don’t turn tail the moment they realize what sham this decrepit and amnesiac colossus, incapable of remembering the words on that dimming lamp over New York Harbor, has become. This in the wealthiest nation this side of the Milky Way. But we have no idea what a refugee crisis is. The UN’s refugee office just released its annual report for 2013. The world has more than 43 million refugees floating around due to war and persecution, the highest number ever. The largest numbers, proportionately, were provoked in large part by the United States: by the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, and of Afghanistan two years before. A tiny countries like Lebanon, with a population of 5 million, has taken in 1 million Syrian refugees, Jordan has 600,000, and those numbers are on top of the half-million Palestinian refugees in Lebanon for ever, and the 2 million Palestinian refugees in Jordan. Quite a few idiotic comments here, some of them disallowed for gratuitously insulting the author, asked Steve how many of those children at the southern border he’s taken in. The question is: how many Iraqi and Afghan refugees has the United States taken in since having such a big share of demolishing those two countries? Here’s the total for the last seven years combined: 85,000 Iraqis. Sweden, a country with a population 30 times smaller than the US, took in 50,000 in five years. In the last 20 years, fewer than 20,000 Afghan refugees have been allowed in. So on Thursday Obama asked for $4 billion to deal with the migrants from Central America. Compare that to the annual $83 billion subsidy in our tax dollars going to those “too big to fail” banks. Then, by all means, complain about the kids at the border with embarrassing questions like “how do we pay for this,” or how many children are you putting up in your house. The United States has answered both questions, shamefully.
Steve Wolfe says
This isn’t solved with a discussion on proportionality or by shaming people who hold contrary views. We are experiencing a vacuum of leadership. There is no captain steering the ship, no order on deck. That’s what is shameful. Attending a fundraiser in Dallas yet refusing to visit even one of the refugee centers during a crisis of his own engineering, this president is the very picture of callousness. Attending fundraisers in Deleware and New York even at the outbreak of open conflict in the middle east compounded by the loss of American and other lives at the hands of those Russian stooges is blatant disregard for the duty of his office. He thinks his pen and his phone are enough. Then he should be able to do something besides turn his back on us. Yet he does it so routinely now that it is beginning to appear intentional, like a firefighter walking away from a fire who has decided, “Screw it. Let it burn.”
Pierre Tristam says
Steve, I’m not trying to shame people with contrary views, but with shameful views. There’s a difference. And I wish you’d engage with the points raised by the article directly and debate or demolish those, rather than go off on an irrelevant tirade about the president’s fund-raising, which is no different, and far less intensive, than every single member of Congress’s fund-raising schedule. The problem there is our retrograde campaign finance laws, thanks in large part to our retrograde Supreme Court, not to individual politicians, all of whom are equally guilty regardless of party. And that terribly objectionable trip of his to Texas did, in fact, entail meetings on the crisis as well, even if it didn’t include a nice photo op at a crisis center. But enough tangents.
What I find even more objectionable, especially here, is the gratuitous and it seems to me malicious—because these things can be checked in roughly six seconds of Goggling—dissemination of misinformation. I can understand Fox’s reflexive inability not to be blinded to accuracy from its own foamings. The network is diseased that way. But let’s limit the damage to Fox and not let it affect the way we debate. So it’s important to get our facts straight.
Obama did not create this crisis. It is the result of a law George W. Bush signed on Dec. 23, 2008, called the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. In a very, very rare bit of bipartisanship on such things, the law passed the Senate unanimously. I’ll repeat that: it passed unanimously. In the House, support was so obvious that they didn’t even bother to take a recorded vote and passed it without objection orally. If any of us were in the chamber we’d have done the same, because the law’s intent is irreproachable: it combats human trafficking. Not just the trafficking of children for sex, but any human trafficking. As such, it requires that any unaccompanied child who crosses over illegally to be in protective custody of the Department of Human Services within 72 hours (because the muscle at the Department of Homeland Security is not equipped for such things), and guarantees that child an appearance before an immigration judge so the child has a chance to establish whether he or she would be in grave danger if returned–but without forcing a judge’s hand through arbitrary deadlines. If anyone out there objects to such measures, please raise your hands, if you’re not ashamed to do so. Bush signed that law in a rare moment of late-term lucidity, though he wouldn’t have dreamed of not signing since the quasi-totality of Congress would have been against him. Top claim, that this crisis, then, is the result of “a vacuum of leadership” or that it’s a crisis of “his engineering” (his meaning Hitler, I mean Stalin, I mean Gengis Khan, I mean Osama–I mean Obama) is utterly false.
Putting aside the $4 billion he’s requesting to address the crisis (how’s that for “screw-it-let-it-burn”) Obama does deserve some blame. But not for creating the crisis. He deserve blame for now signaling that he’s willing to go along with the Orwellian-inspired “Helping Unaccompanied Minors and Alleviating National Emergency (HUMANE) Act” that would dilute the child-protective measures of the trafficking law, “allowing”–and this is a quote from its sponsor–“for voluntary reunification with family, whether they are from Mexico, Central America, or any other country.” (So it’s the legalization of throwing back the likes of Elian Gonzalez to his wolves). Fast-tracking indifference isn’t going to solve this. Realizing first that this is no “crisis” but a welcome opportunity to help children looking for help might. Checking ideological talking points at the door and debating on the strength of a little evidence instead would be a fantastic first step.
Steve Wolfe says
Oh Pierre, only a day since I twice shook your hand, you kick my butt with both feet. I will not return the feat (!), rather present a reiteration with some more meat on it. Lest you forget, Obama is no longer a candidate . There is no imperitive to raise money for his political fortune. (The speeches have lots to do with promoting the illusion of his efficacy to a friendly audience and condescending towards his nemesis, Congress.) He keeps leaving his post during all this chaos to raise money for Hillary and others. But Hillary can’t do much of that because her narrative at fundraisers would be terribly in conflict with Obama’s. Can’t have that. Not for the next two years, anyway.
First, I would like to put aside the implication of racism (from others who rely on that tactic to dismiss criticism) in my writing. I served my entire career working with such a diverse mix of cultures and nationalities that English and the work were the only commonalities. I was never accused of racism at home or on the job. I knew a racist, though.
Secondly, it is not an “irrelevant tirade” to point out the lack of leadership by this POTUS during so many open matters under his purview, the border “opportunity” being but one. You won’t do it, and it can’t wait for the article. If the topic was the lack of modernization of the levies in New Orleans, most of the comments here would be by Bush-haters and how he spun a hurricane out of the sky and sent it to New Orleans because he is such a racist. You’d allow that, I see that vituperation all the time herein. Obama could resolve the border crisis (opportunity). I believe that we have plenty of historic references to leadership in this nation. And I didn’t need FOX News to point that out. It was made clear by my pre-Common Core readings of history. His job description places him in exactly the right place to steer the course of history. Instead he walks to the bow of the ship to feel the wind in his face, eyes closed so as not to ruin the moment with the vision of the storm ahead.
The common thread to everything that is happening NOW (not 6 or more years ago under Bush) is the one in charge NOW. The trends of nearly everything in this country are downward or stagnant. (Malaise, anyone?) Energy is nearly as expensive as it’s ever been while energy independence is being actively thwarted. The economy is merely limping along. The $17 Trillion national debt looms over us. Hours have been cut in many jobs in order to avoid the mandate of the ACA, our government is expending more energy against us and our traditional allies than on our enemies, and the border is a festering wound on the heel of the nation. Racial tensions are nearly boiling in many places because it is a demonstrated political tool of the Democrats, a useful feint whenever things look bleak for them.
Internationally, Radical Islam marches fearlessly in places where it was squelched a short time ago. Russia boldly annexed a part of Ukraine, and continues to foment a civil war to justify taking more. Whether Putin has the resources to continue or not doesn’t seem to bother him. There’s more to that tiger than paper. Our only ally in the Middle East opens a ground offensive against Hamaas following soffocating rocket attacks. Africa is unable to stop its lawless hoards, and meanwhile China chuckles, biding their time, dangling the keys to our country on a finger in an allusion to our potential fate. Seems to me to be an almost unbeatable opportunity for a leader here. A healer. A reformer. Hope, Change, etc.
Leaders don’t run from a battle, they lead. They even cancel vacations and fund raisers when they are needed. Specifically, if a law, enacted by some predescesor is not working, a leader should take charge and champion solutions, like new legislation to deal with the problem and stop-gap measures (as in any natural disaster, for instance), not walk away because those meanies in Congress said “No” to his first proposal. Too bad “Rules for Radicals” didn’t have a chapter on that. Did not Ronald Reagan face a hostile Congress? The B movie actor had leadership skills after leading a state worth 20% of the national economy (at that time). Even you acknowledge Reagan’s effectiveness . If there was ever any doubt about a requirement for demonstrated leadership skills for the position of POTUS, Obama is the lesson everyone has needed. And the children present another opportunity which he cannot capitalize upon.
This needed saying. Nonetheless, I remain your supporter.
Anonymous says
Amen Mr. Wolfe!
Bunnell Resident says
Pierre, why don’t we take all 43 million refugees? After all, we are compassionate right? I traveled to Guatemala several years ago and my hotel was filled with American couples who were there to adopt Guatemalan children. There is no lack of compassion in this country. The real issue is lack of respect for our laws and sovereignty. Don’t like a law? Just ignore it, refuse to enforce it, or change it by executive fiat. Wealthiest nation in the Milky Way? How about 17 trillion dollars plus in debt trying to solve all the world’s problems but our own? Being the world’s largest debtor nation and owing more than all other counties on the planet and presumably in the Milky Way combined hardly qualifies us for the wealthiest nation status. We can’t solve everyone’s problems.
Pierre Tristam says
Ah, yes, the absurdist line of argument. I propose that taking care of 52,000 children is not a financial problem for a nation of our financial might–and offer by way of comparison how very poor nations handle 20 times the problem–and Bunnell Resident asks why not take in all 43 million of those refugees. Brilliant way to deflect from the substance of the issue with an outlandish bone to get a few rah-rahs. I’d return you to just those 52,000 children but you’d find that dull. Your $17 trillion figure achieves the same aim by different means. The number loses some of its effect when we consider that only $6 trillion of that is owed foreign nations (and just $1.2 trillion of it to China), while $5 trillion is what the government owes itself (like when we borrow from yours and my Social Security to spend $1.5 trillion bombing and demolishing other nations in the last two wonderful wars), leaving $6 trillion held mostly by U.S. banks and the American public, whose buying of T-bills is an essential part of the functioning of this country (without which, as Alan Greenspan would be first to tell you, we’d be in as much trouble as if the stock market dried up of investors: you don;t actually think that a company like Amazon capitalized at $165 billion can actually make good on that money if there was a run for it, do you, when it’s barely managed to turn a profit, yet it remains a great bet), since it amounts to us Americans buying stock in our own nation, and expecting a fair return on our investment when our T-bills mature: a certainty so unfailing that it’s precisely why the rest of the world, despite that debt that puts you in shock, continues to invest in the United States more than anywhere else by far. Had you paid attention you’d have noticed that I’m opposed to solving everyone else’s problems, particularly those of, say, Afghans and Iraqis, but we have a moral responsibility to solve problems on our own soil, particularly when they’re easier to solve than, say, Bunnell’s deficit spending. But clearly you have no interest in getting into the issues themselves since splashing out big figures and pat talking points is a quicker way to get a nice cheer going from the bleachers. Go to it, but the approach bores me and doesn’t advance the discussion a millimeter beyond your unquestionably handsome nose.
Bunnell Resident says
Why thank you for the compliment on my handsome nose. Just wait until we can’t borrow any more money and inflation takes off faster than our printing presses can print more. We have practically become our own third world country. I am deeply disturbed by the debt status of Bunnell as well. These clowns can’t even balance a small town budget. We would be better off spending the more than 3 billion dollars Obama is requesting to help our neighbors fight poverty at home. These children are economic refugees, not refugees from a war zone. Taking in everyone and anyone is an invitation to the destruction of our culture. What I increasingly see is the poorest of the poor bringing little skill and not much to offer to the country they enter illegally, totally disregarding our laws. If they can’t respect our borders, they will not respect our laws or culture. Did you come here illegally? I think not. Eventually, if we allow ourselves to be overwhelmed with people who know little but poverty, they will just bring more of the same and it will bring our country down. As if a very large percentage of our legal residents and citizens aren’t already doing their best to bring our country down. Whatever happened to a culture of achievement versus what we have today, a culture of entitlement. I actually have a friend who works for HUD. He thinks it is every person’s constitutional right to have decent housing. That is why he is so happy working for HUD. Never found free or low cost housing anywhere in the Constitution. As for these children? I would gladly adopt one or foster one. No need for the government to pay me a dime. Get 60.000 other Americans to do the same and problem solved. The only problem we would still have is the clown in the White House who would just take that kind of generosity and repeat his failed policies over and over and then we would have 600,000 more cross our border. You are an idealist, I get that. If you were somehow in charge of our country it would be worse off than under Obama. Well intentioned dupes!
ogrethetop says
what a funny question, how can we afford them? we are the wealthiest nation on this planet, if we can’t afford them, then how can we expect the 3rd world countries to ?
Jim R. says
Some of the commenters on this subject are the kind of people who could sit down and eat a meal in front of starving child, they are without compassion and incapable of empathy.
Sherry Epley says
Excellent article Steve!
Another dimension and bizarre paradox to this terrible “Global” dilemma is that often the most conservative political forces completely resist and undermine all attempts at “birth control”, citing religious objections. The Catholic church, which is a wide spread religion in many 3rd world Hispanic countries, is especially strident on birth control. In the 21st century, women are still required to submit to the male desires of the “marriage bed”. . . yet they are not allowed contraception by their priests. Therefore, children are essentially forced upon women (and men) who simply cannot afford them. . . by the religious and political forces that control their worlds.
While, in the USA, the same political party that is currently doing everything in it’s power to limit the “CHOICE” of women to control their own bodies, and exercise their reproductive rights, IS the SAME party that then washes it’s hands for any public support or responsibility for children once they are born. . . regardless of the country they are actually born in.
I wonder if the wealthy Hobby Lobby owners are foster parents, or if they support the BORN “children’s rights” in any way.
The cost of ONE Cruise Missile is about 1.5 million dollars!
The hypocrisy is astounding and outrageous!
Steve M says
Let me start off by.first saying sorry for my first sentence. This is complete bullshit…… my wife is from elsalvador and we are spending allot of money and.time to bring her daughter to this country. It’s a very long and expensive process. Money for attorney to b prepare all papers for us properly and each application filed and there.are many, there is a fee for each filed ranging from 420, to 88.00. We are now.in upwards off three thousand dollars now for everything as we follow the law and immigration process. She is not allowed into this country without her records of all her immunization. Five years of tax returns because if one is.considered a public charge (foidstamps, Medicaid, etc) it’s then an automatic DENIAL. What is wrong with this picture? I’ll end this posting the.same way I.started it. This is complete BULLSHIT.
gmath55 says
SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT…..
If you cross the North Korean border illegally, you get 12 years hard labor. If you cross the Afghanistan border illegally, you get shot. Two Americans got eight years for crossing the Iranian border. If you cross the U.S. border illegally, you get a job, a driver’s license, food stamps, a place to live, health care, housing, child benefits, education, and a tax free business for 7 years? No wonder we’re a country in debt.
Pierre Tristam says
By all means, let’s be more comparable to Afghanistan, North Korea and Iran, because they’re the standards of civility and decency. With thinking like this, we’re well on our way.
Sandra Reynolds says
I am ashamed of our reaction to this crisis. I am ashamed that I have not offered to house one of these children. Remember when Katrina hit and many of us (we did) volunteered to take a family in? Although it was temporary, where are these volunteers now? Call me a bleeding hear liberal, but please do not call the children and their families “maggots.”.
confidential says
@Sunflower….regarding our own, you should then request that Flagler County takes up the example of St Johns County regarding our homeless which many are also children living in our surrounding woods and or cars. Have you collaborated with something to this worthy cause trying to help our fellow Americans in financial distress?
http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2014-07-18/homeless-summit-kicks#.U8lKz9Eg-M8.
Is ridiculous how come all these children of former immigrants now oppose anyone else to come to America, including children refugees if they arrived on our southern border.
Genie says
According to a 60 Minutes Documentary, Florida houses 250,000 of the nation’s homeless AMERICAN children. They are living in cheap motels throughout Florida. Some are now sleeping in the woods with their parents, right here in Flagler County.
I think we’re all tired of what’s going on in our government. And yet we can’t even get the citizenry here out to vote, according to the numbers from past elections.
That’s the real shame of this country and what we are becoming.
Lastly, I can’t believe that any parent who truly loved their children would subject them to traveling alone through the hell that is Latin America. Something needs to be done about this, THERE. In the meantime, I wonder what might happen if all foreign aid to Mexico and Latin America were suspended.
I/M/O says
Yesterday the media reported that $166,000 of taxpayer money is being spent on each and every illegal child and parent coming across our borders.
Somebody is making an awful lot of money off this charade.
confidential says
@FF retired; our children that go hungry in America were not ignore by our current POTUS to the contrary, your GOP Congress and Senate demanded the Food Stamps cuts…a real shame that now you want to erase and blame on Obama! Lies, lies and more lies… is the conservative agenda that we need to remember at the ballot box in this election.
Well... says
The problem is ILLEGAL immigration verses LEGAL immigration. Yes, my family emigrated here from Europe. They entered through Ellis Island, were documented and then sent on their way. I have zero problem with legal immigration. The way everyone is handling this border issue is a mess. Who communicated that we suddenly have an open border because legally we do not. And why are people from a democracy allowed to cross the border illegally and granted amnesty or rewarded? Do you know what would happen if I illegally went to Mexico? I would either be jailed or sent back home. People are looking at this the wrong way. The issue has nothing to do with children or America being a land of immigrants, it has everything to do with the laws that this country established regarding legal verses illegal immigration. If I break a law in this country, I am punished, the same should hold true for people illegally crossing the border. I know people that still do not have health care, people that are struggling to get by and feed their families and I’m supposed to what, open my arms, my wallet and my home to people that scurried across the border illegally? They are being taken care of right now better then a lot of tax paying, law abiding citizens I know. If you speak out against it, you are automatically challenged by verse after verse of America’s roots and heritage, and called hateful and whatever else people want to sling. The fact of the matter is a majority of the people crossing are breaking the law and I expect them to be treated in the same manner as if I were to break the law. It is the principle in which these events are taking place and the vitriol that is spewing from all sides that is not necessary. America was born a nation of immigrants whom emigrated from their countries because of persecution and in hopes of freedom and better life. Where is the persecution in Mexico (gangs are in every country)? Why not open the border to everyone around the world then? This issue is not black and white, there are many layers to this discussion but how can we have a discussion when the author of this very article states, quite blunt in fact, that America is creating the crisis by turning away illegal children. I’m sorry but there is an American child that needs a home, food, medical care, education and the chance of a wonderful future before I offer the same to an illegal immigrant. If that child enters this country legally, then I would open my doors and offer a warm welcome.
I/M/O says
Ellis Islaid not open until 1892. That was the year the federal government assumed the responsibility of immigration from the individual States. But neven after 1892 those arriving at Ellis Island h official U.S. ission to come here. They traveled on passports issued by their nation of origin. The problem was getting into the United states the problem was getting the ppermission of your European Monach to leave you nation and come to the United States.
The borders of the United States were first sealed by federal law in 1892. Before 1892 people came and went as they pleased.
Before 1892 the federal governent had absolutrly nothing to do with immigration. The only requirement that Congress put on immigration before 1892 was that ship Captians were required to sign off on their manifest and send it to the federal governent where those maniifests are stored in the National Archives.
If your nation of orign forced you to Canada and you walked aross the Michigan border the federal governent had no idea before 1892 you were here unless you answered the next federal census.
I/M/O what most americans know about immigration into this nation could fill a thimble.
I/M/O says
Your ancestors were documented at Ellis Island only after they arrived. The United States had no idea they were coming until they arrived at Ellis Island. My Italian immigrant ancestors who came thru Ellis Island carried Italian Passports issued by King Emmanuel of Italy AND CARRIED NOTHING ISSUED BY THE GOVERNENT OF THE UNITED STATES
Now Ellis Iand is located in New York. Before it opened immigrants arrived at the Castle Garderns Receiving Station in New York City which was an immigrant receiving station run by the State and City of New York. The federal governent was not involved at all.
Steve Wolfe says
Let’s stop comparing passing through the screening process of Ellis Island with folks streaming uncontrolled across our southern border. We have the absolute right to document every living soul seeking entry, and the right to deny admission if warranted. The worst aspect of the uncontrolled entry is in the number of criminals sneaking in with them. It is also noteworthy that the Ellis Island immigration run of the early 20th century did not expect food stamps or free medical care (after initial screening). They came here with their sleeves rolled up with the expectation that their own hard work would allow them to improve themselves. It is not the same. A political calculation has been made on the assumption that entry plus benefits equals new lifetime Democrat votes, which are votes for a welfare state that is suffocating the kinds of gifts to our nation from the Ellis Island folks. The southern entrants celebrate their homeland and spit upon their adopted land for daring to expect something from them (like learning English so we can understand each other). The former group celebrates their heritage and they embrace America. Indeed many of them made the ultimate sacrifice to their adopted land. That’s not a result of how each group was or is received. The former group was also subject to discrimination, before you go there.
I/M/O says
You need to read the hisortry of democrat Boss Tweed and Tameny Hall as to immigration into New York City before the federal government assumed full responsibility for immigrationnin 1892.
What we are seeing today is the Boss Tweed and Tameny Hall democrats “Community Organizing” of arriving immigrants raised to the federal level.
Nothing more and nothng less.
I/M/O says
Excuse me bu Ellis Island opened in 1892. In 1929 this nation entered the Great Depreession. Part of the answer to dealing with the Great Depression was the creation of “Government Relief.” That was a welfare program. So stop believeing your ancestors and their children were not on the welfare dole.
They were.
Steve Wolfe says
Kind of mixing apples and oranges there. The jobs programs you refer to predate today’s welfare for nothing. You are pointing to work for pay, which the government organized and paid for to stimulate the economy. That relied on and supported the work ethic. Working dads demonstrated to their children the importance of hard work. Bringing home a paycheck helped keep families together.
So how did I suggest my family was not on welfare? I don’t think I wrote that during the depression, my paternal grandfather worked for the railroad. I have his retirement paperwork and his gold watch. My maternal grandfather was a Coast Gaurd officer, then a D.C. cop. Neither of them would have refused any kind of work.
As for the Ellis Island immigration control, at least it wasn’t chaos, and the government finally asserted the power to screen applicants. The southern border is chaos and is so unsecured that very bad people who would not pass screening get through. That has to stop. Likewise, if children are coming here with diseases that Americans have eradicated, leaving us vulnerable to epidemic, we have to stop that, too, just as was done at Ellis Island.
I/M/O says
There was no work required to obtain Government Relief during thr Deression. You are confusing Relief with the later WPA work projects.
Sandra Reynolds says
Sorry for copying this article: But it does answer why we have this problem. “A desire to crack down on the global child slave trade led to the law named for a 19th Century British abolitionist. President George W. Bush signed it the month before he left the White House.
It ensured that children who came to the United States got a full immigration hearing instead of being turned away or sent back. The goal of the hearing? To determine if the children had a valid claim for asylum.
Here’s the catch: The immigration courts are so backlogged that it can take years for a child’s hearing date to come around. As they wait, most stay with relatives or friends already in the country, attend school and generally go about their lives.
It didn’t take long for word to spread to families in Central America: Send the kids, and they’ll end up in immigration limbo with little threat of deportation — all the while getting a decent education.”
PC OG says
Well, the problem is that most of these illegals in question are not assimilating into our society, nay they are a part of the current invasion that is taking place. I’ve watched this country, particularly Florida, transform over the years and it’s not for the best. Look at Miami in the 196’s and look at it now. It’s a third world type area and a veritable war zone. I dare any non-Hispanic/Latino to drive slowly around Homestead and see how long it takes to get harassed if not killed.
I love reading travel guidelines for Americans visiting Mexico, written by Mexicans, that say to stay in the tourist areas, do not stand out, do not wear jewelry, do not be loud, do not get intoxicated, etc. Lovely how these invaders don’t tolerate Americans much at all in their homeland but we are fully expected to not only tolerate them – but to pay their whole way when they decide to crash here.
I work incredibly hard for my money and I was born here and I pay my taxes – I and others like myself HAVE THE SAY AND THE ONLY SAY – about what goes on here. But no, my opinions and my rights are slowly being stripped away by a corrupt government, foreigners, and traitors.
Mexicans need to stand up, become men, and make Mexico a better place to live for themselves. Grow some balls – stop fleeing and fix your country. Everyone who’s so compassionate and wants to help Mexico is certainly welcome to go there – bring your cash and chip right in. That is your choice. My choice is to put my kids and my community first. Sorry but that’s all I can afford.
Finally, it is a fact that over 1000 Americans disappear while visiting Mexico each month – presumably they are killed or sold into the sex trade. We lose more American lives to Mexicans than we do to Al-Qaeda. So if I sound like a bigot, well sorry but I don’t have to like everybody – especially a culture that does not respect ours, takes from ours what they want, and neglects to assimilate. Press 2 for Espagnol? @#$%^ that. No other culture has put us in that position. There’s no press 3 for Mandarin – so this is what I mean by it’s not immigration – it’s an invasion and potentially a takeover. It has been reported that America will be completely overrun by illegals (Mexicans) in 15 years if we don’t reign it in now.
Nope, Americans are done and they are not going to let it happen. We’re ready to make a stand.
Steve says
Couldn’t possibly weigh in with a response to each of these comments, which by their length clearly reflect the passions surrounding this issue. But I could not let the above statistic go unanswered. The assertion that “over 1,000 Americans disappear while visiting Mexico each month” is not only wrong, it is preposterous. According to State Dept. figures, nearly 20 million Americans visit Mexico every year, and about 1 million Americans live there. While there is clearly danger to Americans visiting some of the Mexican states (though far less than to Mexicans actually living there), State recorded 81 murders of Americans in 2013–that would be about seven a month. While the number of murders is indeed growing, which has prompted the State Dept. to issue various travel warnings, the “1,000 disappear each month” is wildly and irresponsibly inaccurate.
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Number-of-Americans-killed-in-Mexico-continues-to-3518659.php
http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings/mexico-travel-warning.html
confidential says
Thank you Steve to defied and straight showing the truth with facts and real records against these prejudiced conservative lies against our brothers and sisters south of the border!
Bunnell Resident says
So well said! You are my hero!
Sherry Epley says
Let’s get real! There is no comparison between the LEGAL immigration process during the days of Ellis Island and the extensive immigration process used today.
During the Ellis Island days, the health inspections were so cursory they became known as “6 Second Physicals”. Only about 10% of the immigrants were even required to have formal hearings, and only about 2% were actually deported. This from classroom.synonynon.com:
Health Inspection
As immigrants filed through Ellis Island’s large registry room, doctors would briefly scan each immigrant for obvious physical or mental health issues. Doctors or nurses used chalk to write letters on an immigrant’s clothes to indicate possible health problems. An “H” indicated a possible heart condition while “LCD” meant loathsome contagious disease. Eventually, these rapid-fire physical health inspections came to be known as “six-second physicals.”
A Barrage of Questions
The Immigration Service collected arrival manifests from incoming ships. The manifests contained passenger names as well as answers to several questions. An inspector, usually accompanied by an interpreter, asked each passenger a series of questions about potential destinations and job prospects.
Detention and Hearings
If immigrants failed the medical or immigration inspection, they were placed in detention until they could have a hearing in front of the Board of Special Inquiry, composed of inspectors. According to the National Archives at New York City, about 10 percent of immigrants had hearings, where evidence about the immigrant’s medical health, economic conditions and beliefs was provided. Exclusion was often reversed if someone posted bond for an immigrant or an aid society took responsibility for the immigrant. Only about 2 percent of immigrants were deported, usually because they were considered a “likely public charge” on medical or economic grounds.
wolley segap says
Even that was better than nothing. At least it was legal and those coming here were documented.
confidential says
@Well the ones passing thru Ellis Island were given the chance to apply and be granted immigration papers and status…the ones coming today illegally thru the southern borders, do so because if they apply for immigrant papers visas are flat out right said NO, denied, refused, rejected! They are denied legal immigration to the very land that was theirs until 1848 when 1/3 of our country was Mexico’s territory were then anyone was welcomed, and was taken from Mexico by force! http://answerparty.com/question/answer/when-did-the-us-take-over-mexican-territory
Is ludicrous all those bigots there displaying our American flag against those children refugees, while we fight with weapons, money and our dearest brave soldiers lives for other faraway Asia, Europe or Africa’ human rights violations…! Many of our religious organization inundate us with so called refugees with not health or financial screening year after year and they come here with all expenses paid and forced in our communities and no one says a word! http://www.state.gov/j/prm/releases/statistics/index.htm
Look in this link the amount of refugees flown in year after year with all expenses paid, but God forbid anyone south of the border walking those deserts and paying with their lives in their journeys, to come back to the land of their ancestors as refugees!! Man thanks to those flag displaying bigots and the GOP opposition are booted back! Shameful prejudice to the highest level!
Sherry Epley says
Not to confuse any of the fear based, emotional statements with actual facts. . . statistical evidence shows that there is a much lower rate of criminal behavior from illegal immigrants than from native born citizens in the USA.
This from immigrationpolicy.org:
Nationwide, Immigrants are Five Times Less Likely to be in Prison Than the Native-Born
A 2007 study by University of California, Irvine, sociologist Rubén G. Rumbaut, found that for every ethnic group, without exception, incarceration rates among young men are lowest for immigrants, even those who are the least educated. This holds true especially for the Mexicans, Salvadorans, and Guatemalans who make up the bulk of the undocumented population.
The 3.5 percent incarceration rate for native-born men age 18-39 was five times higher than the 0.7 percent rate for immigrant men in 2000{Figure 5}. Among male high-school dropouts, 9.8 percent of the native-born were behind bars in 2000, compared to only 1.3 percent of immigrants.
In 2000, 0.7 percent of foreign-born Mexican men and 0.5 percent of foreign-born Salvadoran and Guatemalan men were in prison. Among male high-school dropouts, 0.7 percent of foreign-born Mexicans and 0.6 percent of foreign-born Salvadorans and Guatemalans were behind bars in 2000.
Fig. 5
Economists Kristin Butcher and Anne Morrison Piehl used data from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 Censuses to demonstrate that the lower incarceration rate for immigrants could not be explained away with the argument that there are so few immigrants in prison because so many of them are deported, or by the argument that harsher immigration laws are deterring immigrants from committing crimes because they are afraid of getting deported.
Instead, Butcher and Piehl conclude that, during the 1990s, “those immigrants who chose to come to the United States were less likely to be involved in criminal activity than earlier immigrants and the native born.”
Research in New Jersey and California Found Immigrants Less Likely to be in Prison
An analysis of data from the New Jersey Department of Corrections and U.S. Census Bureau by New Jersey’s Star-Ledger found that “U.S. citizens are twice as likely to land in New Jersey’s prisons as legal and illegal immigrants.” According to the Star-Ledger’s analysis, released in April 2008, “non-U.S. citizens make up 10 percent of the state’s overall population, but just 5 percent of the 22,623 inmates in prison as of July 2007.”
A June 2008 report from the Public Policy Institute of California found that foreign-born adults in California have lower incarceration rates than their native-born counterparts. Based on data from 2005, the report found that “the incarceration rate for foreign-born adults is 297 per 100,000 in the population, compared to 813 per 100,000 for U.S.-born adults. The foreign-born, who make up roughly 35% of California’s adult population, constitute 17% of the state prison population, a proportion that has remained fairly constant since 1990.”
Immigration Violations, Not Violent Acts, Account for Most Immigrants in Federal Prison
In an attempt to get around low immigrant incarceration rates, many anti-immigrant activists turn to a frequently cited estimate that over one quarter of inmates in federal prisons are “criminal aliens.” This is highly misleading for two reasons:
Many of the immigrants in federal prison are being criminally charged with an immigration violation and nothing more. In other words, they may be in federal prison even though they have not committed a violent crime or even a property crime. Their only crime might be entering the country without permission. The federal government has chosen to prosecute more and more unauthorized immigrants for “unlawful entry” rather than simply deporting them, which means that they end up in federal prison.
The federal prison population is a small share of the total prison population. One cannot make generalizations about the incarceration rates of immigrants based on the immigrant share of the federal inmate population since, according to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, only about 9 percent of the U.S. prison population was in federal prisons as of 2011. At the state and local level, where most U.S. prisoners are held, the incarceration rates for immigrants are lower than for the native-born.
Conclusion
The problem of crime in the United States is not caused or even aggravated by immigrants, regardless of their legal status. This is hardly surprising since immigrants come to the United States to pursue economic and educational opportunities not available in their home countries and to build better lives for themselves and their families. As a result, they have little to gain and much to lose by breaking the law. Undocumented immigrants in particular have even more reason to not run afoul of the law given the risk of deportation that their lack of legal status entails. Public policies must be based on facts, not anecdotes or emotions. And the fact is that the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.
Genie says
I am left wondering how many of these children those of you commenting here will take, how you think that sending small children on such a dangerous journey is less dangerous than life in their own countries or a sustainable solution?
And then there is the question of an administration and Congress who have been openly lying to the American people about our borders being secure.
How long do you think it will be before a weapon of mass destruction comes across that border? Not long, I would venture to guess.
PC OG says
Nope, Mexicans aren’t a threat to US lives at all. They all just want a better life.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/07/20/cartels-suspected-as-high-caliber-gunfire-sends-border-patrol-scrambling-on-rio/
THE VOICE OF REASON says
I see lots of people spouting lots of rhetoric on this subject. But I don’t think I saw a single one offer to take in any of these kids.
Mike says
@ Pierre, so I drop a 100 children off at your door tomorrow and say you are now responsable for them, you must feed them, cloth them educate them and take care of their medical bills, you would just say okay fine? where do you even put them? Myself, I would love to say I would do it, but reallity would set in quickly and I would realize there is just no way to financially do it.
ⓖⓔⓔⓩⓔⓡ Enemy of evil! says
What if they were 100 blonde, porcelain-skinned children with blue eyes?
Bunnell Resident says
Still can’t afford them!
confidential says
@Mike:
http://www.state.gov/j/prm/releases/statistics/index.htm
The above do not concern you?. Refugees coming here year after year with all expenses paid by you and me and settled in our communities whether you like it or not and even after a while shooting us because they can’t adjust to our system and resent it enough to wish us death like the one’s in the Boston Marathon, Virgina Tech and others?
The above are not children refugees but adults arriving here with no health or background screening and no funds of their own either but thru free plane tickets…just the verbal sponsorship of some religious organizations based on political reasons! Those are who you should really worry about!
Mike says
@ confidential says
I worry about them all draining our economy dry, and the hate some bring, but I am only commenting on the story at hand
confidential says
Maybe we should all watch this:
http://www.c-span.org/video/?320724-1/meeting-unaccompanied-immigrant-children
I/M/O says
For anyone to post that what is going on is “Immigration” they woud be lying. This is not “Immigrtion.” This nationnhas laws as to what defines an “Immigrant.” Those laws are being ignored. That leaves us with illeagal activity not “Imigration.”
I/M/O says
Here is a startitic notgetting much attention by the media. After years of declining enrollemnt in Flager Schools enrollement is sudenly increasing by hundred of students.
More students mean the need for more resources which equates to higher taxes.
mel guillory says
They grow up frustrated with the way of the west and turn to terrorism on Americans, ie Orlando 2016