Unless you've been comatose for the past few months you know that, in addition to the normal influx of illegal immigrants, we've had tens of thousands of kids sent to the US by....their parents?....their home countries? Who knows? And the situation is getting worse by the day.
If their stories are to be believed, they are fleeing Central America because violence, likely drug cartel related, and dire poverty, are forcing parents to push their kids north, hoping for a better life for them.
I don't know if that's true or not, but what I do know is we have thousands of kids, dirty, many of them sick, sleeping on floors inside chain link cages, in totally inadequate, unsanitary conditions.
The heartless among us are fighting tooth and nail to keep these kids from being humanely housed, even temporarily, in their communities. They've actually thrown up roadblocks and threatened violence to keep these kids out of their sight.
I think that's shameful!
If there are mangled bodies littering the scene of a horrific highway crash, the first order of triage is to care for the victims. There will be plenty of time later to determine what happened, who's at fault, who should pay for the damages, etc. But first you provide care for the injured.
Can you imagine yourself as a 10 year old, away from your family and everything else you know, a thousand miles from home, regardless how pitiful that home might be, and you're being snarled at by people who think of you as scum?
We need immigration reform. How should it be structured? I have no clue. But these illegals are here now anyway. It is simply impossible to round them all up and send them home.
We need to find a way to bring them into our system and make them useful, contributing, tax paying members of our society. Sure, weed out the criminals and those who are here just to scam our system, but then welcome the rest and put them to work.
The Democrats want this and the mainstream Republicans want this, too. The latter's traditional base, corporate interests, definitely wants this. But rank-and-file Republicans are petrified by the extremists on their Tea Party right and refuse to face reality. The "problem" isn't going away. We need action.
S
It's ironic that most of these snarly people claim to be Christians. I'm pretty sure Jesus would not be standing in the road turning little needy kids away. Irony part 2 is that all of these snarly people are descended from illegal immigrants of some stripe, unless any of them are Native Americans.
ReplyDeleteBut Republicans have a right to be scared. Eric Cantor was a Tea Party boy and then even suggesting he might support immigration reform got him branded a "liberal" and lost his seat. You reap what you sow when you let the lunatic fringe control your party.
Pat said it perfectly. Yet Latin American governments are working in collusion to bring these kids here. Thousands of children don't pass through Mexico unobserved. I was one of those people who believed the boarder was more secure than the Republicans claimed but if all these children can cross the boarder illegally then I was wrong. We need to send these kids home in the most humane way possible. As for Obama, he's obligated to enforce the law Bush signed into law requiring that these children be provided for. His hands are tied.
ReplyDeleteAgree with your goals, Steve, but it will take who-knows-how-many-months for each to "have his day in court", then arrange transportation back home. My point is, where are they going to sleep TONIGHT? Will they have a bath this week? As any parent of a day care aged child knows, they ALL have runny noses, colds, flu, and who knows what else. They need attention NOW while the system does it's thing. IMO to just put them in those holding cages is not right.
DeleteThere is a procedure to place them with relatives or sponsors while they are processed, however some state officials are objecting. These politicians and officials are setting the example for protesters who are stopping the busses from coming into their states. Jerks.
DeleteI now a couple of bloggers who have been waiting for over a year for their fiancé to immigrate legally. Why do these people wait and others simply walk in. It is a dilemma for sure and clearly it is all as has been pointed out President Bush's Fault.
ReplyDeleteAnd might I just mention that several days ago I was correctly taken to task for referring to President Obama as Mr. Obama. It is a shame that the same courtesy is not demanded in references to President Bush.
PT- Most Americans are indeed descendants of Immigrants...legal immigrants not illegal immigrants. But then that is also Bush's fault. If only we could just eliminate Republicans and the Tea Party then all these problems would magically disappear, the sky would clear and everyone would live happily ever after.
My point exactly Joe. We need to control our borders, then we need a realistic policy that doesn't require years of waiting to legally immigrate here. But for those here now? That toothpaste isn't going back in the tube. What a mess. But first things first....take care of the kids. They're just pawns in a nasty grown up game.
DeleteI know..
ReplyDeleteI remember reading a while ago that weapons bought without background checks at gun shows often are the source of weapons for drug cartels in Central America. Should we maybe start at the root of the problem?
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, I find it ironic that those Christians who claim that a fertilized, not-yet-implanted egg is "a child" and deserves protection are so willing to turn their backs on these kids. It's not their fault. I agree with you - bring them into the system, deal with the ones that are truly criminal, and make them productive citizens.
Joining the choir here, so to speak. Yeah, we need immigration reform, on and on. But, it's a big but, these are children, for goddsake. Take care of them. Feed them, if they are sick, do something. Then, if we can stomach it, send them back to the same miserable conditions that caused them to flee.
ReplyDeleteWe've lost something here, in this country. Remember the old saying, quote, "Send us your weak, your sick....."
I so agree with you - it's just criminal to treat these children like criminals...
ReplyDeleteas my adorable husband can attest .... mistreatment of anyone generally brings out a snarling "mama bear" in me...slinging expletives and shouting - then telling the NSA that's probably listening that my talk of revolution is hypothetical
ReplyDelete[Dear NSA - my talk of revolution is merely hypothetical - those politicians are super annoying. Thank you for listening and reading ]
So I will leave you with this.... Karma is a BITCH
This is a FUBAR that did not have to happen. Our country is BROKE. Our Veterans are sleeping under bridges and dying of lack of medical care. Unemployment is huge (no matter what the lying governemt figure might claim. Pensions have been cut off to workers who paid for them. Crime is unchecked in many big cities. AMERICANS are going to bed hungry, homeless, without hope.
ReplyDeleteWho but a politician would find it an attractive to INVITE tens of thousands of line jumpers to bypass those who sought legal entry to the country? Push 5 for English.