“The border is broken! The border is broken! The caravans are invading and violating our sovereignty! Send out the U.S. military! What do we do?”
The first thing we do is take a couple of deep breaths — if not a “time out” — to collect our thoughts.
I understand that border states’ resources are being overtaxed and cannot handle the flow of immigrants. The Biden administration either will not or cannot do anything. “The border is secure.” No, it is not.
I remember that once there was a strike of garbage men in a major city (I forgot which one). Instead of neatly piling the bags to one side of the house, etc., people would take their garbage in front of City Hall to express their frustration. Now we are “dumping” illegal immigrants in front of the vice president’s house to make a point? These are individual human beings in dire straits (see below), not human garbage.
So what can these border state governors do? For starters, they might sue Congress to be reimbursed for expenditures made to handle the overflow or get a federal court to issue a direct order (or both). Second, instead of calls to send in the military of all things, they can mobilize their National Guards to deal with the situation effectively but humanely.
And third, if President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris still do not rectify the situation, they conceivably could be impeached for failing to defend the Constitution of the United States, which they swore to do.
The points have been made: no more political stunts, please. As far as the dire straits are concerned: People in Mexico are fleeing from violence from the drug cartels and even kidnappings (the Los Angeles Times today reports that “More arrests in mass abduction case in Mexico – Officials say general is among army members linked to 43 students’ disappearance in 2014”).
Similar dire straits are being experienced in other Latin American countries.
“But we can’t take them all! We have no room!” you might say.
If I were fleeing for my life, I would be more than happy to stay in a refugee camp, even south of the border. It was offered that these poor people could be housed in army barracks or military bases. That’s where the National Guards could come in. No one is saying that they will go directly to East Los Angeles, “squat” and become Democrats once amnesty is passed. This is an humanitarian emergency, if not a catastrophe. But we should not have the cure be worse than the disease.
If you still think that even this won’t work, that “America is closed,” then why are we taking Ukrainian refugees? Shouldn’t they go elsewhere in Europe instead of taking up space and resources here in the United States?
This is a rhetorical question, of course. I saw a lovely Ukrainian family featured on television. The children seem quite traumatized but happy to have escaped the war and determined to integrate into our society, including school. I am sure no one wants them to go uneducated or insist that they be home-schooled.
This knee-jerk reaction reminds me of tragic incident during World War II. In 1939, a group of German Jewish refugees boarded a ship named the St. Louis bound for The New World seeking a haven. The ship went from country to country but was turned away. Even the United States did not provide safe harbor.
President Franklin Roosevelt, who had so many Jews in his administration that the New Deal was cruelly referred to as the “Jew Deal,” may have felt tremendous pressure not to offer assistance. (This, of course, is no excuse: The ship could have stayed at a harbor, etc, for the duration of the war.)
The United States was virulently anti-semitic — to have done the right thing may have been political suicide. The ship returned to Germany where the passengers were taken to Auschwitz concentration camp and gassed to death. “Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it.”
Now it seems there is prejudice against people of color, who speak Spanish, who are poor and uneducated.
On the pedestal of The Statue of Liberty are the following words: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” These individuals fleeing Latin America are yearning to stay alive, for goodness sake. The double-standard is appalling.
If it is a matter of them draining our resources, we can require that they reside in the United States for say 18 months before being eligible for certain non-emergency benefits. Someone who comes to California has to be here for a year and a half before being eligible for in-state tuition – why not for state and federal benefits?
As far as their children being citizens, at least for so-called anchor babies, illegal immigration would prevent the possibility of being a citizen – only a green card at most – unless the illegal immigrant performed (very) important civil work or served in the military. When I took my oath of citizenship, I swore to either (militarily) defend the Constitution of the United States or do important civil work. I do not believe we would be asking any more of illegal immigrants.
These to me seem to be reasonable courses of action. The rhetoric is so high that something bad is bound to happen. If we were to “round up” these “illegals” and send them back to their home countries to suffer and die, the pictures would be broadcast around the world, and it would forever be known as “The American Inquisition.” And this would only take care of 60% of the problem. 40% of illegal immigrants actually entered the country legally but have overstayed their visas. Are we going to go around in the middle of the night and drag them kicking and screaming while their citizen children look on in horror?
I believe I have made my points. We need cooler heads to prevail; we have no choice in my opinion.
When I worked as an immigration attorney, it was quite stressful. If I was not successful in dealing with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, either someone would not be allowed into our country or would be thrown out. I cannot imagine having to deal with someone seeking political asylum or being threatened with immediate deportation for having overstayed a visa.
May we be sensible about this. May cooler heads prevail.
And may God bless the United States of America.
Lyle D. Medved, Esq.
Santa Barbara
