The Quote Below: More Misinformation rom the Media
Donald Trump’s purging of top leaders at the Department of Homeland Security illustrates just how extreme the president’s immigration policy has become. . . .
Trump forced out Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Sunday. . . . The timing couldn’t be worse. If ever there was a time our country needed to compromise on immigration issues, this is it. But Trump’s uninterested in compromise. He’s focused on separating families, building a wall and sealing the border with Mexico. The president’s promise of a border wall may have helped put him in the White House in 2016. But he has turned it into an irrational obsession. . . . When Nielson isn’t tough enough for Trump, that’s troubling. . . .
Meanwhile, days, weeks and years keep passing without comprehensive immigration reform. It’s a tragic loss to the nation.
As Bay Area Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, points out, we’re a nation of immigrants, from industrialist Andrew Carnegie to Google’s Sergey Brin, who have brought innovations to our shores that have helped the country prosper.
The president should embrace the notion that we can both secure our borders — without a 2,000-mile wall — and still attract the best and brightest minds from around the world to further spur our economy. . . . Trump’s latest purge signals a deplorable shift away from America’s most treasured values. – The Mercury News (San Jose), Trump’s Immigration Obsession Borders on Irrational Editorial Board, 4/9/19 [Link]
Fact Check of Quote: This column errs with its claim that former DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielson was a tough immigration hard-liner. When she was appointed to head DHS, she received great praise from Republican amnesty advocates. She contributed to the campaign of Jeb Bush and worked in DHS under the administration of former President George W. Bush. Both Bushes were staunch supporters of amnesty.
With the border in “absolute crisis” (in the words of the acting Director of ICE Matthew Albence) it was not unreasonable for President Trump to seek a replacement for Nielson. Wanting a secure border is hardly “an irrational obsession.” The charge that Trump “focuses on separating families” suggests—maliciously it seems—that President Trump is purposely trying to separate them.
The reality is that some of our current immigration policies bring about separation by encouraging illegal aliens to bring their children, and other children, with them. This is because they know that having children in tow increases the likelihood that they can remain in the U.S. after making a bogus asylum claim.
The column speaks about the need for “comprehensive reform,” as euphemism commonly used for mass amnesty of illegal aliens. Certainly it would be far better to accomplish the basic task of getting our border under control before we think about anything else. By granting amnesty, a reward for lawbreaking, we simply encourage more people to sneak across our border.
The column also recites the piety that we’re “a nation of immigrants,” a tactic commonly used by immigration enthusiasts to deflect any critical analysis of our immigration policies. To a reasonable degree we can be proud of our heritage of immigration, but that pride must be toward legal immigrants—people who obeyed and respected our laws. This column focuses on illegal immigrants and seems to conflate them with a nation of (legal) immigration.
Immigration enthusiasts often fail to make distinction between the two kinds of migration to America. It suggests that they care little for our rule of law and our national sovereignty. It’s a shame that they don’t seem to treasure these treasured American values.