The Quote Below—More Misinformation from the Media
“Thousands of migrant families fleeing violence and poverty in Central American countries are seeking asylum at the southern U.S. border. . . .
“The arrival of migrants is a problem. And it’s not a new problem.
“Everyone understands that President Joe Biden, like previous presidents, must do what he can to stop the flow of people before they get to our border. That means working with other world leaders, perhaps providing foreign aid, and cracking down on human smugglers. Those things take time.
“Yet this country has an immediate moral obligation to humanely deal with arriving migrants, and particularly the thousands of unaccompanied children. . . . Responding to a humanitarian crisis requires people and their time. Is Iowa going to provide any?
“No, according to Gov. Kim Reynolds. . . . Her extreme partisanship descended into moral bankruptcy when WHO Radio host Jeff Angelo asked her if any of the migrants or migrant children are being moved to Iowa.
“She said the state was asked by the federal government for assistance but refused.
“We don’t have the facilities. We are not set up to do that,” she said, opening with an ostensibly pragmatic concern before moving on to her real answer. “This is not our problem. This is the president’s problem. He is the one that opened the borders. He needs to be responsible for this, and he needs to stop it.”
“First, let’s get the facts straight.
“Biden has not ‘opened the borders.’ That’s evidenced by the fact that immigration officials have taken thousands of people into custody the past few months. The president has said clearly that migrants should not come to the United States; his immigration policy can be considered permissive only in comparison with the previous White House’s. . . .
“Where are the Christian principles she espouses? Where is the compassionate conservatism we used to see from GOP politicians? . . . Iowans are better than that. Our leader should be, too. – A Humanitarian Crisis Involving Children Is Every Stat’s Problem, Gov. Reynolds, the Register’s Editorial, Des Moines Register, 4.13/21 [Link]
Fact Check of Above Quite: This editorial twists the facts rather than getting them straight. Biden most definitely opened the borders by repealing what President Trump did to get them under control. Chief among those was requiring asylum claimants to stay in Mexico for processing. Illegal aliens were relying more and more on fake asylum claims to get into the U.S.
It was obvious that most of the claims of Central Americans for asylum were bogus because if they were truly refugees i.e., people with a well-founded fear of political persecution, they could have petitioned Mexico for asylum. Most are people who are simply trying to better their economic situations, which is not a valid ground for claiming asylum.
The Trump policy made it possible to check the claimants before they reached our border and overwhelmed our ability to process them. It sent the message that we would not be scammed by false claims. Another effective Trump policy was working with governments south of the border to prevent migrant surges. Biden canceled that too.
As a consequence of this action, illegal immigration is running at its highest level in twenty years. Last month the Border Patrol apprehended 180,000 illegal aliens. Many were simply released, while many others successfully crossed the border without being caught. The “thousands” kept in custody are just a drop in the bucket of overall migration.
Biden has paid lip service to discouraging migration, but his actions and rhetoric against Trump’s reforms have sent an entirely different message.
The Register piously rages about the plight of young migrants, but it says nothing about a U.S. legal provision that gives adult migrants incentive to bring them here. The word south of the border is that having a youngster with you is a ticket to staying in the U.S. The Trump Administration acted to end this incentive, but a federal court reversed that effort.
Gov. Kim Reynolds was not “morally bankrupt,” as the Register charges, when she rightly blamed the Biden Administration for the current border surge. It’s quite moral to tell the truth. Nor was she wrong to affirm that her state lacks the resources to deal with national problems. That’s responsible leadership.
It mightily contrasts with the irresponsible journalism that equates “compassion” with an out-of-control border.