Imagine Defames Restrictionist Motives

After a federal judge stalled President Obama’s executive action on immigration, it was no surprise that Frank Gaffney hosted Rosemary Jenks, the Director of Governmental Relations at NumbersUSA, on his radio show last week. . . . The show took on an anti-Muslim conspiratorial turn when Jenks built on Gaffney’s fear mongering and attacked U.S. refugee resettlement. . . . It looks like this talk show was just one more example of how Gaffney and Jenks play on Americans’ basest fears to promote their xenophobic, anti-immigrant, and anti-Muslim vision of the future of the United States. – Imagine 2050 2/26/15

Fact Check: This passage from the left-wing Imagine 2050 is typical of radical-left commentary on immigration. Left radicals will never concede that immigration restrictionists have any legitimate points to make. No, according them, restriction is always motivated by fear, conspiracy paranoia, xenophobia, anti-immigrant thinking or some other flaw of character.

And just what did Gaffney and Jenks say to warrant such vituperation? They began by discussing the possibility that Islamic terrorists from Syria might try to come to the United States posing as refugees. This may or may not happen, but is it really “outlandish,” as Imagine claims, that terrorists might try such a ploy to enter the U.S. and do harm?

Next, Imagine tries to portray Jenks as a bogeywoman by quoting some of her statements on refugee programs . Its comments begin: “Fittingly, Jenks, whose group uses concern about immigration numbers to mask its nativist agenda, was no fan of those programs.” Just what “nativism” is, or why it’s bad, isn’t explained. It’s just another one of those terrible motives that all restrictionists allegedly have.

The following are some of her quotes that Imagine implies are off the deep end of respectable opinion: “The refugee system has essentially become an industry of its own,” run by taxpayer-funded groups that are “supposedly charitable organizations.” Then Imagine states, “Jenks contended that ‘large numbers’ of refugees who can’t speak English and have ‘no job skills’ are dropped into towns, provided with housing and then abandoned by the resettlement organizations.‘ They go on welfare immediately,’ she lamented. ‘They are entitled to every welfare program the United States offers on day one.’”

Frankly it’s hard to understand what average patriotic Americans would find objectionable about these statements. No doubt, however, they do offend radical leftists who view inundation of U.S. communities with impoverished unassimilated people as a positive contribution to their goal of social upheaval and revolutionary change.

In any case, what Jenks says is absolutely true. Of the so-called refugees don’t fit the commonly understood definition of what a refugee is, namely an individual with a “well-founded fear of persecution.” Many are people who may have no personal fear of persecution, but are simply classed as members of a persecuted group.

The United Nations, rather than the U.S. government, often selects the refuges who come to the U.S., and many church groups and other “charitable” organizations find it quite profitable to sponsor them. They receive funds from the U.S. government for sponsorship. Then shortly after the refugees arrive, the sponsors turn them over to public assistance for support. Their “charity” is with other people’s money.

Imagine suggests that there’s something wrong with Gaffney for viewing UN involvement in our refugee policy as an infringement on our national sovereignty. Perhaps the reason is that radicals generally don’t think that our national sovereignty is a significant issue. Imagine also sputters against Gaffney for suggesting limits on Muslim immigration. Yet when one views the disruptive impact of growing Muslim populations in Europe, his concerns make good sense. For people who imagine that social disruption is a good thing, curtaining Muslim immigration makes no sense at all.

The radical left follows the maxim of Soviet dictator Vladimir Lenin: “We can and must write in a language which sows among the masses hate, revulsion, and scorn toward those who disagree with us.” Radicals hide their motives by misrepresenting the motives of others.

 

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