The Quote Below—More Misinformation from the Media
“Is there a national soul that accepts immigrants fleeing wretched conditions in their home countries?
“Or has the surge of refugees at our southern border created so much fear that most, if not all, Americans have simply turned their backs on welcoming people from other lands? . . .
“The U.S. has long been a melting pot nation, but angry voices have changed public sentiment, fueled by political lies that migrants who enter the country illegally represent mostly violent criminals, drug dealers and other undesirables.
“Former President Trump makes no apology for describing them as subhuman – “vermin” and “animals” – who have escaped from prisons and asylums to ravage America.
“Immigration officials reject Trump’s character assassination. They say the large majority of undocumented refugees are families and children fleeing war, violence and dire poverty in their home countries.
“Trump promises, if elected president again, mass deportation of the estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the country. . . . It is frightening and rife with legal complexities.
“Still, constant encounters with thousands of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border is a crisis in need of prompt solutions and long-term immigration law reforms.
“The Border Patrol needs more human and technology resources to strengthen border security. Mexico needs to step up efforts to discourage migrant caravans and border encampments. It also needs to allow, on its side of the border, the sorting of valid asylum claims from the invalid.
“The party-before-country Congress has failed to help. Bipartisan legislation to bolster border security did not survive Trump, who convinced sycophant Republicans to scuttle the measure.Trump sees immigration outrage as ‘Biden’s border bloodbath’ – a phrase he coined this week. He considers immigration a huge plus for his presidential campaign, a game changer. . . .
“If the majority of voters are comfortable with Trump’s scornful immigration language and his heartless solution of mass deportations, Trump may be right that his strategy is a campaign winner.
“It adds another grim notch to his political legacy, and also scars the national soul, as expressed to the world on New York Harbor’s Statue of Liberty inscription: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.” – Immigration Tests America’s Soul, Bill Ketter, Tahlequah Daily Press, 4/5/24 [Link]
Fact Check of Above Quote: Americans have hardly turned their back on “welcoming people from other lands.” For the past several decades we have practiced that generosity to a fault—and then some. Currently, a record number of almost 50 million immigrants reside in our country, making them 15 percent of the population—the highest percentage ever. This means that one out of every seven U.S. residents is an immigrant.
Still, mass immigration continues unabated. It is hardly ungenerous to suggest that we might opt for a more moderate policy. Generosity not limited by prudence invites disaster. And disaster is exactly what we’ll get if we presume that America can play savior to all of the poor and unhappy people of the world—as the writer of this article seems to think we should.
He claims he supports border security, but then goes on to endorse the “bipartisan” legislation which recently failed to pass. Billed as reform, that legislation mainly aimed to uphold the Biden Administration’s open border status quo.
The author maintains that it’s “frightening” that Donald Trump wants to deport the illegal aliens residing in the U.S. Just how are we to have border security if we don’t enforce our laws against border breaking? Most illegal aliens, the author informs us, are not violent criminals. Nevertheless, some are. Among them are members of the vicious and murderous M-13 gang. They were the ones Trump referred to as animals. That word, in this case, is appropriate.
Finally, the author appeals to our “national soul” to justify unimpeded mass immigration. In his mind, we discern that soul with mindless and maudlin sentiments about immigrants. To that end, he quotes the overused poetry about tired huddled masses of immigrants. The purpose is to short-circuit rational thought about immigration with sappy feel-good emotion. Most tellingly, immigration advocates seldom if ever offer any poetic support for the huddled masses of American citizens who are so tired of the media belittling their legitimate concerns about immigration.