Reasonable Enforcement Isn’t ‘Cruelty’

The Quote Below: More Misinformation from the Media

“Taken together last week’s raids targeting hundreds of immigrants apparently working illegally at chicken plants in the South and Monday’s announcement that the Trump Administration also wants to crack down on immigrants who are legal U.S. residents underscore something we call all accept: We need wide-ranging immigration reform.

“But that won’t happen while Donald Trump is in the White House — that’s surely clear by now, too. His overarching goal is obviously to win re-election by appealing to those who don’t want so many brown-skinned people in the country, regardless of their immigration status. . . .

“It’s not that the federal government should ignore illegally employed people. . . . If the Trump administration really wanted to enforce the law, it could have started by fining the plants’ bosses — perhaps prompting them to pay enough to attract a legal workforce.

“Instead, it left children crying when their detained parents didn’t show up for them after school. What is it about terrifying children that Mr. Trump seems to find so necessary?

“Meanwhile, the Trump administration announced Monday that it wants to make it harder for legal immigrants who use public benefits — such as food stamps, housing aid or Medicaid — to become citizens or get a green card. Those with medical problems or limited English skills, for example, will find their path to full citizenship much harder.

“How many of today’s Americans had immigrant forebears who spoke broken English or weren’t fully able-bodied? . . .” – It’s Immigration Cruelty, Editorial, Times Union (Albany NY), 8/12/19. [Link]

Fact Check of Above Quote: This editorial seems to assume that just about any enforcement of immigration laws against illegal aliens is “cruelty.” The plain reality is that it is not possible to have law enforcement that is pleasant and agreeable to lawbreakers. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took reasonable steps to make the arrests in Mississippi as humane as possible. To claim that President Trump delights in “terrifying children” is truly a cheap shot.

The editorialists are right to say that the plant owners who hired the illegal workers should have been prosecuted. But this is no argument for exempting those employees. Stopping illegal immigration requires both. Furthermore, the illegal aliens arrested were not so innocent as this editorial suggests. Most of them were using IDs stolen from U.S. citizens.

Another cheap shot of this editorial is its shameless playing of the race card by attributing enforcement to animus toward “brown-skinned people.” Are the editorialists suggesting that laws shouldn’t apply to lawbreakers if they happen to be “brown-skinned?” Are they supposed to get a free pass because of their race?

The notion that the U.S. should not set standards for admitting immigrants is absurd. Are our national resources so limitless that we needn’t care whether an immigrant is likely to be an asset or a liability? For many years we have had the provision on our books that immigrants aren’t supposed to be “public charges,” i.e., people who receive public assistance. This provision hasn’t been enforced, but it’s time we start enforcing it.

Currently our national debt is around 22 trillion dollars. A debt of this astounding magnitude threatens our economic future and places us in no position to play savior of the poor people of the world. This is no longer the 19th century when we could usefully employ large numbers of poor and unskilled immigrants to build our country. Also during that time, immigrants used little welfare because pubic assistance in that era was limited.

If we must have immigration, let’s at least select immigrants who probably make a positive contribution to our country. That isn’t “cruelty; it’s simple common sense.

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