Alan Bedenko Mod wnyresident • 2 days ago
Right. YOUR playbook is to shout about how YOUR ancestors came here "legally" at a time when immigration from Europe was essentially unrestricted, save for the "not an anarchist" box that needed to be ticked before you could get tested for syphilis on your way through Ellis Island.
But when it comes to brown, Spanish-speaking tweens from Central America who are escaping social, economic, and political problems that are not dissimilar from, say, turn-of-the-century Italy, all of a sudden it's an "invasion". Yet you want to sit there and tell me that's not bigotry or hatred - or that the bigotry and hatred that was hurled at Italian and Irish immigrants 110 years ago was not just as disgusting and sordid.
We do have borders, Tony. When was the last time you actually crossed the southern border? Have you ever crossed the Rio Grande or taken a day trip to TJ? Ever? Have you ever witnessed the interminable lines, super-tight security, and state-of-the-art anti-drug and human trafficking measures put in place at even remote crossings in the desert Southwest? Have you seen the miles and miles of barren wasteland out that way?
Yes, we have borders and they are reasonably protected, and here's the reason why this is all about bigoted hysteria and not at all about facts:
While illegal immigration of kids 12 and under has shot up by 117%, the overall number of people of any age crossing illegally is at a 40 year low, and even the number of kids crossing has dropped.
Most of the anti-immigrant hysteria stems from a conscious or unconscious belief that Obama is a foreign Manchurian candidate who is here to destroy America as we know it. If you don't believe me, just look at Weppner's own birtherite hysterics.
Furthermore, the kids are mostly from Honduras:
“The fact that Hondurans represent the highest percentage [27%], followed by Salvadorans, makes clear that the major push factors are violence,” said Susan Terrio, an anthropology professor at Georgetown University who has interviewed dozens of unaccompanied immigrant children.
"Invaders" my ass.
Yes, we do have borders and they're being reasonably defended, and we also have laws. I don't know why you'd so quickly invalidate your own argument, but the law states that undocumented unaccompanied minors cannot be deported before they have a court hearing - due process.
What you're really saying is, "why won't Obama disobey the law?