Displaying posts categorized under

IMMIGRATION

Let’s Mobilize an Army of Stone Throwers on the Border By Ilana Mercer

In the United States, even our Customs and Border Protection apologizes for doing its job. Allegedly, CBP “protects the public from dangerous people and materials attempting to cross the border …”

On one of the media networks that wants all people, dangerous or not, to cross the southern border into the United States if they so desire, a CBP officer was bending over backwards to appear like a “global force for good.” (That, believe it or not, was the U.S. Navy’s motto, between 2009 and 2015!)

Tear-gassing rabble-rousing migrants, who were charging his officers and breaching the U.S.-Mexico border, was in the service of protecting … the migrants, especially The Children. Perhaps that’s in the oath of office a CBP officer takes?

Law enforcement officers entrusted with the safety of the American people struggle to articulate pride in executing their mandate. Attached to the expected self-loathing repartee is, invariably, a declaration of loyalties to The World. (Of a piece with this confused loyalty is the typical argument made by the typical TV talker: Illegal immigration must be stopped, so as to … save migrants from the journey’s depredations.)

It’s instructive to contrast the apologies around defending the U.S. border and the American people with the absence of apologies on Israel’s borders.

In May of this year, The Economist reported, “Tens of thousands of Palestinians massed near Gaza’s border fence, threatening to ‘return’ to the lands their forefathers lost when Israel was created in 1948.” They wanted in.

Israeli soldiers responded not with tear gas, but with bullets. They killed over 60 protesters who threatened to breach the border. The number has since risen to 120.

Illegal Aliens in a Dismantled Identity Theft Ring The uncounted victims of illegal immigration. Michael Cutler

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272111/illegal-aliens-dismantled-identity-theft-ring-michael-cutler

For the most part, when the issue of crimes related to illegal immigration is raised, the discussion most often turns to crimes committed by illegal aliens that cause death or grievous injuries to the victims, whether the crime involved an assault or a motor vehicle accident at the hands of an unlicensed and/or drunk-driving illegal alien.

Undoubtedly there is no shortage of such infuriating and tragic examples of the consequence of illegal immigration.

Of late, attention has focused on transnational gangs such as MS-13 that has its origins in El Salvador and Los Angeles, California; however, it must be noted that because human nature is human nature, transnational gangs can be found in every ethnic community whose residents come from every country on this planet.

There are other crimes, however, that have a direct nexus to illegal immigration that do not directly involve violence or loss of life but nevertheless claim huge numbers of victims in the United States that may have a profound and life-altering impact.

One of the most serious of those crimes involves the theft of the identities of millions of United States citizens and lawfully-admitted immigrants whose citizenship, lawful immigrant status and good names are valued commodities that provide millions of illegal aliens with a sort of “camouflage.”

Criminals frequently assume aliases as a means of disguising themselves to thwart law enforcement and to conceal their movements and activities. This is why suspects who are arrested by law enforcement authorities are photographed and fingerprinted. Increasingly, other bio metrics, such as DNA and facial recognition technology, are being used to properly identify these individuals to help prevent them gaming the system.

Time to Stop Equating each Immigration Situation with the Holocaust By Rabbi Aryeh Spero

https://thefederalist.com/2018/11/30/no-preventing-job-seekers-illegal-entry-not-comparable-holocaust/

During the past two years when liberal groups disagreed with President Trump on a particular immigration situation, they tried justifying their position by comparing the plight of the refugee or immigrant to that of victims of the Holocaust. Just yesterday, Representative-elect from the Bronx, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez equated the plight of the Caravan people to that of the Jews in the 1940s trying to escape the Holocaust and attempting to sail to America. It was similarly brought up two years ago when tens of thousands of Muslims leaving Syria toward the United States were met by a President who wanted to place a ceiling on how many could enter and who rightfully demanded they be vetted comprehensively, as opposed to what had previously been rather perfunctory and easy questioning.

And, of course, a few months ago when children were placed in clean and pleasant housing away from their parents during their parents’ appearances before immigration judges, we heard the refrain about Concentration Camp guards separating parents from children. However, none of the Jewish children forcibly seized from their mother and father at Auschwitz saw their parents again. They were murdered in the gas chambers. Well, at least that’s what I heard in the early 1950s back in Cleveland from the mouths of mothers who survived the War. In contrast, the immigrant children from Mexico last year were quickly reunited with their parents, and during their away-time found nurses and doctors, playmates and games, gym, wholesome food and clean bedding, and probably more personal medical care than ever before. Comparisons to the Holocaust are fundamentally wrong and a dishonor to the six million Jews who were rounded up from their homes and put on trains to be tortured and murdered.

Even for those on the Left who have made it their mission to destroy President Trump, it seems vile to do it on the backs of the Six Million. The question needs to be asked: Who has brainwashed and poisoned the minds of so many against their fellow Americans, the President, Republicans, as well as employees of ICE? How is it that so many Americans on the Left believe their own countrymen would act like guards at Concentration Camps? How can so many (including Jews on the radical Left) knowingly lie and demean the Holocaust-martyred just to score political points against President Trump? Well, political leftism, like communism, often takes hold of its adherents in a fervor that invariably ignores reality, propriety, and even decency.

Toward a Stronger U.S.–Mexico Relationship By Reihan Salam

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/us-mexico-relationship-partnership-immigration-amnesty/

One of my pet causes is promoting a stronger, more constructive partnership with Mexico, and the Central American migrant caravans offer a perfect illustration of why it’s so important. Mexican president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador is an avowed leftist, and it is natural that U.S. conservatives would be wary of him. But his desire to improve life for ordinary Mexicans is very much aligned with the U.S. interest in reducing unauthorized immigration, as is his stated commitment to creating opportunities for Central American migrants in Mexico. That is why I strongly believe the Trump administration ought to work closely with the incoming López Obrador government. By discouraging non-meritorious asylum claims, which have surged in recent years, the “Remain in Mexico” plan that is currently being discussed by U.S. and Mexican officials would greatly alleviate the current migration crisis.

The problem, however, is that while Remain in Mexico would clearly redound to the benefit of the U.S., it is essential that Mexicans feel as though they’re benefiting as well. And that is why I’d love to see President Trump offer something tangible to López Obrador that could cement a long-term deal.

What is it that that López Obrador’s government might want from the U.S.? For now, let’s leave aside practical considerations, such as, ahem, finding a proposal that Democrats in the House would be willing to pass and President Trump would be willing to sign. Because, well, we’re in the ideas business, people — and because political realities can change unexpectedly, so it never hurts to think big.

Elsewhere, I’ve argued that we ought to allow U.S. retirees to make use of their Medicare benefits in Mexico. Doing so could both reduce the cost to U.S. taxpayers of caring for older Americans who’d benefit from a lower cost of living, including lower-cost medical and custodial care, and generate low- and mid-skill employment in Mexico by fueling the growth of a labor-intensive eldercare sector. (Unbeknownst to me, Walter Russell Mead, the distinguished historian and Wall Street Journal foreign-affairs columnist, made this case in testimony before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Economic Policy last year.) This could prove a huge boon to Mexico and, as such, it would be a powerful inducement to cooperate with U.S. immigration-enforcement efforts.

Democrats Stand With Foreign Rioters They challenge the use of teargas by border patrol agents under attack. Michael Cutler

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272073/democrats-stand-foreign-rioters-michael-cutler

The news footage of the thousands of members of the “migrant” caravan showed young men throwing rocks at U.S. Border Patrol agents and attempting to charge the U.S./Mexican border. The Border Patrol agents were clearly under attack and had only two courses of action to take. The beleaguered agents could step aside or even retreat and permit their positions to be overrun by hundreds or even thousands of illegal aliens among whom are likely criminals, gang members and even those affiliated with terrorism, who would then disperse into the United States where the abject lack of resources would enable them to meld into communities across the country, particularly those jurisdictions that have been proclaimed “Sanctuary Cities.” Alternatively, they could stand their ground and defend the border to prevent the illegal and un-inspected entry of these invaders. In order to protect themselves, however, these agents would need to deploy either lethal or less-than-lethal force.

We all know that the Border Patrol opted to deploy teargas, a less-than-lethal force, that succeeded in repelling the attempted breach of our border, although it was reported that approximately 50 aliens did manage to enter the United States, but were quickly apprehended and taken into custody by the Border Patrol.

It would certainly appear that the agents demonstrated discipline, restraint and professionalism in managing to bring a very dangerous situation under control without the loss of life. Incredibly, rather than commending these valiant federal agents, Democrats and members of the mainstream media have attacked the agents. They complained that these “asylum seeking migrants” should have been quickly processed and permitted to enter the United States. They complained bitterly that the use of teargas was wrong and had the potential to injure women and children who were in the front of the surging mob.

Hillary Clinton: Conservatives Were Right on Mass Migration Progressives melt down after the Democratic doyenne denounces open borders here and in Europe. By James P. Pinkerton

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/hillary-clinton-conservatives-were-right-on-mass-migration/?utm_source=ntnlreview&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=amconswap

Amidst the hurly-burly of politics these days, it can be hard to notice when your side has won a victory. Yet that’s what’s just happened for conservatives on immigration: they’ve won. Okay, it’s not a final victory, nor even a crushing victory, but, even so, it’s a win.

We know this because Hillary Clinton, arguably still the biggest name in Democratic politics, has just said that conservatives were right. She has conceded the essence of the rightist—and, by the way, centrist—critique of the open-borders approach to immigration.

On November 22, Clinton said in an interview with The Guardian, “I think Europe needs to get a handle on migration because that is what lit the flame.” Continuing in that vein, she damned German Chancellor Angela Merkel with faint praise: “I admire the very generous and compassionate approaches that were taken particularly by leaders like Angela Merkel, but I think it is fair to say Europe has done its part, and must send a very clear message—‘we are not going to be able to continue provide refuge and support’—because if we don’t deal with the migration issue it will continue to roil the body politic.” In other words, when Merkel opened the German border in 2015, she was being nice, but misguided. Of course, Clinton is no doubt aware that the global backlash against Merkelism was felt in America, too, contributing to her own defeat in 2016.

To be sure, Clinton is no convert to Trumpism. Indeed, lest anyone think she was, she also told The Guardian that the president has “a strong streak of racism…the whole package of bigotry.”

Yet of course, the fact that Clinton doesn’t like Trump is not news. What is news is that she has shifted her stance on immigration in a Trumpian direction—or, if one prefers, to the familiar rule-of-law position embraced even by the Bernie Sanders left until recently.

Yet the immediate reaction to Clinton’s words was cautious incredulity. As The New York Times put it later that day, “Mrs. Clinton’s remarks to The Guardian drew criticism and a dose of surprise from an array of scholars, immigration advocates and pundits on both the left and the right, some of whom were so perplexed by the comments that they wondered aloud whether Mrs. Clinton had perhaps misspoken.” After all, as the Times observed, “Mrs. Clinton, many said, has a long history of supporting refugees—a track record seemingly at odds with her recent remarks. Her immigration platform in the 2016 presidential election boasted that ‘we embrace immigrants, not denigrate them.’”

Trump’s Plan to Stop the Caravan . By Betsy McCaughey

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/11/28/trumps_plan_to_stop_the_caravan_138767.html

President Donald Trump is putting the economic screws to Mexico to control the flood of Central American migrants storming our southern border. Unlike prior presidents, Trump is driving a hard bargain. Exports are Mexico’s economic lifeblood. A staggering 81 percent of those exports go to the United States. That’s why Trump’s threat to close the border — even for short time — gets results. Shutting the border shuts down Mexico. Period.

No wonder Mexico’s incoming president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, seems open to a “Remain in Mexico” deal that will make his country the waiting room for migrants applying for asylum in the U.S. In another sign of cooperation with Trump, Mexican immigration officials rapidly deported 98 migrants who tried forcing their way into the U.S. on Sunday.

Under “Remain in Mexico,” asylum-seekers would be held south of the border. Because they won’t step foot on American soil, they won’t have a “right” to public schooling, emergency health care and other costly American guarantees. That’s good news for taxpayers.

Making Mexico the waiting room is one part of Trump’s plan. Trump also announced on Nov. 9 that only migrants presenting themselves at official border entrances — not those sneaking in — could apply for asylum. Trump’s trying to solve the catch-and-release problem. Migrants caught crossing illegally simply have to say the word “asylum” to border agents, and voila, they’re released. They disappear into the U.S. and half never actually file for asylum or show up for a hearing. They’re turning asylum into a farce.

Unfortunately, a federal judge in San Francisco, Judge Jon S. Tigar, put a temporary hold on Trump’s policy. In a laughable decision likely to be overturned, Tigar said Honduran and Guatemalan migrants miles south of the U.S. border can sue the president of the United States, via an American third party, challenging his policy and asserting a right to enter the U.S. illegally. Sure, and pigs can fly.

Tigar’s ruling prompted a spat between Trump and Chief Justice John Roberts, who chastised the president for calling Tigar an “Obama judge.” Roberts is right about judicial independence, but he sure picked the wrong poster boy for it. Tigar is an activist with a history of outlandish decisions, including compelling taxpayers to foot the bill for sex reassignment surgery for a prison inmate.

Europe’s Migrant Disaster Should Teach America a Lesson Even Hillary Clinton now admits the Continent erred in allowing entry of too many unvetted ‘refugees.’ By Jason L. Riley

https://www.wsj.com/articles/europes-migrant-disaster-should-teach-america-a-lesson-1543362209

Political up-and-comers like New York’s Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might feel comfortable comparing Central American migrants to Jewish families fleeing Nazi Germany, as she did in a tweet the other day. But some elder statesmen in her party seem to know better.

Take Hillary Clinton, who surprised a lot of people last week when she told a British newspaper that “Europe needs to get a handle on migration.” She said the Continent’s leaders should make clear that they are “not going to be able to continue to provide refuge and support” to any and all who want to come. Border chaos fuels anti-immigrant populism, be it in the U.S. or Europe—and she should know. During the 2016 campaign, Mrs. Clinton’s focus was making the Mexico border more open rather than more secure, and she believes that’s one of the reasons Donald Trump was elected president.

Delivering the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in South Africa in July, Barack Obama went further. “It’s not wrong to insist that national borders matter, [that] whether you’re a citizen or not is going to matter to a government, that laws need to be followed,” he said. Newcomers, Mr. Obama added, “should make an effort to adapt to the language and customs of their new home. Those are legitimate things, and we have to be able to engage people who do feel as if things are not orderly.” CONTINUE AT SITE

The Invaders and Their Allies By Pedro Gonzalez

https://amgreatness.com/2018/11/27/the-i

There is a war on for hearts and minds of Americans, and it began long before the first shots were fired on Sunday along the United States-Mexico border, when federal agents deployed tear gas against aggressive foreign nationals attempting to force their way into our country.

But the media coverage of the border skirmish is more telling of the nature of this conflict than canisters of lachrymator. There are three news clippings that might illustrate this point.

CNN, to start, placed scrambling Central American “families with young children” in the limelight of the clash, yet didn’t show those same people hurling large stones in the direction of American law enforcement, many of whom presumably have families with young children, too.

ABC News, on the other hand, didn’t mention at all that foreign nationals endangered federal agents. “Children were screaming and coughing in the mayhem” that, if one were to read nothing but ABC’s “The Latest,” would seem to have been induced spasmodically by trigger-happy Border Patrol—who, for what it’s worth, are mostly Latino.

The worst offender was perhaps the Associated Press. Making no mention of projectile attacks by foreign nationals directed at Americans, the AP quoted one Honduran to keep the narrative slanted favorably toward would-be illegal aliens. “We ran, but when you run the gas asphyxiates you more,” Ana Zuniga told the AP “while cradling her 3-year-old daughter Valery in her arms.”

What sort of mother would attempt to penetrate a heavily guarded border as part of a violent mob with a toddler in arm? Likely the same that lined up for paychecks from unknown benefactors along with their children in order to participate in this debacle. But who paid them is not so important as the fact that they accepted the payment, and some have since charged headlong against Mexican and now American law enforcement with their children by their side. Mercenaries, then, not “migrants” come our way. Are these the “family values” we want to import?

Under cover of media spin designed to tug at heartstrings, opportunistic outrage from progressives was as predictable as the clash itself.

In the lead up to this incident, progressive politicos and pundits were preoccupied with what they believed was President Trump’s inappropriate use of the word “invasion” to describe thousands of people marching toward our border, under the banner that they would “rather die fighting” than be denied entry to the United States.

Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC wins the prize for the stupidest comment on the border assault By Thomas Lifson

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/11/andrea_mitchell_of_msnbc_wins_the_prize_for_the_stupidest_comment_on_the_border_assault.html

There is a lot of competition, but one Trump-hater stands out for utter, implausible, easily refuted inanity in attempting to demonize opposition to the organized attempt to force our southern border open to anyone who wants to come here and sign up for the rich subsidies and benefits offered to poor people.

Congratulations to Andrea Mitchell: You have now earned your place in broadcast history with the claim that calling the mob intent on violating our border a “caravan” demonizes them. If you don’t believe me, watch this video excerpt from her MSNBC show. She makes the idiotic claim at 1:00 minute into the segment.