Many bloggers and other writers on the Right have been calling for the deportation of recent illegal border crossers. That view is underlined by a recent poll showing that three in five Americans believe surge aliens "should be ordered to leave the U.S.” Now we’re beginning to see some writers on the Left call for the same thing. Take blogger Keli Goff, a strong supporter of President Obama who has advocated amnesty for so-called Dreamers. She argues deportation is necessary to protect vulnerable Americans.
The president is being asked to expend his limited capital helping children who are not his responsibility at the expense of children who are.
-- Keli Goff
In her blog in The Root entitled “Yes, Immigrant Kids Are Fleeing Violence, but So Were Kids in Chicago Last Weekend,” Goff says she understands the rationale surge alien supporters use to justify giving them amnesty. She writes,
I, too, care about children facing violence and poverty, and that’s why I support the Obama administration’s plan to expedite deportations.
Goff refers to Obama’s call for changes in the 2008 law that requires an immigration hearing for illegal border crossers from non-contiguous countries in lieu of immediate deportation. Obama initially asked for those changes but did not include them in his $3.7 billion congressional request for emergency funding. The surge alien supporters don’t want any to leave so they probably told him to deal separately with that matter. And since his request mostly funds the housing and court-processing of surge aliens, as opposed to their deportation, I really doubt he was ever serious about making them leave.
Goff mentions the 82 people who were shot in Chicago last weekend and laments that related news is barely a blip on the radar screen.
Recent media coverage of the child border crisis has dwarfed coverage of many of the very real problems Americans are already grappling with, particularly low-income Americans of color. The shootings that took place this week were concentrated on Chicago’s South Side, which consists predominantly of African Americans, including plenty of children.
Chicago isn’t the only city facing this violence. Melanie on our staff says that her hometown of New Orleans has a higher murder rate than Guatemala and El Salvador.
Discussing the president’s funding request, Goff notes that much of the money is targeted for the care of surge alien children and families. She points out a fact so often ignored by the media – this is just the first installment.
That number is only to cover the needs of children here temporarily. The costs would skyrocket if they remained here permanently…And that money could be used elsewhere, including to help American children already living here who are facing violence and poverty on a daily basis, such as those facing staggering violence in Chicago.
I have long supported allowing Dreamers—children brought here illegally who have spent their entire lives here—a path to college and citizenship. But the fact is, if we are complicit in allowing thousands of additional children to follow them here and remain here, soon we will not be able to provide any resources for Dreamers or any other American children, and that would be irresponsible and un-American.
Conservative blogger A.J. Delgado draws our attention to a YouTube video taken in Murrieta, California during the protest surrounding the busing of surge aliens. In the video two young African-Americans confront pro-illegal-immigration demonstrators.
What are we going to do for the people who are here who are starving already?…We got our own people that are starving and hungry…Why would we add to the problem?!
-- young man in California video
It’s just too much…We already have our own poor people. Starvation, kids walking with no shoes…We don’t need other people’s kids to bring more problems…You’re gonna watch America go spiraling down…We’re already in debt as it is. [Now] we’re gonna need more money to support these kids.
-- young woman in the California video
Then there is the video of an African American woman in Houston complaining about a proposal to house surge aliens in her neighborhood.
It’s not right…I’m angry…All these kids. Really? Why can’t they go back?...[I’m sorry they came from poverty and violence but] I care about what’s going on in my own backyard.
-- woman in Houston video
The Senate has just begun hearings on the president’s emergency funding request which, again, does not fix the 2008 law preventing the expeditious deportation of surge aliens. Senators and their House counterparts should listen to what the American people are saying and ignore the special interest groups. They need to listen to the 60 percent of Americans who support deportation. To bloggers on the Left like Goff and on the Right like AJ DelGado. And to ordinary citizens like the Murrieta protesters and the Houston woman who believe that allowing surge aliens to remain is wrong.
VAN ESSER is the Chief, Membership Services for NumbersUSA
