Many of our politicians and the liberal press think the thousands of children crossing our borders is a humanitarian problem that requires U.S. resources to resolve, which is why the Obama administration is asking for $4 billion to mitigate the suffering of these 50,000-plus young people (that’s $80,000/per child!).
While good-hearted Americans have tremendous sympathy for innocent children, is it Americans’ responsibility to become the orphanage of the world? If so, the 1 billion impoverished children of the world will be sent here.
The liberal media and the current administration contend that America is so rich that it can afford to be generous. However, their definition of generous has no bounds and is not constrained by the lack of responsibility of those requiring the generous handout. Unfortunately, America is not rich enough to elevate the world’s poor to our standard of living. It is the responsibility of the poor to make a better life for themselves. In these societies there are millions who would seek asylum (and an incredibly better life) in America if the opportunity presented itself.
The parents of the child immigrants from Central America believe a great moment has arrived. These people know the child traffickers from the cartels are bad people, and sending their children in this manner represents a great risk to their children. However, they perceive the reward to be well worth the risk. Central Americans perceptions of the opportunity have drastically changed in the last year as the number of children in the trafficking programs has gone from 5,000 or 6,000/per year to likely over 90,000 this year.
Since the cartels can’t make immigration policy in the United States, only the Obama administration could have been responsible for delivering this new welcome mat. And, Mexico must have been complicit in this policy also. Without assurance that these children would not become a Mexican problem, Mexico certainly wouldn’t have allowed 50,000 children to trek across its border and travel 1,000 miles to the United States. If Mexican officials caught one Marine Sgt. Tahmooressi unintentionally driving across the Mexican border and thought it was a problem, it can be assumed that Mexican officials would have been extremely concerned if there was no plan to deal with the swarm of 50,000-plus Central American children.
They must have also known that there would be no repercussions from Washington for allowing this migration to go on unimpeded. U.S. imports from Mexico are $280 billion and exports to Mexico are $220 billion. An America angry at child trafficking could impose trade sanctions. Certainly, Mexico would have considered this and other possible sanctions that America might impose before granting the trafficking cartels carte blanche to violate Mexican and U.S. immigration laws.
The bottom line is the Obama administration put out the welcome mat for this illegal immigration. The Democratic Party’s current propaganda that horrible conditions drove these children out of their countries is nothing but a ridiculous red herring. The people of every third-world country live in a similar hostile environment.
Americans need to demand their elected officials create policy in the best interests of America. The crisis at the border is not a humanitarian crisis, it is just another part of the political crisis that envelops America today. The interests of politicians are being held above those of the people. It is not in the best interests of America to follow the extremely costly policy of encouraging child immigration to the United States.
The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 granted children of sex trafficking who had been forced to enter America illegally the right to a hearing to determine whether they would be permitted to stay. The 50,000-plus children who are illegally entering the United States have not been smuggled into this country against their will.
The law of 2008 should not be used to grant these children the right to a very expensive hearing paid for by taxpayer dollars. These children need to have their immediate needs taken care of and then be returned to their parents. The politicians responsible for promoting this terrible policy should be thrown out of office. And the Mexican government should be asked to pay for their complicity in allowing this inhumane activity to become an everyday event.
Michael Engmann is a business owner and angel investor with 40 years of experience in the investment field. He resides in San Francisco. He is the author of “Greed is Good, Big is Bad: How to Fix America’s Problems.” His website is ChangeBigGovernment.com.
