THORNER/O'NEIL: AMERICAN CITIZENS MUST COME FIRST
By Nancy Thorner & Bonnie O'Neil -
Americans are facing problems new to this era with challenges both from outside and within. Our forefathers would have deemed many of the current changes as irrational and perhaps even crazy. It is possible that a substantial number of Americans hold similar views; however, the loudest and strongest voices are the ones most listened to (the “squeaky wheel”), even if the substance of their words and arguments are detrimental to this nation's sovereignty.
Recently, a timely and thought-provoking e-mail read: “So let me get this straight, if you
cheat to get into college you go to jail. If you cheat to enter the United States illegally, you get rewarded with free college.”
At first glance it might seem laughable, but the issue is anything but funny.
Parents and grandparents throughout the United States are concerned, if not furious, when their children and grandchildren are not being accepted to the college of choice because children of undocumented immigrants are rewarded their spots. Parents and grandparents are likewise shocked and resentful when foreign students with similar grades are accepted to our universities over the choice of their own children and grandchildren.
Why is this happening? Will this ultimately be a factor in our country’s inability to compete with other nations? Is it certainly a warning sign that the once strong fabric of our 268 year-old-nation could be on the verge of unraveling because of our propensity to open colleges to applicants from foreign nations. In too many situations, non-citizens with lower grade points are accepted because diversity has become a deciding factor at many colleges and universities. Then too, colleges and universities favor foreign students because they pay full tuition, regardless of cost, up front. Diversity is fine, but not if the result is detrimental to our children’s future and very possibly the future of the United States.
Illegal Immigration as a crisis
President Trump sees an immigration crisis in process, yet Democrats and others tasked with protecting our border remain in opposition to our President, even denying there is a problem. It seems evident that crisis deniers have not listened to the testimony of Americans who live by the border or the heart-wrenching tales of properties being invaded and violated by illegal immigrants, many from Central America, but also those arriving from countries who hate us and wish us harm.
Despite the political posturing, a border crisis does exist. The U.S. Border Patrol reported on May 16, 2019 that it would fly hundreds of migrant families from south Texas to San Diego for processing. In April of this year border arrests surged in the Rio Grande Valley to 98,977, three times what they were a year earlier. Nearly seven of every 10 came as families or were children traveling alone. El Paso Texas is likewise a busy corridor for migrants to enter this nation illegally.
Some of the migrant families arrested at the southern border aren't really family units. Children are rental because the word is out that entry is assured if children are in tow. In a pilot program approximately 30% of rapid DNA tests of immigrant adults who were suspected of arriving at the southern border with children who weren't theirs revealed the adults were not related to the children.
President Trump on Thursday, May 16, unveiled a long-awaited immigration overhaul that would dramatically alter how the U.S. accepts people into the country, upending the system to favor admissions based on merit and some proficiency in English, rather than family ties, although the proposal might as well be dead on arrival.
Although good on confirming judges, Senator Mitch McConnell cannot be counted on to assist Trump in the Senate, saying only that he was "open" to Trump's proposal. In the House Nancy Pelosi called President Trump’s emphasis on merit-based immigration “condescending” because families have merit, too.
Democrats as main stumbling block
Hopefully President Trump is done playing games with the Democrats and many Republicans who are wedded to the Chamber of Commerce, the Business Round Table, and the Koch Brothers for cheap labor and will use the Insurrection Actto remove illegal immigrants from this country, as reported in the Daily Calleron May 17, 2019.
There was a time when Democrats once backed Trump. In 2013, 52 Democratsvoted for the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act. The bipartisan “Gang of Eight” bill backed by Obama included provisions to stop immigration based on family reunification immigration, also known as chain migration; to create merit-based visas; and to expand the border fence.
As to merit-based immigration, it has been around since the 1960's. Check hereto see how merit immigration works in Australia, Canada, Germany, and Japan. In the U.S. only 12% of those we admit are based on merit and skills.
As to unlimited chain migration of millions of individuals into this nation, it came about because of a decision Congress made in 1957 to prioritize the admission of non-nuclear, extended family members in U.S. immigration policy by allowing each immigrant admitted to subsequently petition for the admission of parents, siblings and their families, and adult children and their families. What has happened in the aftermath is that assimilation has been replaced by amnesty d by the progressive left.
Sovereignty as an issue
According to Nancy Pelosi and others of her ilk who want open borders, neither is our nation's sovereignty threatened, or is there any need to get rid of the immigration loopholes by which thousands of migrants illegally enter this nation.
It has been the practice since October of 2018, to quickly release families into the U.S., with notices given to appear in immigration court. How many keep their court date? Instead, they disappear into the fabric of this nation never to be heard from again.
New wide-ranging analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies‘ Steven Camarotta reveals that there are roughly 297,000 births per year to illegal immigrants in the U.S., exceeding the total number or U.S. births in 48 states. These children are commonly known as “anchor babies,” as they anchor their illegal alien and non-citizen parents in the U.S. and eventually are allowed to bring an unlimited number of foreign relatives to the country through the process known as “chain migration.”
As to Los Angeles, CA, an October 2018 report reveals there are more anchor babies born to illegal aliens in the metropolitan area of Los Angeles, California, than there are United States total births in 14 other states plus the District of Columbia.
What about the cost to taxpayers?
This nation is a generous nation when it comes to immigration. Since 1999 we have granted lawful permanent resident status to an average of more than 1 million immigrants per year. We also grant citizenship to hundreds of thousands of immigrants annually as well.
U.S. officials expect a million additional illegal immigrants this fiscal year, as the Border Patrol is currently apprehending up to 4,000 a day. Most will claim asylum, entitling them to government benefits. Central American migrants are arriving by the thousands without a penny to their name. This will amount to billions of dollars in taxpayer benefits over the next few years. While federal benefits are supposed to be off limits, in practice many are not.
More than 25,000 undocumented workers receive subsidized housing, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Children receive free education and most qualify for English lessons and free school breakfast and lunch. Illegal immigrants do not qualify for Obamacare but under federal law, hospitals and clinics are required to provide urgent medical care without regard to legal status. Pregnant women are entitled to prenatal and postpartum care under the Women, Infants and Children program. Illegal immigrants are not entitled to food stamps, but families with U.S.-born children are.
The United States has a welfare system that consists of 79 government programs that offer cash, food, social service, education, training, and housing to applications at a cost to taxpayers of a shocking $1 trillion a year. Add that to local government programs at an additional cost of approximately $284 billion for poverty programs each year, and the cost of the illegal immigrant population becomes a major commitment to the American public
Our welfare programs have quadrupled, as our debt number has risen. What are we thinking? Where is the common sense that once was seen in our forefathers’ logic? Have we become so lax and confident that we think we can continue with this dangerous philosophy? It now appears we treat welfare payments less like a safety net and more like a hammock. Perhaps that is explained by USA Today, who provided facts that showed 600,000 foreignersoverstayed their visa in 2017 alone.
America First
Given this nation’s astronomical debt of over 22 trillion, how can this nation afford to continue to award substantial welfare payments to illegal immigrants?
Billions of dollars are being sent home by the millions of illegal aliens who live and work in this nation. The figure could be as high as 34 million illegal immigrants. Mexicans working abroad, mainly in the United States, sent US $33.48 billion to Mexico last year, an increase of 10.5% over the 2017 figure. Remittances from the United States are expected to remain strong in 201. These remittances are Mexico's second largest foreign currency earner after auto exports, which totaled around $142 billion.
Foreign nationals from three Central American countries are sending some of the highest numbers of illegal immigrants to the U.S. Immigrants from these three nations have sent $17 billion in 2018 alone, and this trend will keep going as people from Central America are making up a significant portion of the migrants attempting to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border. This offers a big clue as to why these countries are giving only token efforts to stem the tide of migrants to the United States.
This nation is presently facing a huge and critical problem of its own which cries out for attention, its homeless crisis. In Part 2 of Tucker's Homeless in America series, depicted is how on any given night 100,000 people are homeless in CA, with 8 of 10 living on the streets. This crisis isn't only limited to CA. The same is happening in cities and towns across this nation. The homeless can be seen living in tents in Chicago, IL when weather permits. What is being done for the plight of the homeless, yet millions of illegal immigrants are given a free ride once they successfully invade this nation?
President Trump has repeatedly stated he wants to restore integrity to our immigration system. He has been clear on this issue: jobs and safety for American citizens must come first. Other prosperous nations have a merit-based immigration system, but our nation continues to operate under a flawed immigration system which flood are nation with low-skilled workers, most hurtful to blacks and Hispanics.
Meanwhile, Democrats like Senator Beto O’Rourke dismissed our President’s plan with his heart wrenching speeches about parents making enormous sacrifices for their children. What about our children and grandchildren? Shouldn’t they come first?
