LETTERS

Where's the outcry?

Posted

To the Editor:

During Governor Raimondo’s photo op signing of the driver licenses for dreamers act, one young lady who was interviewed declared herself an “undocumented American.”

If you were born in another country and your parents are foreign nationals and you are not a naturalized citizen you are not an American. Dreaming to be a U.S. citizen does not make you one.

Raimondo told a reporter from the Latino media that she cannot fulfill her 2014 campaign promise to grant driver’s licenses to all illegal immigrants because that is up to the legislature.

I recently interviewed state Representative Camille Vella-Wilkinson (D- Dist. 21), who is one of the primary sponsors of that bill (H7891). I asked her why illegal immigrants needed a driver’s license. So they could get to their jobs, thereby reducing their reliance on the welfare system, she replied.

My follow-up was, “If they are not here on a work visa or hold a ‘green card’ they are not supposed to be working. Liberals often say we should penalize employers who hire them.” In response, just a blank stare from the representative.

Then we have the pseudo-event known as “the crisis on the border” that has Congressional Democrats and their allies in the liberal media in high dungeon.

In his book written in 1962, Guide to Pseudo-events, and in subsequent editions, Daniel J. Boorstin offered the following definition: pseu·do-e·vent, noun, an event arranged or brought about merely for the sake of the publicity it generates, especially one designed to appear spontaneous or unplanned.

The outcry was brought about by a photograph that went viral on social media of children being held in cages as though this is a recent phenomenon. The left meant it to be an illustration of Donald Trump’s cruelty toward “undocumented immigrants.” However, it was taken during the Obama administration.

Then it became known that the policy of separating immigrant children from their parents goes back to a 1997 ruling by a judge on what lawyers call the “Ninth Circus Federal Court.”

The Border Patrol separates children under four conditions:

There is a suspicion that the adult is not the child’s parent.

There are indications of child abuse.

The adult has a record or is wanted for a felony here or in another country.

The parent(s) is claiming political asylum.

To most rational people, this seems reasonable. To the emotional left it is horrific.

There are about 2,500 kids separated from the adults who entered this country illegally with them. However, what about the 20,000-plus who were put on freight trains or handed over to smugglers by their parents and are now in our care? Where is the outcry over that situation?

Richard August

North Kingstown

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