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Responding to George Will's 'Welcome to America' Proposal for the Border Kids
Center for Immigration Studies ^ | 07/29/2014 | Jerry Kammer

Posted on 07/29/2014 9:53:37 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

In the mid-1990s, when the collapse of the Mexican economy produced a wave of illegal immigration to Arizona, I did volunteer work at a Phoenix school that was struggling to meet the needs of a few hundred Mexican children who spoke only Spanish. Even as I sought to help ease the transition for both sides, I thought it would be better for everyone if the influx subsided.

That explains my contradictory reactions of appreciation for and disagreement with George Will' s open-arms pronouncement on "Fox New Sunday" regarding Central Americans streaming across the Mexican border into Texas. It is burning up the blogosphere, drawing delight from the left and dismay from the right.

Said Will, prescribing a sweeping solution for the 57,000 unaccompanied Central American youth, "We ought to say to these children, 'Welcome to America. You're going to go to school and get a job and become Americans.'"

Applying some arithmetic, Will added: "We have 3,141 counties in this country. That would be 20 [children] per county. The idea that we can't assimilate these 8-year-old 'criminals' with their teddy bears is preposterous."

I admire Will's charitable inclination. It shows a fundamental decency that has been lacking in some of the public reaction. It is strong evidence of a kind heart in response to those who, in some instances are fleeing truly life-threatening circumstances.

But it goes way too far. Its generosity is flawed by a lack of basic understanding of the dimensions of the issues. It lacks the normal prudence of Will's conservative principles.

It shows an American tendency that Will himself lamented 29 years ago, when he wrote of the "constricted political imagination natural in a sheltered, liberal nation to which history has been kind", where leaders are "apt to underestimate the terrible dynamic" that confronts them.

As he unfurled his blueprint for the installation of flashing green lights at the border, Will showed no understanding of the enormous fact that the 57,000 minors he proposes to welcome are only a small part of the Central American exodus.

There are perhaps an equal number of children traveling with parents who have decided to come north as what our government calls "family units". They are being detained by the Border Patrol and then released into the country with the order to appear later in court for a deportation hearing that will take place months or years in the future, or not at all.

According to an internal memo from Deputy Border Patrol Chief Ronald Vitiello, the number of minors detained by the Border Patrol is expected to reach 90,000 this year and 142,000 next year.

There is a vast river of desperate humanity rising in Latin America, straining to flow northward, already eroding the dam of restraint that has long been a mostly psychological barrier constructed by the belief that the mighty United States wants to control its border.

When I was in the Rio Grande Valley last month reporting on the influx, I was struck by the number of single mothers traveling with children. While some talked of violence back home, most were fleeing poverty, the abandonment of shiftless fathers, and the indifference of corrupt governing oligarchies.

Does George Will think we should welcome them all? Is he aware of the correlation between impoverished, unskilled single mothers and a host of social problems? Does he think we can solve that problem, too?

If Will has his way, I think we can expect to see in many more places the sort of backlash that swelled in Arizona when the influx of the 1990s was not restrained. There the illegal immigrant population grew from an estimated 88,000 in 1990 to 560,000 in 2008.

The resulting transformation was so stunning, so straining on schools, hospitals, social service institutions, and neighborhoods that it eroded trust in government, undermined public willingness to accept all newcomers and bred the public outrage that produced a host of anti-illegal immigration laws and initiatives.

We can be sure that little of the impact will be felt around George Will's neighborhood in Chevy Chase, Md., where the median home price is $926,000. They can prescribe open borders with equanimity because for them the cascading consequences will be somebody else's problem.

Will's open-arms prescription is reminiscent of President Jimmy Carter's 1979 effort to get China to allow more people to emigrate. Journalist Patrick Tyler recorded the memorable response of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.

Tyler wrote that Deng "leaned forward, spreading his arms, and said to Carter, "Fine. How many do you want? Ten million?"


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aliens; bordercrisis; borderkids; georgefwill; georgewill; homosexualagenda; illegals; immigration; libertarians
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To: SeekAndFind

....”The PROBLEM is that they bring their MORALS and CULTURE along with them”.....

This is the problem. They all come from Socialist or Communist countries. They are used to being told what to do and keep their mouth shut. They understand the police state and death squads. They are happy to fit right into the progressive program. These people have no clue about the basic tenets of a Constitutional Republic and a Bill of Rights.


21 posted on 07/29/2014 10:45:16 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose o f a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I just hope none of the Teddy Bears they are carrying are named EBOLA.

(Does anyone else think it is odd that the kiddies busting our borders is happening at the same time of the Ebola outbreak?).


22 posted on 07/29/2014 10:50:39 AM PDT by Toespi
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To: Flintlock

Sheesh, we have allowed 3rd world MORALS and CULTURE to engulf us since the early 1960’s and now, in 2014, we start worrying about it?


23 posted on 07/29/2014 11:12:51 AM PDT by 353FMG
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To: SeekAndFind

“Said Will, prescribing a sweeping solution for the 57,000 unaccompanied Central American youth, “We ought to say to these children, ‘Welcome to America. You’re going to go to school and get a job and become Americans.’”

...and don’t worry even if you don’t want to work, we’ll give you welfare income, food stamps, section 8 housing and the more children with no daddies will get you more money, you’ll get free cell phones, free health care (we’ll even deprive old people of medical care to provide you with care, and the piece d’resistance you can even rape rob or kill American citizens and you won’t get deported. WELCOME TO AMERICA!


24 posted on 07/29/2014 11:16:59 AM PDT by kenmcg (b)
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To: Graewoulf

Why does George Will hate America’s Sovereignty as much as B. Hussein?

***
Maybe because he is an atheist, so he resents the Judeo-Christian values that are the underpinnings of the principles upon which our country was founded.


25 posted on 07/29/2014 11:19:03 AM PDT by Bigg Red (31 May 2014: Obamugabe officially declares the USA a vanquished subject of the Global Caliphate.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Will's, et al flashing green lights at the border

Tens of millions of American families' "bread winners" need work -- both skilled and unskilled.

Schadenfreude? Will and others get their "kicks" delighting in the misery of fellow citizens?

and what about this imaginary (but maybe real) headline?

Obama Launches WMD Attack On Own Country!
Deadly agents spread by public places, schools; Ebola virus included

or..

Seriously. I wonder what they have on Will, et al. FBI files, local police files from decades ago, recently?

26 posted on 07/29/2014 11:39:28 AM PDT by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: Bigg Red

Bingo!


27 posted on 07/29/2014 11:45:34 AM PDT by Graewoulf (Democrats' Obamacare Socialist Health Insur. Tax violates U.S. Constitution AND Anti-Trust Law.)
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To: SeekAndFind

In the past when we could only read Will he looked and sounded great - compared to Mary McGrory and the rest of the scumbags. But now Will has fallen ill with a bad case of Goldwater disease which turns prominent people to the left as they get old. That’s one explanation. Another is that maybe that schemata on his head is too tight and he can’t think clearly. Either way he ought to just go away.


28 posted on 07/29/2014 11:47:53 AM PDT by jmaroneps37 (Conservatism is truth. Liberalism is lies.)
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To: SeekAndFind

The Dems tell us we don’t pay enough income tax to run our wasteful government, and then go ahead and literally import tens of thousands of destitute children. This doesn’t work, we cannot afford it, we have states and municipalities going bankrupt, or approaching it. How is it that we can now just take on billions in new liabilities for healthcare, housing, education, and welfare payments for these illegal aliens? Where does the money come from? The top it off and arrogantly say we are not paying enough in income tax?

How are the Republicans losing elections???


29 posted on 07/29/2014 3:36:49 PM PDT by Titus-Maximus (It doesn't matter who votes for whom, it only matters who counts the votes - Joe Stalin)
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To: SeekAndFind

Stupid elitist bow tie libtard GOPe


30 posted on 07/29/2014 3:37:52 PM PDT by wardaddy (we will not take backour way of life through peaceful means.....i have 5 kids....i fear for them)
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To: JimRed
The 8 year olds, I could live with.

Unfortunately they don't stay 8 years old.

31 posted on 07/30/2014 2:01:59 AM PDT by itsahoot (Voting for a Progressive RINO is the same as voting for any other Tyrant.)
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To: itsahoot
Unfortunately they don't stay 8 years old.

But at 8 they are still teachable. They could be trained to be better citizens than a lot of our home-grown homies.

32 posted on 07/30/2014 7:15:21 AM PDT by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
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To: JimRed
But at 8 they are still teachable.

Ask teachers n Southern California how teachable they are.

33 posted on 07/30/2014 8:14:54 AM PDT by itsahoot (Voting for a Progressive RINO is the same as voting for any other Tyrant.)
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To: itsahoot
Ask teachers n Southern California how teachable they are.

That's a cultural thing. I was not clear enough; they should be removed from that culture and raised as Americans.

34 posted on 07/30/2014 4:01:46 PM PDT by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
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