The Forgotten

For John, BLUF:  There is no doubt there are problems at the US Southern Border.  Large numbers of people are fleeing problems in their home nations and seeking asylum in the United States.  One wonders why they don't seek asylum in Meico?  In the mean time, millions are trying to do it the regular way, the legal way.  What of them?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Biden and the Blame Game at the Border

Here is the sub-headline:

The issues involved are nearly impossible to settle as long as policymakers regard decency as a political weakness rather than as a moral strength.

From The New Yorker, by Writer Jonathan Blitzer, March 28, 2021 (For the 5 April Print Edition).

Here is the lede plus three:

During the past decade, three U.S. Presidents have each faced a humanitarian emergency at the southern border.  Barack Obama did in 2014, when tens of thousands of children from Central America arrived, without their parents, to seek asylum.  Five years later, under Donald Trump—and the harshest border-enforcement regime in more than half a century—record numbers of children and families overwhelmed federal authorities.  Now, two months into Joe Biden’s Presidency, it’s his turn. Last Thursday, the topic dominated the first press conference he has given since taking office.  “What we’re doing right now is attempting to rebuild the system that can accommodate what is happening today,” he said.  “It’s going to take time.”

There are currently some eighteen thousand unaccompanied migrant children in U.S. custody, including more than five thousand who remain in holding cells, as the government scrambles to find space to house them.  Republicans who were silent when Trump was separating migrant children from their parents and eviscerating the asylum system are now denouncing “Biden’s border crisis.”  The messaging appears to be effective; it’s causing all sorts of confusion.  Biden is turning away forty per cent of asylum-seeking families and virtually all single adults arriving at the border, under a controversial Trump policy known as Title 42, which he has left in place.  Even so, everyone from TV news anchors to the President of Mexico is blaming Biden for encouraging more migrants to travel north, because he vowed to stop Trump’s heedless cruelty.  Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, tweeted that Biden has “emphasized the humane treatment of immigrants, regardless of their legal status.” He meant it as a criticism.

The Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, has predicted that the United States will encounter more migrants by the end of 2021 than it has at any point in the past two decades. He has also, like the rest of the Administration, avoided labelling the situation a crisis.  “This is not new,” he said.  “We have experienced migration surges before.”  What is new, though, is the pace:  for most of March, about five hundred and fifty children have been arriving at the border every day.  Both Mayorkas and Biden have gone on television to announce that the border is closed; at a White House press briefing, Roberta Jacobson, from the National Security Council, made the announcement in Spanish.  But it was directed more at critics in Congress than at people in Honduras and Guatemala, the countries from which most of the families and children are coming.

The word “crisis” is both an overstatement and an understatement of the situation.  There were more families and children seeking asylum at the border under Trump in 2019 than there are now. And the current numbers, if higher than Biden anticipated, are not unexpected.  The pandemic has led to renewed desperation in Central America, as have two hurricanes that devastated the region last fall, displacing tens of thousands of people.  Yet, in another sense, the situation is worse than much of the public understands, because the issues involved are genuinely complex and nearly impossible to settle as long as policymakers in Washington continue to regard decency as a sign of political weakness rather than of moral strength.

The Author is correct, it is a mess at the Southern Border.  And later on he mentions that it is the plan of the Biden Adminisration to help fix problems in Central America, and bypassing oppressive regimes in the process.  Something we should have been doing since the 1950s.

The author tells us of the inequity of it all.  He pulls out the word "Decency" and asks that our political masters show some.  Perhaps because of some word limit, he avoids talking about doing the right thing for the rest of those seeking to come to the United States and become citizens.  There are millions out there who have done the paperwork properly and have had the prerequisite medical examinations, only to be waiting on line for a chance to legally enter this nation.  This extract is from the Migration Policy Institute:

Because of the numerical caps and per-country caps on certain green-card categories, there are significant waits for some categories, with sharper effects on a few countries.  For example, as of April 2019, the wait for U.S. citizens to sponsor adult, unmarried children was more than seven years for most parts of the world, but was 12 years for relatives from the Philippines—and more than 21 years for those from Mexico.  As of November 2018, there were 3.7 million people waiting in line abroad for a family-sponsored green card, and 121,000 awaiting an employment-sponsored green card.

What does decency say we owe those who follow the rules?  What does Mr Blitzer say?

I predict that nothing will be accomplished this Congressional Term, sort of the abolition of the Filibuster, and even then I have my doubts.

Regards  —  Cliff

Possible Trouble to the South

For John, BLUF:  When I was a Student at Bancroft Junior High School, back in the day, Actor, Editor and Environmentalist Leo Carrillo came to give the keynote speech at our Pan American Day Celebration, in Pan-American Park.  Mr Carrillo said that the United States should stop pouring money down the sewers of Europe and Asia and focus on our Hemisphere.  Obviously, we did not follow that advice.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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As a Latin American populist shores up support, some see challenge for Biden

From The Christian Science Monitor, by Special Correspondent Whitney Eulich, 9 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus three:

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele won a decisive victory in last week’s elections – though his name wasn’t even on the ballot.

Strong support for his New Ideas party in the Feb. 28 midterms gives a seal of approval to his presidency.  It allows the party to confirm Mr. Bukele’s nominees to key positions in the independent attorney general’s office and the Supreme Court.  The party could also push for controversial moves like the removal of presidential term limits.  By potentially gaining a supermajority via an alliance with a smaller party, New Ideas’ consolidation has raised concerns around the erosion of checks on presidential power, which has important implications for the United States, as well.

Under former President Donald Trump, the U.S. used development aid as an incentive for Central American governments to crack down on migration at all costs.  In Mr. Bukele, the U.S. found a receptive partner.  Now, the Biden administration is pivoting, saying it wants to help Central American governments strengthen democracy and fight corruption so as to tackle the root causes of migration.

Mr. Bukele’s newly solidified power is not the first roadblock in the Biden administration’s efforts to pursue a values-based foreign policy:  Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, and others have presented early tests.  Arguably, President Joe Biden already had his work cut out for him in Central America, where some presidents hold onto power in highly contested, irregular votes, or barely go through the motions of fighting corruption.

We keep focusing on Europe and Asia, when important things are happening in our own back garden.  Sadly, I don't see this changing under the current Administration.

Further, there appears to be a massive backlog of refugees building in Columbia, working their way North.  War Correspondent Michael Yon talks about it here.  Mr Yon taught me something new.  I had not realized the Pan-American Highway did not go straight through from top to bottom.  There is the Darién Gap, about a 66 mile break consisting of jungle, passable by all terrain vehicles only.

Prople are coming through the Darién Gap, with the intention of coming to the United States.  Not just Venezualans escaping the Bolivarian Revolution (read Communist), but people from Asia and Africa, also escaping political or economic repression.

I am not sure we have a handle on this.

Regards  —  Cliff

Heading North

For John, BLUF:  Refugees at our Southern Boder come from somewhere.  That somewhere is Central America, where conditions are not good.  The good news is that between us and Venezuela stands the nation of Columbia.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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'We’ve never seen anything like this':  As Trump threatens to close border, migrants overwhelm Texas cities

From USA Today, by Reporterw Aaron Montes and Rick Jervis, 30 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus three:

Under a bridge connecting the U.S. with Mexico, dozens of migrant families cram into a makeshift camp set up by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.  The families are there because permanent processing facilities have run out of room.

Seven hundred miles east, busload after busload of weary, bedraggled migrants crowd into the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas.  Organizers there are used to handling 200 to 300 migrants a day.  Lately, the migrants have been arriving at a clip of around 800 a day, overflowing the respite center and straining city resources.

“It’s staggering,” McAllen City Manager Roy Rodriguez said.  “Really, we’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Along the Texas border with Mexico – from El Paso to Eagle Pass to the Rio Grande Valley – masses of migrants have been crossing the border in unprecedented numbers, overwhelming federal holding facilities and sending local leaders and volunteers scrambling to deal with the relentless waves of people.

So, if we accept the view of illegal immigration experts House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that there is no crisis on our Southern Boder, can we at least grant that there is a caution?  And will they help round up the money to help deal with this caution?

And there is this Associated Press story from the end of this last week, "Mexico braces for new caravan of Central American migrants".  There are 44 million people in Central America, many in criminal gangs and most of the others looking to go some place better.  How many of those even understand what it means to be an American?  Nancy?  Chuck?

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

San Ysidro Port Closed Temporarily

For John, BLUF:  There are some 47 million people in Central America.  How many of them can the US absorb in the next two years?  And how many jobs in San Diego and Tijuana will be lost due to the complications of illegal immigration?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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DHS SHUTS DOWN SAN YSIDRO PORT AFTER REPORTS OF ‘BORDER RUSH’ BY CARAVAN MIGRANTS

• DHS is Department of Homeland Security.
• The Wikipedia entry for San Isidro Port of Entry.

From The Daily Caller, by Reporter Will Racke, 19 November 2018.

Here is the lede plus two:

Homeland security officials shut down all northbound lanes at the San Ysidro port of entry early Monday morning, after receiving reports that caravan migrants were planning to rush the border and cross illegally, U.S. officials said.

Port operations were suspended for just over three hours while border authorities, supported by military personnel deployed to the area, carried out “hardening efforts” at the facility, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

“This AM, all of #SanYsidro Port of Entry’s northbound lanes were temporarily closed to initiate additional port hardening efforts after @CBP officials were notified that a large # of caravan migrants were planning to rush the border in an attempt to gain illegal access to the US,” Nielsen wrote on Twitter.

I will interpret this.  A large number of people, conducting perfectly legal activities (and some not) were prevented from conducting their business by the antics of illegal immigrants.  One of the busiest ports in the world shut down by people not willing to wait their turn in the queue.

The 'Caravan is viewed differently on the south side of the border.  And, the Mayor of Tijuana, Señor Juan Manuel Gastelum, has a red baseball cap that has, in white letters, "Make Tijuana Great Again."  I wonder where he got that idea?

Here is a quote from a different Daily Caller article, "ANGRY TIJUANA RESIDENTS PUSH BACK AGAINST MIGRANT CARAVAN: ‘THIS IS AN INVASION’"

“Tijuana is a city of immigrants, but we don’t want them in this way,” Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum said in an interview with Milenio Television on Thursday.  “It was different with the Haitians, they carried papers, they were in order.  It wasn’t a horde, pardon the expression.”

The mayor’s comments reflected anger among many Tijuana residents at the increasing number of caravan migrants camped in shelters and public spaces in the city.  At least 3,000 were there as of Sunday, and thousands more are expected to arrive over the coming weeks.

For those who think that the "Trump Mindset" is confined to the White House, or just amongst old white men, the situation in Tijuana might be an indicator that this is a larger phenomenon.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Last Month's Illegal Immigration Data

For John, BLUF:  We need to get a handle on immigration.  Maybe after 1 January and the new Congress.  Maybe.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Ivy League Study:  Illegal Population is 22 Million, Double Estb. Estimate

Here is the sub-headline:

The population of illegal migrants is roughly 22 million, or twice the establishment estimate of 11 million, say three professors from Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

From Breitbart, by Neil Munroe, 21 September 2018.

Here is the lede:

The shocking estimate will force establishment politicians and pro-migration advocates to recalculate the estimated impact of the huge illegal population on wages and salaries, on crime rates, welfare consumption, rental and real-estate prices, productivity rates, and the distribution of job-creating investment funds to coastal vs. heartland states.

Well, so much for Breitbart as predictor of future action.  I don't think this report moved the needle at all.

Maybe the Caravan from Central America will.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The New Colossus

For John, BLUF:  We need a plan regarding immigration.  And not just throwing it over the transom to the President.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Live Blog

From PJ Media, by Ms Liz Sheld, 29 June 2018.

The Comment on ICE:

The Democrats are escalating their push to get rid of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency because they do not want the U.S. border to be protected.  I can only assume they want everyone to just walk on in to the U.S., be it Hezbollah, drug cartel honchos, or MS-13.  "Protests have broken out near ICE facilities in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Ore., in recent days, prompting the agency to put up barriers near entrances or after immigration hearings."

It is like our Progressive Brothers and Sisters think that we should allow the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of Central America's teeming shore, the homeless and tempest-tost to come and reside here in these United States.  What would that be—Some thirty-two million?

Of course it does raise the question of who would be left in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua to restore those nations to balance and democracy?  Maybe MS-13.

I wonder if this move would help or hurt the efforts to grow the economy and, as Ms Nancy Pelosi likes to point out, raise wages for the working class?

In the mean time, I wonder if this is going to be another long hot Summer.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Joe Biden's CENTAM Project

For John, BLUF:  CENTAM (pronounced CEN TAM) is Central America in military parlance.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Vice President Joe Biben has "A Plan for Central America".

At last a Foreign Policy Vision for Latin America.

And cheap at $1 Billion only.

On the other hand there is this:

As we were reminded last summer when thousands of unaccompanied children showed up on our southwestern border, the security and prosperity of Central America are inextricably linked with our own.

A low-ball on the number and a total lack of transparency on what was happening.  Wasn't this going to be the most transparent administration in history?

I am hopeful, but I just exchanged EMails with a retired Colonel who did planning for US Southern Command and he thinks this is not a serious piece, but rather shallow buffoonery.  "Vapid" was used.

I greet it with hope, but people who have been there may be more dubious, much more dubious.

Regards  —  Cliff

Drought in CENTAM

For John, BLUF:  This immigration thing is not going away, in that the immigrants are driven by drought and violence.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Surely someone in Government saw this coming.  Someone in CIA?  Someone in Department of States?  Maybe someone in the Department of Agriculture or Treasury?

This is a short blurb with some statistics, but what it points to, inevitably, is the fact that, as often happens with drought, mass migration follows.♠

This Reuters report is from The International Herald Tribune.  The dateline is Friday, 29 August, and the headline is "Central America Hit by Severe Drought".

A severe drought has ravaged crops in Central America, and as many as 2.8 million people are struggling to feed themselves, the United Nations World Food Program said Friday.  The drought, which is also affecting South America, has been particularly hard on southern Guatemala, northernHonduras and western El Salvador.  Guatemala declared a state of emergency after 256,000 families lost their crops.♥

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  As old as the Bible.  Isn't that how Jacob and his sons ended up in Egypt? (Genesis 42)
♥  I would think 256,000 families works out to more than a million people.

Things Are Bad in Central America

For John, BLUF:  This immigration problem the nation faces is, in part, the result of our own neglect.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Here is an article from The Miami Herald way back in late February of this year, talking about El Salvador.  It isn't "turtles all the way down", it is corruption all the way down.

Not that I am encouraging the movement of the population of El Salvador to the US, but many of them may actually be hoping for a better life up here.

This is a result of decades of US Presidents, the Department of State and the US Congress ignoring our neighbors to the South.  Leo Carrillo was right, back in 1957, when he said that it was time to stop pouring money down the sewers of Europe and Asia and focus on our neighbors to the south.  Now we are reaping the consequences.

The fact that the news today says that Massachusetts won't be hosting immigration children does not mean that a month from now we won't.  This is a long term crisis and it needs a "whole of government" solution.  What are our elected representatives doing to provide the needed long term solutions?

Regards  —  Cliff

Can We Get An Honest Look At Illegal Immigration?

For John, BLUF:  Until we understand the root cause we can't fix this problem.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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From The State House News Service, Reporter Andy Metzger gives us a look an MSNBC debate between former U.S. Senator Mo Cowan and State Rep. Marc Lombardo that touches on the issue of the Commonwealth absorbing some of the 53,000 or so border-crossing children.

Frankly, the debate continues to be superficial.

The fundamental question is, why are these children risking their lives to come to the United States?

• If this is a narrow issue, then perhaps we can absorb these children as refugees and make them part of the United States.
• If this is a major (and systemic) problem in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, as The [Lowell] Sun article suggests, then the problem requires a totally different response.  Looking at possible options:
  • The situation in those three countries, drug cartels, corrupt governments, lawlessness, require our intervention, under the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect.  We need to go in and displace those Governments (or strengthen them against criminal forces).  We will be landing the Marines.
  • The situation is so bad that people should not be forced to live under such criminal conditions, but we don't see it as our place to intervene, so we need to provide refuge to all who want it, even if they are merely economic refugees.  We need to provide ships and aircraft to evacuate to these shores some 27 million men, women and children (assuming some 10% of the population is criminal and shouldn't be admitted to the US.
  • We could decide this is a problem so big we not only don't wish to cope with it, but we can't.  Thus, we need to close the border and prevent any more refugees.  This is a case of realizing that the problem is bigger than we can cope with and we owe it to our Citizens to not be involved.  If Iraq and Afghanistan have taught us anything it should be that we can't solve all the world's problems.

Leadership on Beacon Hill or in DC needs to give us an honest appreciation of the situation.  Then we can talk about solutions.

Once we see the size of the problem we need to talk about cost.  With 3142 Counties (or County like entities) in the United States, some 53,000 children can be apportioned out with 17 children per county.  That should be easy enough to absorb, at least locally.  However, that 17 goes up as the number of border crossers go up.  Thus the importance of scoping the problem, as discussed above.  What is the plan out of the Administration?

Who pays is an important issue.

• For our Governor to pass it off as a Federal issue is disingenuous.
• The Federal Government does not provide free money to the States, just as our Commonwealth doesn't provide free money to cities and towns.  It all represents taxes paid by tax payers.
• Unlike our Commonwealth, the Federal Government can fund some things by printing money, but that is a tax on the future.
• When children come and stay (they are going to say, not just hover around for four months, as some suggest), they cost governments money and if adequate funds are not shared across political entities, some areas get hit harder than others.  If all of Middlesex County's 17 children come to Lowell, and there is not Federal or State support, that is a direct tax on the tax paying Residents of Lowell.
• If a million children show up, that is 318 per County, or a dozen or so classrooms that have to be added.  We need to avoid letting politicians tell us that it is just a few children per community.  It is an increased burden and it is not a cheap burden.  Most of those children will not be speaking english and some will have medical or developmental problems.  Solutions will not come cheap.

Let us not kid ourselves about our moral obligations here.  If children have made it into the United States, we, the People of the United States, are morally obligated to look after them, to include feeding, clothing, housing and schooling them, until they are returned home or they are assimilated into our nation.  This is no small burden, but it is also not one we can shirk.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Southern Border Crisis

For John, BLUF:  No good answers.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Our Governor, Devol Patrick, being joined by our Senate President, Ms Therese Murry, are for bringing children to Massachusetts who have managed to survive the trip up through Mexico and tagged up at the border.

"My inclination is to remember what happened when a ship full of Jewish children tried to come to the United States in 1939 and the United States turned them away, and many of them went to their deaths in Nazi concentration camps," Patrick said.  "I think we are a bigger-hearted people than that as Americans, and certainly as residents of Massachusetts."

I am all for avoiding another MS ST LOUIS incident.  In the case of the German ship with 937 Jewish German Refugees the people were first turned away by Cuba, and then the United States and then Canada.  Returned to Europe, it is estimated one quarter died in German death camps.  But, in bringing up the question of moral responsibility, Governor Patrick raises more issues with regard to Germany and our responsibility, which I will discuss below.

Nation of Change, a Progressive organization, tells us that "Child Migrants Have Been Coming to America Alone Since Ellis Island".  I expect they were coming even before there was an Ellis Island, opened back in 1892.  I expect children as indentured servants were showing up here soon after large numbers of immigrants were coming from the British Isles.

The Publisher Emeritus of The [Lowell] Sun, Mr Kendall Wallace, on his most recent "Saturday Chat" gave us "A proud history of embracing new people".  He writes:

I struggle with the way we as a people have handled some historic human-rights issues, particularly the current situation that is again splitting the country:  What to do about the thousands of women and children pouring into the U.S. illegally as they flee poverty, abuse and hopeless situations they live with in Mexico and various countries in Central America.

OK, I get it.  Thousands are coming to our borders and we should not turn them away.  However, what of the rest?

NATION	POPULATION	DATE	TYPE
Guatamala	15,806,675	2014	Estimate
Honduras	8,249,574	2010	Estimate
El Salvador	6,134,000	2009	Estimate

That totals out at 30,200,249.  If we assume that 10% of the population is corrupt or criminal or evil, that still leaves 27,180,224 good men, women and children.  So we have absorbed 53,000 or so people.  What about the remaining 27,127,224?

While the fate of the Jewish People on the MS ST LOUIS is a blot on our history, and the history of other nations, including Germany, it does not encapsulate the totality of what went wrong.  For example, there were the Germany "Death Panels", under Action T-4, which saw the murder of 70,000 disabled before the program was shut down (and another 200,000 after the program was shut down).  These were not Jews, but ethnic Germans who had become "useless eaters".  We did nothing about this mass killing of those not able to defend themselves.  Then we add in some 6 million Jews and several million killed for being Communist, Gypsy, Homosexual, part of the Polish leadership, or just troublesome Slavs.  Going to the MS ST LOUIS misses the bigger picture and is just playing with history.

However, there is a response that does look at the larger picture and that is our responsibilities under Responsibility to Protect (R2P).  This is the idea that states should not allow other states to commit atrocities on their own populations, for example the Rwanda Genocide.  The three strong voice in the Obama Administration for R2P have been Ms Susan Rice, National Security Advisor, Ambassador Samantha Power, our UN Ambassador, and Professor Anne-Marie Slaughter, formerly the Department of State Director of Policy Planning.  If bad things are happening in Meso-America, should we be stepping in, perhaps with Mexico and other nations?  Should our military forces step in and replace the national governments, as we did in Panama, back in 1989?  How do you feel about doing "nation building" south of the border?

On the other hand, "nation building" has not been a rousing success in Iraq and Afghanistan.  And it goes against the Good Neighbor Policy that we have tried to hew to since the time of President Franklin D Roosevelt.  I would think that intervention would not go down well in international relations.  If nothing else, it would provide Russia with ample justification for its intervention in Ukraine.  And, China would see itself free to intervene in Viet-nam and other nations on its supposed borders, including the Nine-Dash Line.  I am against intervention.

From The International New York Times, on Sunday, we have an article that talks to Mexico strengthening its Southern Border.  Here are two paragraphs from the article:

Now Mexico finds itself whipsawing between compassion and crackdown as it struggles with a migration crisis of its own. While the public is largely sympathetic to migrants and deeply critical of the United States’ hard-line immigration policies, officials are under pressure from their neighbors to the north and south as they try to cope with the influx. As a result, they are taking measures that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

Mexico has quietly stepped up the pace of deportation of migrants, some of them unaccompanied children. It announced plans to stop people from boarding freight trains north and will open five new border control stations along routes favored by migrants.

So, we are supposed to welcome those who successfully ride The Beast up from South Mexico, but also applaud Mexico for closing that Southern Border?

Frankly, I would see this as another "Piven and Cloward" type effort to crash a system in order to get it fixed, in this case, the immigration system.  That would be like the "Fast and Furious" Operation late in its manifestation (experience early in the Obama Administration).  The problem with this theory is that it would require a degree of competence that may not exist down in DC these days.  Hanlon's Razor.

So, we have an surge in immigrants, especially young ones, the ones who survive the trip up through Mexico, probably due to a hope that if they make it to the United States they are home free.  The question for Governor Patrick, Mr Wallace and Nation of Change is, are conditions so bad in Central America, Panama perhaps excluded, that we should actually bring in the millions who are at risk due to violence, much of it drug related?♠  Think about the cost and efforts of settling some 27 million people from Central America, people who don't speak English and may not have the job skills to gain employment in the United States, if there were jobs to be had.

And, as a side note, none of this, at whatever level, is going to be free.  Hearing the words "the Federal Government is paying for it" makes me think of the ratio of Federal taxes paid to benefits returned to Massachusetts.  We get back about 83¢ in benefits for every $1 in taxes we send to Washington.  That means all those good ideas being pushed down in DC are costing us money in a disproportionate way.

I will give Mr Wallace credit for these words in his column:

The federal and state governments failure to level with people about the true extent of the number of people who have been flown into Massachusetts hurts the cause.

Lowell has always done its share to help immigrants settle in America.  Since the 1830s the city has seen waves of new people come to Lowell for jobs and a better life.

If, in fact, hundreds of these people who have fled their homelands have been flown into Hanscom Field in Bedford, and they are allowed to remain, some will end up in Lowell and in the Lowell's public schools while politicians debate about the issue.  While federal and state officials will debate, the city will treat these people with respect and dignity.

At the end of the day I expect Lowell will do the right thing, which is to take in the border crossers.  I hope the Citizens of Lowell, and other communities, will take the second step and vote against Federal and Commonwealth candidates in November if those two levels of Government do not finally come clean and step up.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Of course drug related violence really points back at the United States, which provides a huge market for such drugs coming from South America.  That would be to say, the conditions in Central America are the fault of US Citizens who are using illegal drugs.

Trust Act

For John, BLUF:  We are focused on ants and the elephants are crashing through.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Boston Herald had an article some nine days ago on the General Court's proposed "Trust Act".  It is not favorable. Here is the web site of the organization pushing the "Trust Act".

Here is a copy of the House version of the Bill, filed 18 January 2013.  (Senate version)

The fundamental idea is that illegal immigrants are afraid to seek the help of the police when they are robbed or abused, when they see a problem.  The assumption is they fear the police arresting them for their immigration status, starting a chain of actions toward being deported.  This unwillingness to go to the police allows crime to thrive in the neighborhoods in which they live.

Here is how it is put in the article in The Herald:

But [Mr] Franklin Soults, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, said the Trust Act would ease immigrants’ concerns about calling police and would make the Bay State a safer place to live.

Here is the argument against, as presented in the first three paragraphs from the Herald article:

Bay State lawmen and lawmakers are warning that the Trust Act would open the doors to a flood of illegals as advocates plan a rally on the State House steps tomorrow to urge passage of the bill that would bar cops from holding people simply for immigration violations.

“The Trust Act takes the handcuffs off of the people who are breaking the law and puts them back on the police officers who are trying to do their jobs,” Bristol County Sheriff Tom Hodgson said.  “It prevents us from sharing critical information and protecting the citizens we’ve sworn to protect.”

Under the act, which has the support of Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh and which was recently adopted in Somerville, police would only comply with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to hold illegals if they had a criminal warrant or if police had a non-immigration-related legal purpose, regulations state Rep. Marc Lombardo said would only entice illegals to flock to Massachusetts.

I agree with the People not being fearful of the police, be they Citizens, Visitors, Immigrants or people here without the proper paperwork.  However, I wonder to what degree that if a Caucasian Middle Class virtue, perhaps also a belief amongst those Asian Americans who have been here for a few generations.  I doubt it is a belief on the part of Blacks, especially those not in the Middle Class, but also those in the Middle Class who live in certain areas.  For example, Blacks living in New York City expect the Police to conduct unconstitutional stop and frisk activities.  There was Elaine from Baltimore, who called the Laura Ingraham Show a few days back, complaining that Blacks in Charm City were being neglected by their Government, local, state and national.

But, aside from our own internal problems regarding trust of the police, I would like to hear what the anthropologists have to say about citizen trust in other cultures, like the cultures from which our illegal immigrant population is coming.  I suspect that the trust level for police in places like Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador is pretty low.  If it is low in those nations, then the immigrants come with an inherent distrust of the police and it may take a couple of generations to overcome that distrust.  While the "Trust Act" may be a confidence building move, I doubt its immediate effectiveness in reducing crime.

But, it also detracts from the major issues surrounding immigration, such as what is happening to those who being detained after crossing the border illegally, a topic discussed in an article in yesterday's edition of The [Lowell] Sun.  Two of my favorite fall candidates were quoted in the article, Ms Ann Wofford and Ms Marisa DeFranco, esq, and their thoughts made sense.  The responses from incumbent officials were like dishwater.  It is especially disturbing to me to not have elected officials say that the secrecy surrounding these detainees is unacceptable and represents a trend in the wrong direction.  At the risk of violating Godwin's Law, this is the kind of thing that led to bad things being done by the German Government, not only in the late 1930s, but also by the Stasi in the 50s through the 70s.  Governments should not be operating in the shadows.

There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that the United States benefits from immigration.  There should also be no doubt in anyone's mind that immigration should be about creating new Americans, not changing US society.  How many want our society to be like those south of our border?  What about the culture in parts of Mexico, where the local citizens have taken up arms against the Cartels, because the police and army can't or won't?  Yes, Virginia, we do need a Second Amendment.

I am sure there are those with the free time to pursue the "Trust Act", but there shouldn't be too many.  Most should be providing information to the public or working on closing the border or working on ensuring that those who deserve a hearing show up at that hearing.

Regards  —  Cliff