If there is one thing worse than that photograph of a little Honduran boy breathing through an oxygen mask after being hit with tear gas on our Southern border, it's this:
Using that image as a sentimental weapon to fend off or obliterate clearheaded immigration policy.
But that's where we are now, aren't we? The caravan of thousands of Central American migrants is finally at the border.
One was the little boy in the photo, receiving medical care in
And now, the left has no answers to what's going on along the southern border. Instead, we're given shrieks of rage at President
Some journalists conveniently forgot this, or perhaps didn't even bother to look at what Obama had done. The American people who are concerned about their porous borders know this, which is one reason journalism is held in low regard.
The history of illegal immigration along the southern border has long been cynically bipartisan. Establishment
Most Americans are offended by this bipartisan cynicism. Trump understood, tapped into it and became president.
Now I can't think of any responsible person who likes the idea of children suffering. I don't think you like it either. Parents brought the little ones into that chaos on the border. I wouldn't have done it, and perhaps you wouldn't subject your children to that danger. Yet still, it tears at the heart to see it.
But the heart is not the mind. And as liberal pundits wring their hands about the tear gas and bleat about Trump's stringent border enforcement, casually tossing words like "fascist" and "racist," something else is happening.
Millions of Americans who do not consider themselves to be hateful --
Is there anything wrong with mandating that immigrants legally apply for asylum rather than break into the
Yet where are the liberal Democratic solutions to address those in the migrant caravans determined to push illegally across the borders?
Political asylum is reserved under law for those who are threatened or attacked because of who or what they are. Asylum doesn't apply to the majority who'd like to come here for better paying jobs and social welfare benefits.
What we have in place of Democratic policy is a steady stream of wailing, anger and virtue-signaling. If you want to know how extreme, how ridiculous it is becoming, consider that Democratic darling
Unlike what happened to the Jews in
Remember that for several weeks leading up to the midterm elections, as the migrant caravan formed in
Are there "Middle Easterners" among them? It sounds far-fetched. Are they all "criminals"? No. Some are thugs, but many want a better life.
But if living in fear because violent narco kingpins are nearby is grounds for asylum, people in a few
The Democratic response to the caravan as it trudged north was also cynical. Democratic politicians insist they're not for open borders, but they don't support strict border enforcement. Theirs is a let-them-in-and-sort-it-out-later approach. This is a de facto open borders policy.
And just weeks ago, those who dared suggest that a country should have secure borders were subject to media shaming. Caravan? What caravan? They're just women and tiny children in strollers. How dare you say otherwise?
But that wasn't true either, was it? You read the pundits, you heard the snickers over the radio, and saw the smirks on TV. Americans got the point: Shut up about securing your own borders or be shamed.
And that's not sound policy, either, is it?
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John Kass is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune who also hosts a radio show on WLS-AM.