The NY Times finally notes the reality of the issue, though they do attempt to throw cold water on one problem, but, hey, small steps
Congress, Give Trump His Border Money
President Trump is right: There is a crisis at the southern border. Just not the one he rants about.
There is no pressing national security threat — no invasion of murderers, drug cartels or terrorists. No matter how often Mr. Trump delivers such warnings, they bear little resemblance to the truth.
But as record numbers of Central American families flee violence and poverty in their homelands, they are overwhelming United States border systems, fueling a humanitarian crisis of overcrowding, disease and chaos. The Border Patrol is now averaging 1,200 daily arrests, with many migrants arriving exhausted and sick. Last week, a teenage boy from Guatemala died in government custody, the third death of a minor since December. As resources are strained and the system buckles, the misery grows.
Something needs to be done. Soon. Unfortunately, political gamesmanship once again threatens to hold up desperately needed resources.
The NY Times Editorial Board notes that the White House is asking for $4.5 billion to deal with this, but
While the request is light on specifics, it does draw some important outlines. Nearly three-quarters of the funds, $3.3 billion, would be earmarked for humanitarian needs, with much of it flowing to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the agency responsible for unaccompanied minors. None of the money would go toward Mr. Trump’s border wall.
Several hundred million dollars would, however, go toward shoring up border security operations, including increasing the number of detention beds overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. This, for Democrats, is a nonstarter.
The debate over the permissible size of the detainee population has grown white hot. Democrats contend that the president brought this housing crisis on himself with his push to scoop up as many noncitizens as possible, rather than prioritizing those considered dangerous, as previous administrations did. Instead of asking for more money, Democrats assert, ICE should redirect existing resources to the border.
First, those showing up at the border do not go into the custody of ICE, but, rather, Customs and Border Patrol. Second, if you are here illegally and get caught, it doesn’t matter if you haven’t committed any other crimes. Federal law is clear on you being detained and deported. For all you Open Borders advocates, if you find someone living in your backyard illegally, are you going to call the cops, even if they are “good people who committed no crime (other than trespassing)”? Or do you let them stay in perpetuity?
Democrats and their groups are heavily involved in getting these “refugees” to put together caravans and head to the U.S., over-running our border and our immigration systems. They do not want to fund this crisis, but, you can bet they’ll want to keep all these low wage, low skill, low education people who offer little and take up lots of money that should be going to downtrodden U.S. citizens.
But, it’s nice of the NYTEB to admit to the crisis.
