- Jun 6, 2007
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America has a major crisis with children illegally immigrating to America through our southern border with the number currently around 60,000 for this fiscal year which one would think would move the country's two major political parties to rally to the occasion and come together and pass a piece of legislation that would solve the problem but not our political party's of today the writing on the wall looks like there will be gridlock and no legislative fix will be signed into law. To accurately assess this situation both parties are right in some areas on this issue and wrong in some areas.
The Republican party is wrong on the cost for this bill their funding is too low. The vast majority of expenditures in the Democrat Senate bill is legitimate and is needed if America is going to get this problem under control, the expenditure are reasonably tailored to the needed task the government will have to do for this problem. The spending problem for the Democrat bill and it is a doozy lies with the $1.2 billion they want to give the Department of Health and Human Services to provide shelter, healthcare, education, etc. services for these children and the Democrats recognize that this funding won't even carry the country through FY 2015 in FY 2015 there will be another supplemental bill needed for DHS for this problem.
The Republican Party is correct on this issue this problem can't continue the country can't afford to pay for the care of these children this supplemental legislation has to fix the problem by reversing the 2008 law treating children illegally immigrating from noncontiguous countries to America just like children from contiguous countries like Mexico, this change would dramatically reduce the number of such children in DHS custody and thus DHS expenses because this change would give the Border Patrol staff the authority to expeditiously send these children back to their home country. The Democrat Party has to appreciate the cost of this problem America doesn't even have enough money to take care of her own children the way we should it should be out of the question this added financial burden of these foreign children; consider how many teachers and counselors have been laid off in recent years because America doesn't have the money to pay for them. On this specific funding line item, the DHS funding, the Republicans need to move their position a little, unfortunately one Republican House member summed up the Republican Party's position on this specific issue in quite a telling manner he essentially said we need to buy an airplane ticket to their home country for each of these children and just stick them on the planes and get them out of our country; the 2008 law needs to be changed and these children need to be expeditiously sent back to their home country but it needs to be done responsibly, arrangements need to be made with a family member or social service agencies in these home countries or home country governments to provide a good place for these children to go. This problem has festered for the better part of a year it is going to take at least that amount of time to fix it meaning DHS is going to have to continue to care for these children as the expedited process to send these children back is put in place so to be reasonable the Republican Party should agree to half the funding the Senate Democrats which means agreeing to $600 million. Since this supplemental legislation will have the 2008 law fix in it America should see a drop off in children illegally coming to America because the message will get out in these home countries that if you illegally go to America America will send you right back therefore the Department of Homeland Security should need as much resources to address this problem so cut the additional funding from $1.1 billion to $900 million.
Apparently, the 2008 law fix is one of the logjams on passage of this supplemental bill. Maybe a way to overcome this is to follow an idea that some Democrats have raised which is to open a path for these children to apply for refugee status in their home countries. Reasonable Americans can agree we want to help children caught in sex trafficking or sex slavery or the other big problem is where children are threatened with death or serious bodily injury if they don't join a gang and we can agree that we want to give these children visas so they can come to America for safety America's values call for this. So maybe as part of a compromise Congress should allow for children to apply and receive visas at U.S. embassies and consulates in their home country for these limited reasons, not to escape poverty, at least for the Central American countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras where there is significant gang problems; this would make most sense because these state department locations could establish relationships with local law enforcement and others who probably know if the specific children's' claims are legitimate, so refugee visas can be issued to really deserving children.
The Republican Party's contention that this supplemental bill needs to be paid for is bogus and it should be dropped. This is an emergency funding bill America's rightful practice is that emergency funding bills do not have to be offset in the emergency legislation. Emergency legislation isn't only legislation that addresses natural disasters it can be humanitarian aid for refugees it can be national security matters, after 911 there was such a supplemental funding bill. This children illegally immigrating to America problem qualifies as a national security emergency our southern border is not secure so offsets should not be demanded by the Republicans.
The Republican Party is right though that the National Guard should be deployed for a year in the Rio Grande Area of Texas where this illegal children immigration problem is stemming from. We need to send these Central American Countries the message don't illegally come to America things have changed from the past year America has got its act together and you won't get through we have the National Guard deployed. It is a really stupid idea to use the national guard to care for these children so border agents currently doing it can get back to their border security jobs DHS should just hire child care workers to do this task National guardsman should be utilized to do National guardsman work that is what they are trained for.
The Republican party is wrong on the cost for this bill their funding is too low. The vast majority of expenditures in the Democrat Senate bill is legitimate and is needed if America is going to get this problem under control, the expenditure are reasonably tailored to the needed task the government will have to do for this problem. The spending problem for the Democrat bill and it is a doozy lies with the $1.2 billion they want to give the Department of Health and Human Services to provide shelter, healthcare, education, etc. services for these children and the Democrats recognize that this funding won't even carry the country through FY 2015 in FY 2015 there will be another supplemental bill needed for DHS for this problem.
The Republican Party is correct on this issue this problem can't continue the country can't afford to pay for the care of these children this supplemental legislation has to fix the problem by reversing the 2008 law treating children illegally immigrating from noncontiguous countries to America just like children from contiguous countries like Mexico, this change would dramatically reduce the number of such children in DHS custody and thus DHS expenses because this change would give the Border Patrol staff the authority to expeditiously send these children back to their home country. The Democrat Party has to appreciate the cost of this problem America doesn't even have enough money to take care of her own children the way we should it should be out of the question this added financial burden of these foreign children; consider how many teachers and counselors have been laid off in recent years because America doesn't have the money to pay for them. On this specific funding line item, the DHS funding, the Republicans need to move their position a little, unfortunately one Republican House member summed up the Republican Party's position on this specific issue in quite a telling manner he essentially said we need to buy an airplane ticket to their home country for each of these children and just stick them on the planes and get them out of our country; the 2008 law needs to be changed and these children need to be expeditiously sent back to their home country but it needs to be done responsibly, arrangements need to be made with a family member or social service agencies in these home countries or home country governments to provide a good place for these children to go. This problem has festered for the better part of a year it is going to take at least that amount of time to fix it meaning DHS is going to have to continue to care for these children as the expedited process to send these children back is put in place so to be reasonable the Republican Party should agree to half the funding the Senate Democrats which means agreeing to $600 million. Since this supplemental legislation will have the 2008 law fix in it America should see a drop off in children illegally coming to America because the message will get out in these home countries that if you illegally go to America America will send you right back therefore the Department of Homeland Security should need as much resources to address this problem so cut the additional funding from $1.1 billion to $900 million.
Apparently, the 2008 law fix is one of the logjams on passage of this supplemental bill. Maybe a way to overcome this is to follow an idea that some Democrats have raised which is to open a path for these children to apply for refugee status in their home countries. Reasonable Americans can agree we want to help children caught in sex trafficking or sex slavery or the other big problem is where children are threatened with death or serious bodily injury if they don't join a gang and we can agree that we want to give these children visas so they can come to America for safety America's values call for this. So maybe as part of a compromise Congress should allow for children to apply and receive visas at U.S. embassies and consulates in their home country for these limited reasons, not to escape poverty, at least for the Central American countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras where there is significant gang problems; this would make most sense because these state department locations could establish relationships with local law enforcement and others who probably know if the specific children's' claims are legitimate, so refugee visas can be issued to really deserving children.
The Republican Party's contention that this supplemental bill needs to be paid for is bogus and it should be dropped. This is an emergency funding bill America's rightful practice is that emergency funding bills do not have to be offset in the emergency legislation. Emergency legislation isn't only legislation that addresses natural disasters it can be humanitarian aid for refugees it can be national security matters, after 911 there was such a supplemental funding bill. This children illegally immigrating to America problem qualifies as a national security emergency our southern border is not secure so offsets should not be demanded by the Republicans.
The Republican Party is right though that the National Guard should be deployed for a year in the Rio Grande Area of Texas where this illegal children immigration problem is stemming from. We need to send these Central American Countries the message don't illegally come to America things have changed from the past year America has got its act together and you won't get through we have the National Guard deployed. It is a really stupid idea to use the national guard to care for these children so border agents currently doing it can get back to their border security jobs DHS should just hire child care workers to do this task National guardsman should be utilized to do National guardsman work that is what they are trained for.
