Ripping Children From The Arms Of Their Mothers

It's a bit of hyperbole, but it's more than a little true.  Mothers with children that make it across the U.S./Mexican border are indeed separated from their children.  And, this does offend one's social conscience.  But, let's look at this matter a bit more closely.

Only now, during the Trump administration, have NBC, CNN and liked minded networks decided to highlight this situation.  During earlier administrations, this matter was hardly ever talked about.  Now, during Trump's administration this cruelty is being highlighted.

And, it is indeed cruel and heartless.  But, how did we get to this point.  Wasn't it these mothers who in the first instance decided to find a way to get into the U.S. even if it violated our laws.  Weren't the mothers fully aware of the consequences of their reckless and unlawful actions?  These procedures for dealing with the mothers and their children had clearly been established some time ago.

Okay, so how do we get ourselves out of this situation?  The obvious answer is to create a barrier on our border than can not be breached.  But, here we have a problem.  The Democrats won't support border security and without border security foreign mothers will continue to enter the U.S. illegally.  Their children become their get-out-of-jail card.  With this card, illegal entry to the U.S. becomes unstoppable.

But, why do these people vote against their own homelands to make a fairly perilous trip to the Mexican-American border?  Several possible answers have been cited.  They include the following:
The poor economic condition in places like Guatemala, Honduras, etc.  In the U.S., poor people are entitled to welfare. Not in these places. Then there's the real risk of physical harm back home.  A risk stemming from criminal gangs preying on their their fellow nationals.  In some cases, there's a desire to escape family violence.  Americans can sympathize with people who find themselves in these situations.  Whether seeking to escape danger or simply seeking better opportunities have always been the reasons that people want to come here.  It's the reason most of our forefathers came here.

But, when a nation grows and matures, and especially in a time of relatively easy transportation, nations have to begin to consider the situation of the people who already made it and the generations of Americans that followed them.  We're a pretty good nation because mostly we pay our taxes.  We're a pretty good nation because we have relatively good laws and generally enforce those laws.  We're a pretty good nation because we've come a long way toward eliminating ethnic, social and racial discrimination.  We're not perfect, but we've come a long way and we've reached a pretty high level of fairness and equality.  The question is can we do this for the world?  Can we take in everyone who seeks to escape a corrupt and lawless nation?  Can we do this for everyone everywhere in the world who seeks to escape poverty?  Do we have that capability?

We see what is happening to European countries that have allowed unfettered immigration from the middle east.  (They don't like to talk about it, but the stories are getting out.)  We'd dearly love to help the whole world, but we simply don't have the ability.

Liberals often ask wasn't it immigrants who built this country?  And, they're right.  It was.  But, they neglect to mention that we insisted that these early immigrants have sponsors who would keep their immigrant friends and family from becoming wards of the state.  We also insisted that they be healthy.  Illness was considered a valid reason for sending them back to wherever they came from.  If you were from Europe and poor, chances were your first stop would be Ellis Island, the place where it was decided whether  you'd be admitted.

The world's a tough place.  We've got to do whatever we can to make it better for our citizens.  Other countries have this same obligation.