Obama's amnesty for 200,000 kids sneaking across our porous border
Promises of amnesty are drawing unaccompanied illegal alien minors into the United States. They appear to have been sent for by their illegal alien parents in the United States, or sent north by parents or relatives in Mexico and Central America.
The common-sense, humanitarian, and legal thing to do would be to send them back home - along with their illegal alien parents living in the United States. Naturally, President Obama isn't doing that. Not wanting to miss a grand - and grandstanding - opportunity to cater to Undocumented Democrats, the White House is framing the onrush of kiddies as a humanitarian crisis. Senator Jeff Sessions noted that "Obama has nobody to blame but himself,"7 although perhaps missing the point that Obama is achieving precisely the results he is looking for.
The mainstream media has bought in to the White House message. I listened to a slanted NPR segment yesterday which focused on how dangerous it was for Central American kids to sneak across Mexico, riding on top of gang-infested trains, and that we simply could not return them home to return to their extended families.
Word has gotten back across the border that the US in't returning kids who evaded capture at the border, which acts as an incentive for even more kids to be sent north. Central Americans are now under the distinct impression that the United States has opened its doors to foreign women and children.7
It's expected that 60,000 kids will sneak into the United States this year, and possibly 130,000 in 2015. That's more than 20 times the 2011 influx of 6,000. It's a compounding problem - with over twice as many each year. (Here's a great explanation of exponential growth and doubling time).
We, the taxpayers, are paying to house, care for, and transport these illegal aliens to parents in the United States. The White House has estimated a staggering projected cost of $2.28 billion to care for and resettle child migrants from Central America, and they are asking for another $1.4 billion to keep the kids here.
Wouldn't it be more cost-effective to simply secure our southern border?
As John Derbyshire points out3, if you divide $2.28 billion by two thousand miles of border, you get a little over a million dollars per mile. The Isralis spend less than that to completely secure their own border. For that amount, we could permanently staff border patrol posts every ten miles, and have rapid response teams and drone surveillance to boot.
All that is lacking is the political will to forgo some growth of the US consumer base and future democratic voting demographic. For the sake of our country - in case anyone still values such antiquated concepts.
Related articles
1. Obama Offers Mini-Amnesty To 200,000 Kids By 2016, Daily Caller, June 2, 2014.
White House officials said Monday that they are treating a wave of youthful illegal immigrants as a “humanitarian situation” that requires billions of dollars in aid for shelter, nutrition, health care and education.
Officials are not treating the expected influx of 60,000 youths this year — and perhaps 130,000 in 2015 — as a wave of illegal immigrants that should be returned home.
Instead, officials are spending taxpayer funds, and converting parts of at least two military facilities, to cater to the illegals and to transport them to their illegal-immigrant parents elsewhere in the United States...
Officials expect the inflow to reach 130,000 in 2015, up more than 20-fold from the 2011 influx of 6,000 youths...
2. OMB: Child migrants to cost U.S. $2.3 billion, Politico, May 31, 2014.
New White House estimates show that the projected costs of caring for and resettling child migrants from Central America could reach $2.28 billion next year — well over double what the administration asked for in its 2015 budget just months ago...
The $2.28 billion number compares with the $868 million requested by the administration in its budget submitted in March. That translates to a $1.4 billion, or 163 percent, increase, the scale of which confirms — even exceeds — internal estimates reported last week by POLITICO...
Moreover, OMB adds a warning in its letter that U.S. border and immigration agencies — which first interact with the child migrants — will also need an additional $166 million to cover their costs...
All younger than 18, these are Unaccompanied Alien Children — UACs in Washington’s legal shorthand. Their numbers could approach 66,000 this year — more than four times the level just two years ago...
3. Is A Secure Border Too Much To Ask?, John Derbyshire, Vdare, June 4, 2013.
Our southern border is roughly two thousand miles long. Divide $2.28 billion by two thousand, you get a million dollars and change per mile. This is for one year, remember.
Could we not fully secure the southern border and keep it secure for a million dollars a mile per year? Of course we could. The Israelis secure their border for far less than that, including their border across the Negev desert, which is at least as inhospitable as our Southwest.
Suppose for example we had permanently-manned border posts every ten miles along the entire length: five-man occupancy, rotating on six-hour shifts. That’s two hundred posts, twenty border patrolmen each post, total four thousand guys. Figure current cost per patrolman of $150,000 per annum with benefits, training, and so on, you’re talking annual cost 600 million dollars—what in Congressional budget negotiations is known as “dinner and a movie.” You could throw in fulltime drone surveillance and rapid-response teams for attempted crossings, and still have a lot of change from $2.28 billion.
4. Obama: Child migrants 'urgent humanitarian' issue, MSN. June 3, 2014.
5. White House seeks extra $1.4B to address surge in children crossing southern border, Fox News, June 3, 2014.
6. Central American Child Migrants Continue Arriving, Allan Wall, VDare, June 4, 2014.
7. Wave of Minors on Their Own Rush to Cross Southwest Border, New York Times, June 3, 2014.
8. Jeff Sessions on Surge of Illegal Immigrant Children: Obama Has 'Nobody to Blame But Himself', Breitbart, June 2, 2014
9. Illegal Immigrant: Reports in Central America Encourage Trek North, KRGV, June 3, 2014.
A mother and child told CHANNEL 5 NEWS that the message being disseminated in their country is, “go to America with your child, you won’t be turned away.”...