Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

The Opinion Pages | OP-ED COLUMNIST NYT

Tears for the Border Children
JULY 16, 2014

Charles M. Blow

The fight over how to process and care for masses of children from Central America who have crossed into this country is quickly becoming a spectacle of the obscene.

While the government tries to abide by the law as written and handle the children with as much care as any child would deserve, under any circumstances, the public continues to see images of angry adults intent on confronting buses full of minors.

This month, demonstrators in Murrieta, Calif., forced buses carrying immigrants to turn back. A group in Oracle, Ariz., this week blocked a road to prevent a bus filled with immigrant children from making it to a temporary housing facility.

The latest protest came after the county sheriff tipped local residents off about the incoming bus. According to the Associated Press:

Sheriff Paul Babeu “is credited with stirring up the anti-immigrant protesters via social media postings and a press release Monday and by leaking information about the migrants’ arrival to a local activist.”

Adam Kwasman, a Republican congressional candidate and state legislator, also showed up to protest the children’s arrival. When a school bus was spotted, Kwasman tweeted a picture of it with the words, “Bus coming in. This is not compassion. This is the abrogation of the rule of law.”

Kwasman even regaled a local reporter with what he said he saw on the bus:

“I was able to actually see some of the children in the buses and the fear on their faces. This is not compassion.”

That was until the reporter informed Kwasman that the children on the bus weren’t migrant children but local YMCA campers who, according to “reporters at the scene,” were “laughing and taking pictures on their iPhones.”

Kwasman’s response: “They were sad, too.”

Well, I know that I’m sad. We should all be.

I’m sad that the fate of children has been so consumed by political theater and callous fabrication.

Some of these children will no doubt be found to simply be illegal immigrants and sent back home, but others, likely many, will indeed qualify for refugee status.

In fact, MSNBC reported last week that of more than 400 children who fled their homes, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees “found that almost 60 percent of children had legitimate claims to seek asylum in the United States. Most were escaping recruiting attempts by violent gangs who forced participation or threatened the entire families of children who refused.”

And yet, rather than refer to these children as just that — children — or possibly refugees, some Republicans have taken to calling their entry into the country an “invasion.” They have suggested that these kids are disease-ridden. Representative Louie Gohmert even suggested on the House floor that the wave of children posed an existential threat to the country, and Gov. Rick Perry hinted that the influx could be some sort of Obama administration conspiracy.

All this has raised the tenor of xenophobic hysteria in this country and is likely to poison the well of comprehensive immigration reform.

A Pew Research Center Poll released Wednesday found that most Americans want to speed up the process by which these children are processed in this country, even if some who are eligible for asylum are deported.

When that question is viewed through an ideological lens, 60 percent of Republicans and 56 percent of Independents want to speed up the process, while Democrats are evenly split.

At this point, the entire issue has taken on partisan dimensions. Many of the president’s core supporters — blacks, liberal Democrats and young people — are more likely to support following the current policy. On the other hand, constituencies more likely to oppose the president — men, whites, older people and Republicans, particularly those who are supporters of the Tea Party — favor speeding up the process.

In fact, this issue has chilled Republican views of immigration in general. There has been a 10-percentage point drop — from 64 percent in February to 54 percent now — in the share of Republicans who support “a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants.”

This is not the best face of a great nation. This is the underside of a great stone, which when lifted sends creepy things slithering in all directions. We are better than this. We are more compassionate than this. We are more honorable than this.

This is not the time to give in to our lesser angels, but the time to rise with our better ones.

HEART Loc: God's Country - COLORADO

No cause & effect shown for..."In fact, this issue has chilled Republican views of immigration in general. There has been a 10-percentage point drop — from 64 percent in February to 54 percent now — in the share of Republicans who support “a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants.”

Not happening. Wishful thinking on your part.

Twardlow, I love kids, but they're here illegally - and abetted by this administration. Shed the tears somewhere else. Warehouse them in your community, and you'll see how quickly the resouces run out.

Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

I love kids, too, and they are refugees--is that illegal? They are NOT abetted by this administration; Obama is following Bushes' law.

Please try to burnish your humanity.

Kombiguy Loc: Cedar Rapids, IA

It's not Bush's law, it is Clinton's. Bush and Obama merely have signed reauthorizations of the original law. So, Obama owns this iteration of the law.

dljen Loc: Central PA

What makes it all worse, besides the crazies, are the men that call themselves "patriots" (from Bundy's farm) armed with guns at the border. The true patriots are the men and women from churches and other organizations helping feed these children. They didn't ask to be put in this position.

The Republican candidate for Congress is an ass, I saw him interviewed. Children at vacation school sad? Right! Where do they find these guys?

jjwright71 Loc: Lubbock,Tx

w4ell turdblow ,the cause is our fake presedent ,Obummer who opened his mouth claculating that there would b a run with the children ,then he could hold up joe citizen for an exorbant amount of money ,resulting in another drain on our resourses,,,Effect ,flooding the border with "immagrant children",i say close the border and everybody go home ,all the childrens problems did not start yesterday and wont go away tomorrow!, HAR!

Bangee5 Loc: Louisiana

Donna, you sure are fixated on Clive Bundy. You say there are men from Bundy's Ranch on the border? Are you sure? Do you know where Bundy's Ranch is located and just where on the border is his ranch? How close is Nevada to the border?

bodacious Loc: Oregon

How about we feed them, give a clean set of clothing and then send them back from where they came. In the mean time we can close the border both coming and going, problem solved and a ton of money saved. Oh ya, they did not ask to be put in this position but they DID NOT ASK to be in the US either, that's why they are illegal immigrants to begin with. send em home, the majority of Americans do not want them and we as a country cannot afford to maintain them or the health concerns they are bringing to the US. I have not seen nor heard of many democrats who are anything but an ass. Our problems in the states are not from conservative republicans but stem from liberal democrats and liberal rhino republicans.