President Obama told his Mexican counterpart in a phone call Thursday that immigrants crossing into the U.S. illegally won\u2019t qualify for legalized status or deferred deportation, including children.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u00a0At this point, I don\u2019t know what to make of all of this. \u00a0The administration repeatedly says that minors and families are fleeing due to poverty and violence \u2014 but I don\u2019t think anyone believes this is the motivating factor responsible for the sudden surge. \u00a0Even the administration acknowledges that these would-be immigrants believe that there is a new administration policy, leading to families and children willingly surrendering themselves, but the line from the White House is \u201cthey\u2019re wrong; they won\u2019t be allowed to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is Drudge right to pair this statement with a wink? \u00a0Is Obama playing a game here \u2014 the same sort of deliberate half-truth that masks a lie by omission, the same game that Bill Clinton played with \u201cI did not have sexual relations with that woman\u201d?<\/p>\n
This is what we know:<\/p>\n
The administration has repeatedly said that they will not deport anyone without a criminal record. \u00a0Because there aren\u2019t sufficient detention facilities, newly-arriving families with children (as opposed to adults without children, who are, I believe, actually detained) are being given \u201cNotices To Appear\u201d and I haven\u2019t seen any reporting on whether these families are actually \u201cappearing\u201d or not \u2014 in other words, do they, or did they, genuinely believe that they would be given legal authorization to stay, and are they complying with the government processes, even if it means eventual deportation? \u00a0Or is the opportunity to live under-the-radar without fear of deportation, sending their children to American schools, finding an immigrant community and help in securing a fake ID and a job, and settling in illegally, good enough? \u00a0Because if the latter is the case, then all the rhetoric about \u201conly deporting criminals\u201d and \u201cthey just want a better life\u201d is certainly giving them grounds to believe they can stay put.<\/p>\n
And the children? \u00a0Do the parents who send them genuinely believe the narrow fact that the \u201cDACA\u201d executive-order amnesty applies to them? \u00a0Or do they hear the administration, and the experiences of others, and the repeated statement that \u201cthey\u2019re only children,\u201d and conclude that, one way or the other, when it comes down to it, the children have a good enough shot at being allowed to stay to attempt it?<\/p>\n
And when Obama repeats the line that \u201cthey aren\u2019t eligible for DACA\u201d rather than a broader \u201cthese children and families will be deported immediately\u201d is he deliberately avoiding broader statements so as to play the \u201cI didn\u2019t lie\u201d game later?<\/p>\n
According to the CIA World Factbook, there are approximately 10,000,000 children under the age of 14 in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. \u00a0That\u2019s a lot of prospective new arrivals.<\/p>\n
UPDATE: \u00a0Just a couple more thoughts: \u00a0if we take the administration at its word, that it really does want the immigrant flow to end, then there\u2019s only one way to accomplish this: \u00a0for large numbers of Guatemalans, Hondurans, and El Salvadorans to in fact be deported, and be deported quickly, returning home with tales of woe from their failed attempt to immigrate. \u00a0All the nice words from the White House won\u2019t make a different \u2014 only actions.<\/p>\n
Further update: \u00a0Here\u2019s an article from azcentral.com <\/a>which acknowledges that, as its title states, there are \u201cfew immediate consequences for child immigrants,\u201d that, despite the administration\u2019s words to the contrary, border-crossers from Central America will be able to stay for what amounts to an indefinite period of time, and can just cease showing up at deportation hearings if they appear not to be going their way. \u00a0When individuals make the decision to cross into the United States, which will factor more in their decision \u2014 statements from government officials, or reports from others who have arrived and are doing just fine?<\/p>\nAnother article, which I can\u2019t find any longer, featured interviews with prospective immigrants, all of whom said they were motivated by poverty and gangs rather than believing in some new openness to immigrants in the U.S. \u00a0 But, at the same time, none of them appeared to consider the fact that they, in fact, did not have the legal right to immigrate as any factor to consider. <\/p>\n
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The link goes to a Washington Times article, with very little in the way of content. \u00a0Here\u2019s the key (and first) sentence: President Obama told his Mexican counterpart in a phone call Thursday that immigrants crossing into the U.S. illegally won\u2019t qualify for legalized status or deferred deportation, including children. \u00a0At this point, I don\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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