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To the editor:
Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made some excellent points about the migrant crisis. One is that President Joe Biden will have serious problems getting reelected unless he takes decisive action to show he understands the problem for New York and other cities caused by allowing thousands of migrants to cross our border with no rational strategy to help them survive and adjust.
Bloomberg says we have a system that allows an unlimited number of people to cross our borders, forbids them from working, offers them free housing, and allows them seven years of residency before ruling whether they can remain in the country. This is irrational, and Biden had better recognize it and offer an attempt at a solution.
The migrant crisis is teaching us (if we are willing to learn) that there are limits to compassionate relief for those who are desperately trying to escape poverty, criminal gangs and a future of fear and uncertainty. We simply cannot allow unlimited numbers of people to cross our border and remain here for years, without employment, before finding out if they can stay here legally. Joe Biden had better attempt to take decisive action on this crisis or he and the Democrats will risk defeat in 2024.
Michael J. Gorman
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wpeakes
President Biden had already taken action to relieve the situation at the border by implementing a policy which require those claiming asylum to first get an appointment with the proper USCIS authorities BEFORE they crossed the border and that those who failed to do so would be subject to arrest, deportation, and banned from the US for a number of years. Following a lawsuit brought by Republicans, a federal judge ruled that that initiative had to stop. I felt like it was a common sense solution to at least begin addressing the immigration problem in a substantial way and, it was working, but, just like a lot of good ideas, to some Republicans, if a Democrat thought of it , it must be wrong.
Wednesday, September 13, 2023 Report this
reenjoe
wpeakes is spot on. The GOP, or more correctly the American political right has caused the national "migrant crisis" by refusing to pass sensible immigration reforms. Even modest reforms like that offered a decade ago crafted by a bi-partisan senate committee of 6 Dems and 6 Reps and passed in the Senate by a 68 to 32 vote was blocked by GOP extremists in the House. That plan offered a 13-year path to citizenship for the 10+ million undocumented immigrants already in the country, plus an ordered path for new applicants. It included background checks, extensive vetting plus border security and still the so-called Freedom Caucus killed the bill. The political right does not want a solution, they want a wedge issue and have done everything they could to keep one in play. THE GOP OWNS THE MIGRANT CRISIS, NOT BIDEN AND THE DEMS!
Monday, September 18, 2023 Report this