LTE – Janet Scepurek – 4-7-2021
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To the Editor:
I write in response to your opinion column of March 24, 2021. I believe Kevin McCarthy was incorrect when he said that president Biden said it was his top priority to offer citizenship for eleven million undocumented immigrants. I’ve read many articles and seen many times on television that Biden’s #1 priority was the pandemic. In fact, when I did a Google search on March 24, the day of your editorial piece, the first six search results did not list immigration as a priority. I don’t care what McCarthy or other Republican rhetoric says; let’s just stick with the facts, shall we?
It’s difficult to find exact numbers, but I have seen several reports that say: 99 percent are expelled immediately; nearly all single adults are expelled but children alone can stay; the Border Patrol has said the vast majority are expelled in less than 2 hours; the Biden administration also intends to expel families, but needs the cooperation of Mexico as they don’t accept them. I also heard that Mexico is being more cooperative since the US has agreed to give vaccine to Mexico. I heard one talking head say 70 percent are being expelled, but he doesn’t have the current figures (he was using February’s, as that’s the last full month). Biden has continued to use Title 42, Public Health and Welfare, regarding the pandemic.
Therefore, I believe your deduction that “sick illegal immigrants are invading us, and Biden is letting them” is incorrect, and in any case it’s completely different from the nightly news that I watch.
It’s not easy to find fair and balanced and honest information nowadays. I always thought journalists were supposed to verify their sources.
I know that Republicans accuse Biden of “open borders”, but I can’t see how deporting 99 percent of them is consistent with that. I have heard from multiple sources that this recent surge began in April 2020, when Trump was President. So how is that Biden’s fault? I have also seen several interviews of people of both parties who think immigration reform is long overdue. Senator Lindsay Graham said we need 500 new immigration judges to deal with the increased numbers. On the Sunday talk shows was stated that those who take the immigrants’ life savings and get them to the US border aren’t telling them that they won’t be allowed in, they are taking advantage of their desperation and making lots of money off them.
I think it’s a good idea to have VP Harris attempt to work with the Northern Triangle governments to try to ameliorate things in their own countries rather than desperate people making the dangerous journey for nothing.
I read the book by Senator Jeff Murkley, “America is Better than This,” when he toured the southern border and he documented the deception by the Trump administration including Kirsten Nielsen and Jeff Sessions. Americans of both parties were appalled by the Trump policy of child separation.
We all know something needs to be done. But mislabeling it “open borders” is not helpful. Consider this quote from the Brookings Institute: “In contrast to the President Trump’s rhetoric about building a wall at the Mexican border, illegal migration has shifted since 2010 from border crossing to visa overstays –the latter share has been greater than border crossings since 2010” 62 percent to 38 percent.
Regarding your conclusion that Biden might lock us all up, again I did a Google search and found interesting results. The first one was a Reuters Fact Check: Biden did not say he will lock down the country; however, Trump accused him, and social media posts were false. The second search result was Tucker Carlson’s speculation. The third result was a law professor’s opinion that ‘the power to take actions for public safety emergencies generally lies with states and localities.’ That’s what I thought.
I don’t know what the answer is, but I believe Congress needs to take action, and we see how well that’s been going.
Janet Scepurek