In a comments that seemed to surprise some of his fellow panelists, Fox News contributor and conservative columnist George Will said Sunday that the U.S. should welcome the unaccompanied minors surging across the southern border, fleeing violence in their home countries, reported Raw Story.
“We ought to say to these children, ’Welcome to America, you’re going to go to school, and get a job, and become American,’” Mr. Will said on Fox News, according to Raw Story.
He added, “The idea that we can’t assimilate these 8-year-old criminals with their teddy bears is preposterous.”
Fox News host Chris Wallace challenged Mr. Will, Raw Story reported, saying, “Why should we be dealing with Central America’s problem? We can’t import the problem. They’ve got to deal with it there, and our border has to mean something.”
Mr. Will countered that the U.S. should handle the problem because it is capable of doing so.
“We’ve handled what [American poet] Emma Lazarus called the ’wretched refuse of your teeming shore’ a long time ago, and a lot more people than this,” Mr. Will said, according to Raw Story.
• Jennifer Pompi can be reached at jpompi@washingtontimes.com.
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