OPINION:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, on the heels of a deportation that led to a separated family, issued a scathing statement against President Donald Trump, suggesting his border controls were above and beyond what’s necessary for national security.
She also called him really, really mean, and said that she might tell his mother on him if he doesn’t cut it out.
“The cruel and arbitrary nature of President Trump’s immigration enforcement policies is captured in the heartbreaking story of the Sanchez family,” Feinstein wrote in a statement reported by The Hill.
Who are the Sanchezes?
A husband-wife couple, Maria Mendoza-Sanchez and Eusebio Sanchez, who’ve been living in America illegally for 23 years. They were just given three months to pack up and go back to Mexico, and take their 12-year-old son with them.
They decided to leave their older children, all girls, ages 16, 21 and 23, in the United States.
And because Maria has been working as a nurse, and because she and her husband have been in the United States for so long, the legal citizens of this country are supposed to feel sorry for them and let them stay.
“It’s supposed to be that if you assimilate to the culture of the country, you pay taxes, you work, you graduate college, you have a better chance,” Maria told the San Francisco Chronicle. “It was supposed to be, but I did all that and I’m still in this situation. I just don’t understand.”
Well, here’s some help with that: It’s called breaking the law.
Virginia Kice, a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the couple’s case has been reviewed numerous times over the last 15 years, and they’ve not been deemed suitable to stay in the country.
“The courts have consistently held that neither of these individuals has a legal basis to remain in the U.S.,” she said, citing the fact this administration has made no secret about its intent to enforce border laws.
“When we fail to enforce those laws,” she went on, “what message are we sending to the millions of people who respect that process and are waiting outside the U.S. now for visas that will enable them to enter the country lawfully?”
Quite right.
Just because the past administration was loose with law, and handed out stays of deportation like candy, or worse, turned blind eyes toward illegals, doesn’t mean the situation hasn’t changed under this new White House. In fact, Trump was pretty clear on the campaign trail it would change.
As the Chronicle noted, the Sanchez couple illegally entered America in the early 1990s, and tried to obtain asylum. They fought in court for a decade or so for their green cards, but were denied in 2012. Starting in 2013, under Barack Obama’s administration, they were given one-year stays. But in 2015 — again, under Obama’s White House — they were told they were low-level deportation considerations and that they didn’t need stays any longer.
Sounds like the previous administration’s immigration folk gave out some bad advice, yes? Bad advice that went like this: Nobody’s watching you. Nobody’s going to deport you. So do what you want.
Well, that’s advice the Sanchez couple didn’t have to take. But they did. And now, they have to leave.
“Maria and Eusebio Sanchez have lived in this country for more than 20 years,” Feinstein wrote. “They are hardworking parents raising four children, three [of whom are] citizens and one protected by DACA. They have no criminal records. They pay taxes, own their home and contribute to this country. These are the kind of people we should welcome into the United States with open arms.”
Except — they’re illegals. They’re lawbreakers. And as this administration correctly points out: There’s a message that comes from welcoming lawbreakers, and it’s not one that helps secure the safety of the lawful citizens of the United States.
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