OPINION:
Some headlines need to be read twice to be grasped. No amount of extra attention helps make sense of the following one in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal: “U.S. in Talks to Pay Hundreds of Millions to Families Separated at Border.” So, pay, not punish? If the Biden administration were to make millionaires of immigrants who enter the country illegally, it would confirm that the nation — and common sense – have gone far down the perilous pathway toward ruin.
President Biden, writes the Journal, is considering a plan to pay $450,000 to each immigrant who entered the United States illegally and was separated from accompanying family members during the Trump administration. Accordingly, an unlawful parent-child duo could wind up with a double payment of $900,000 under this Biden boondoggle. The total payout of taxpayer funds could reach $1 billion.
During a 2017-18 period of zero tolerance for illicit U.S. entry, thousands of offending adults were incarcerated; their children, disallowed by law from detention, were taken to shelters. When parents were released, frequently within a few days, most families were quickly reunited.
Americans have a heart for human suffering, which is why they lead the world in charitable giving. And they recognize the pain of lonely children as among the most sorrowful of miseries. There is little argument that individuals who choose the break U.S. immigration laws are due elementary humane treatment. Still, there is no rational explanation for why they deserve to become virtual millionaires as a reward for their transgressions.
There is no disguising the fact that Mr. Biden is luring those he hopes to make Democratic Party voters with cash as bait. Even now, a caravan of thousands is trekking northward through Mexico, attracted by the promise of resettlement in a U.S. community and access to government benefits. Learning that earlier sojourners may join the millionaire’s club can only quicken their steps toward a possible bolt-out-of-the-blue payday.
Consider a surreal juxtaposition: As the Biden team ponders their plan to pay past immigrants for breaking U.S. laws and exempts current ones from stiff COVID-19 vaccine requirements, hardworking Americans are being forced out of their jobs for refusing to comply with the president’s overbearing vax mandates. They include thousands of essential police, fire, military and health care professionals who risk their lives to keep the nation safe.
The idea that the president would even dream of approving reparations for illegals is beyond insulting to Americans. Only a leader blind to a sense of fairness or in a state of cognitive decline would do so.
Following the debacle in Afghanistan, the minting of millionaire illegals would confirm that the president’s crashing poll numbers are not outliers and prove that, whether through intent or infirmity, he is pushing Americans toward the abyss. Three more years remain in Mr. Biden’s term, but the nation might not have that much time.
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