Refuge Denied??

Over the past several months, 50,000 children from Central America have flooded our southern border.  They're fleeing gang violence and a brutal existence in their native countries.  It's so bad that parents willingly give up their kids and send them thousands of miles away in the uncertain hope of a better life for them.

The odds of being murdered in New York City are 1 in 275,000.
The odds of being murdered in Honduras are 1 in 1100.  Do the math.

It's an unusual situation, a genuine humanitarian crisis/refugee exodus, and it's brought out the worst in us.

Shameful anti-immigration protesters in Murrieta, California blocked the roadway and forced buses transporting these children to turn around and take a different route.  The road-blockers shouted angry slogans, brandished ugly signs and did their best to act like perfect assholes.  Welcome to America, kids!

Small-minded critics on both the right and the left have complained because Obama hasn't agreed to travel to, say, the Texas border for some "photo-ops".  Photos?  Some are calling it his "Katrina moment".  What a silly thing to want.  How does having his picture taken accomplish anything?

Intolerant conservative cranks like Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla) are calling for immediate deportation of the children.  They're bitching about "border security" and asking for more fences.  "Send 'em all back home," they cry.

That's not gonna happen, at least not right away.  It can't.  We have a legal duty to bring these children into our country safely and care for them until we figure out what to do with them.  (Technically, under U.S. law, they may not be "refugees".)  But due to the unprecedented numbers, the government needs $3.7 billion to do it properly, and now the GOP is whining about "giving Obama another blank check."  Another?  WTF?  What's he gonna do, blow it all on a big night out with Michelle?

We're bouncing between terminal cruelty on the one hand and pathetic indecision on the other.  It's making us look foolish.

Whatever the technicalities, there's only one thing to do -- the right thing.  This is indeed a humanitarian crisis, so we must act humanely by giving these children a safe haven and a secure legal status, as fast as possible.  We can't just coldly deport all of them.  Do you really want to send them back where they came from?  Do you really believe our country should do that?


Back in 1939 in the early days of World War II, the passenger steamship Saint Louis sailed from Hamburg, Germany with 937 German Jews on board.  They were looking to find refuge across the Atlantic, far away from the Nazi craziness.  (A book and a movie, Voyage of the Damned, dealt with the story.)

At every port it tried in the U.S., Cuba and Canada, the Saint Louis was turned away due to technicalities with the legal definition of "refugee".  Eventually, the ship was forced to return to Belgium and the war in Europe.  Most of its passengers did not survive that war.  Many died in concentration camps.

That was then.  This is now.  Have we learned anything?