Christian Politics in the United States

[Long2Retire]

Christian Thing to Do: Kindness to Kids AND Border Enforcement

http://clashdaily.com/2014/07/christian-thing-kindness-kids-border-enforcement/

Written by Michelle Zook on July 9, 2014

Eight years old and carrying only his birth certificate, Alejandro made the long journey from Honduras, only to get caught by Border Patrol just as he crossed into Texas. He is, he says, looking for his parents in San Antonio—but has no address for them. Nor does he have an address for his aunt in Maryland, incidentally, so for now, I’m sure he’s being held at taxpayer expense while agents exhaust all avenues trying to track down his family. Your taxpayer money hard at work, I’m sure.

Of course, here in America, if my neighbor let her eight-year old walk more than a couple of miles away from her unattended, she’d be arrested. So while I can empathize with Alejandro’s parents for wanting to give him a better life (if they are, indeed, in San Antonio), it’s probably a good thing for him he’s in Border Patrol custody—although one might wonder what responsible adult he might be going back to in Honduras if he should actually be deported. Who in their right mind sends an eight-year old on that kind of journey by himself or with some random stranger? Who thinks this is a good idea?

President Obama says this is a humanitarian crisis and the UN says these children flooding across our southern borders ought to be treated as refugees. That’s sweet of the UN to be so concerned, although I don’t see them rushing in to pick up the tab. Feeding, housing, and doctoring all these children—much less guarding them from curious Congressmen who can be responsible to constituents in November—can’t be cheap. But if the UN gets involved (sans payment, natch), then President Obama and Congress can each blame each other and insist that it’s all the UN’s fault while once again the American taxpayer gets screwed.

This is the time for the president to engage in something a little more strenuous than hashtag diplomacy and a round of golf. He needs to have some hard words for our neighbors to the south, demanding answers and repayment for the funds expended by the American government on their citizens’ behalf, because contrary to popular belief, American taxpayers do not have unlimited funds.

And if the governments of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and, yes, Mexico, are failing to the point that they cannot take care of their children to the point that they are causing a humanitarian crisis in neighboring countries, then perhaps they should be treated as the failed states they are. Let’s put their nations into a sort of international receivership, and figure out what their problems are (beyond widespread crime and corruption). Their governments have now made their failures our problems by sending their refugees illegal border crossers into our country; so perhaps instead of the UN wanting to poke their noses about here, the UN could go muck about down there and actually do some good instead of just trying to get free press.

I do not think this is an extreme solution; I can only imagine that if hordes of feral eight year olds were swarming across our border into the Saskatchewan prairies, then Ottawa would (politely) demand answers from us. Nor should we allow the Central American governments to be held to a different standard because they’re poorer than us or have different problems. Are they any less sovereign? The “soft bigotry of low expectations” applies here as well. If these countries want to be treated as responsible, sovereign nations, then they need to act as such.

Please note that I am not entirely heartless. It’s not that I don’t love little children or empathize with the plight of all these unattended minors. I just don’t see it as the role of the American government to feed, clothe, house and care for them, NOR do I think a bunch of refugees illegal border crossers should hop in front of American children already in our floundering foster care system. It’s rather heartening to see charities stepping up to provide care and I think more and more private charities and citizens should get involved—it is the Christian thing to do in this case. But it is also the Christian thing to do to insist upon laws and for things to happen in a legal manner.

Putting your child—or a child given into your care—into the hands of a stranger and hoping they make it into a foreign land should never be a decision families are forced to make. It’s time for some Central American governments to be held accountable for placing families into this desperate position as they repatriate their lost children.