For YEARS the American people have put their money where the President’s mouth is, remaining good little citizens as the President has explained that we “all” need to address the alleged scarcity and “brokenness” of whatever place where he was prioritizing spending and where we were expected to “tighten” our belts.
Then we realized that the President’s “we” was really “you.” The island of the Federal government found an exception for itself from Obamacare. Federal salaries went up (that was first done immediately with a two percent raise in 2009 for public sector federal workers).
And then, with double-digit young American unemployment statistics, many illegals within our borders benefited from the President’s executive order that essentially provided them with amnesty as unknowing “victims” of their parents illegal immigration status though the amnesty extended to 30-year-olds who often also had crimes of their own attached to their status such as illegal IDs, driving without licenses, and zero tax-paying.
Now of course we’ve got the unaccompanied children. Immigration. Everyone seems AFRAID of this issue. I don’t get it unless people really are racist or xenophobic, this issue is NOT complex for US government and US citizens. As pointed out by immigration advocates, this is about ILLEGAL entry, by people of all nationalities.
It’s not about XENOPHOBIA. That’s absurd. Xenophobia is the INTENSE and IRRATIONAL DISLIKE OR FEAR of people from other countries. That is NOT what the immigration issue is.
Regarding the “UNACCOMPANIED” who are the newest flashpoint in the immigration concern. According to the Office of Refugee Resettlement the FIRST reason listed that these children are in the US include the effort to escape violence, abuse or persecution in their home countries, http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/programs/ucs/about.
The ACF includes a single letter (allegedly in a child’s handwriting) published under “Why are they coming? Which states, “My grandmother wanted me to leave. She told me, ‘If you don’t join, the gang will shoot you. If you do join, the rival gang will shot you—or the cops will shoot you. But if you leave no one will shoot you.” (https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/styles/acf_asset_medium/public/assets/uac_2014.jpg?itok=D5_nDfVU).
Heartbreaking BUT according to the CDC among US citizens, “More than 5,000 young people ages 1 to 24 were murdered, making homicide the second leading cause of death for this age group,” and “More than 750,000 children and youth are treated in hospital emergency departments as a result of assault each year—that’s more than 85 every hour,” http://www.cdc.gov/injury/about/focus-cm.html.
So… Is it xenophobia to examine the HHS budget for 2015 and notice that child abuse prevention in our country has a budget of $94 million while Unaccompanied Alien Children have a budget of $868 million? No. It’s a question of where we are putting our priorities.
Is it xenophobia to examine the HHS budget for 2015 and notice that Family Violence Prevention for US citizens has a budget of $140 million while Unaccompanied Alien Children have a budget of $868 million plus another $213 million as part of “Other Refugee Programs”? No. It is a question of priorities.
The second listed reason for the influx of unaccompanied aliens is to find family members in the US.
The third listed reason is to seek work. (Office of Refugee Resettlement, About Unaccompanied Children’s Services, http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/programs/ucs/about).
But our US citizens remain in jeopardy because of LACK of work or under-employment that provides a diminishment in living standards across the board. There are endless articles and research about how while the rich have become richer, the middle class has become poorer and that “INCOME INEQUALITY” is the catchphrase of our time. The struggles of the poor are more “stark” according to the liberal New York Times in a 4/22/2014 article reporting on research done by LIS, (http://www.lisdatacenter.org/).
Last included on the list is human trafficking which is less relevant since that is a SEPARATE and ADDITIONAL budgetary item as listed in the HHS FY2015 Budget (Victims of trafficking which includes a budget of 22 million for the coming year up 8 million from last year).
So, as far as where OUR money is going in the HHS 2015 budget, our citizens seem to be trailing behind where our government’s priorities are for illegals. That’s not xenophobia and it’s certainly not American and I find it hard to believe that ANYONE finds it the “right thing to do,” (the President’s annoying catchphrase).
But there are other problems. Not only are these unaccompanied minors lawbreakers, not only are they reacting in many cases to CHRONIC conditions within their own countries rather than CRISIS conditions in their countries, BUT they are coming to the US where while the President talks about the right thing to do for others has found ample justification for continuing to finance his right thing for others at the expense of the right thing for US citizens.
What the President has failed to realize is that you can’t have it both ways. You can’t claim that US citizens should continue to suck it up while you explain to them how we MUST spend more to absorb, adopt and encourage populations from other countries who think things might be better here.
It is about fairness, prioritizing lawbreakers over law followers.
It is about priorities providing benefits to illegals not afforded US citizens (eg their lawbreaking is forgiven as part and parcel of their coming to the country illegally, piggybacking one broken law as necessitating more than one broken law resulting in forgiveness of their crimes that are held against similarly placed US citizens).
It is about selling and enacting laws promoting the philosophy of SCARCITY of resources to the American citizens while preaching and charging us for generosity to others.
It is about the fact that there are untold millions of American citizens who also live in violence, who also seek family members to care for them, who also need work who suddenly take a distant second place to the hordes of illegals.
And don’t forget healthcare.
If you’re wondering how inevitable amnesty is, you need go no further than the HHS FY2015 Budget in Brief, (http://www.hhs.gov/budget/fy2015-hhs-budget-in-brief/hhs-fy2015budget-in-brief-acf-discretionary.html).
The heading reads, “The Administration for Children and Families (ACF): Discretionary.” There are significant budgetary plans for Unaccompanied Alien Children which in 2013 was 376 million, in 2014 was 868 million and for 2015 remains at 868 million.
In context, this is less than we spend on Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs for citizens which in 2013 had a budget of 108 million, in 2014 had a budget of 114 million and plans for 2015 for a budget of 116 million.
We are informed that “ACF anticipates 70,000 refugee arrivals in FY 2015, together with 55,000 asylees and other entrants eligible for refugee benefits.”
We are then told that these illegals obtain benefits from the government: “These benefits consist primarily of time limited cash and medical assistance but also include social services, primarily job training and English instruction, so adults can become self sufficient as quickly as possible.”
Finally, we’re informed that “With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, HHS anticipates decreased refugee medical assistance costs as more refugees are covered by the Medicaid expansion in participating states. ACF has worked with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to translate the enrollment application into languages most often spoken by refugees (11 are currently available) and has developed a training curriculum so that Navigators and Certified Application Counselors can ensure that refugees and other entrants have equal access to benefits under the Affordable Care Act,” http://www.hhs.gov/budget/fy2015-hhs-budget-in-brief/hhs-fy2015budget-in-brief-acf-discretionary.html.
Now we’ve been reassured that the text of the PPACA will not cover illegal aliens, it’s actually in the Act. So how does HHS anticipate that more refugees will be covered by Medicaid expansion unless they also anticipate some status relabeling or law or regulation change to allow the participation of these illegals in Medicaid? After all, the Administration has no problem with not following the Act when it suits its purposes. We were supposed to be able to keep our plans too, right?
Currently Emergency Medicaid is available for all illegals, meaning that hospitals don’t turn away anyone. Healthcare for illegals was covered in one article entitled, “How Undocumented Immigrants Sometimes Receive Medicaid Treatment,” by Phil Galewitz and Kaiser Health News, 2/13/2013 that discusses this emergency Medicaid.
Additional “Presidential” amnesty will no doubt expand the availability of those services further. Certainly HHS seems to think that Medicaid will cover more illegals transformed into some status that avoids the barrier in the PPACA for eligibility for illegals.
Is it xenophobia to NOTICE that our current government is so afraid of being called intolerant that it won’t stand up for the very people who put them in office? Of course not.
