Baltimore Sun
As one might expect from the lengthy anti-Trump diatribe focused on immigration issues, the editors conveniently omitted the simple fact that undocumented immigrants are unlawfully present on U.S. soil having broken at least one duly passed federal law (“Trump’s campaign of terror against immigrants,” June 24). Those that have overstayed temporary visas and those working illegally have broken additional laws. I have not even mentioned those who have used stolen identities and have broken even more laws.
The editors deride the president for doing his job and whose oath of office requires him to execute and enforce laws passed by the current Congress and previous Congresses. The laws are valid until such time they are amended or repealed. He is not given the option of picking and choosing, so all one can criticize is how he executes and enforces.
It is Congress and previous administrations that have allowed this unlawful migration situation to fester into the current crisis. When a country has millions of people unlawfully within its borders, it clearly means the borders are not secure and deportation efforts are severely lacking. There are too many proverbial carrots — one being the antiquated birth right citizenship law, free K to 12 education to alien minors and privileges like driver’s licenses that should be restricted to citizens and legal residents. Many of these are already afforded to unlawfully present aliens and more proposals like “free” health care are on the horizon in certain blue havens. And then there are the asylum laws that we can see are being abused by the recent batch of migrants. Many do not even show up for hearings because they know their claims are bogus. So they disappear into the woodwork.
The editors question President Trump’s motivations for the deportation raids, but why don’t they question the motives of the political left for not supporting existing immigration law and their failure to address the concerns of many in the populace that want a secure border. The editors keep preaching about comprehensive immigration reform, which even the most gullible person knows they are mainly talking about amnesty, which is not a tenet of current immigration law.
In the meantime, it is the taxpayers who are paying the price for the unlawful migration situation because it has become an unending game of political football. The United States needs to bring its immigration laws into this current century because migration dynamics have changed rapidly over the past couple decades.
Michael V. Ernest, Catonsville
