Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Refugees or Illegal Aliens

Unaccompanied children fleeing from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador because of violence and extortion by gangs in their own countries are crossing in to America in record numbers in hopes of finding safety. There are also women with small children coming across the border in Texas. Now place this event in another country and Americans would be demanding that the country in question find a way to help these children and their mothers. Americans would be outrages at the thought of sending them back into harm’s way just to remove them from the receiving country. The children would not be called illegal aliens but refugees.

The United States of America has a very vocal population that hates anyone that comes into our country from south of our borders. They look down upon these individuals as criminals. In California, angry mobs threatened the safety of mothers and children and their buses had to turn back to prevent harm to the children. Is this the way we want people from around the world to view the people of our country? Where is the compassion from our people that we would expect other countries to show refugees fleeing violence and extortion?

Overcrowding in Texas has forced Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to move children from centers in Texas to other holding facilities while they review the case of each child. Our country is facing a huge humanitarian crisis that will tell the world what type of country we live in and decide our standing for years to come with other countries in the world. Will we be known as the heartless country that turned away women and children refugees and then demanded that other countries around the world open their borders? Is our country the type that would send young children and babies into harm’s way just to placate a few haters? Where is the outrage for the behavior of the mobs in California? What kind of people would harm children just because they are Hispanic?

People in our country should be helping these children by sending clothes, toys, and books. They should be reaching out to let them know that we the greats country in the world will protect them and keep them safe until we can find their family or a home to take them. Our country should be working with the countries from which the children come in order to create a safe stable environment for them to return home.