Tag Archives: zero tolerance

International news

Only Congress can fix it? How did POTUS do it?

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen made it clear: Only Congress can fix the situation regarding the policy that enabled Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to separate children from their parents at the border.

The president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, said the same thing.

So did the White House press office.

What, then, happened today? The president signed an executive order doing the very thing he and his aides could be done only by congressional fiat.

Was the president lying? Did he tell the nation’s DHS secretary to lie? Did the secretary lie on her own, all by herself?

national news

Trump ends family separation … now what?

Donald J. Trump today heeded the din of dissent across the nation over a policy that separated young children from their parents at the nation’s southern border.

The president’s executive order ends the policy in a 180-degree reversal. Families won’t be separated. Children won’t be delivered to camps to await some disposition of their fate while the government decides what to do about their parents’ illegal entry into the United States.

I am glad to see the president react in this manner. His rhetoric today, though, continues to sound defiant. He lays blame for this situation on his predecessors in the Oval Office.

So, the question remains: What happens now?

Republicans in Congress joined their Democratic colleagues in calling for an end to this inhumane policy. I am heartened to hear the bipartisan outrage, just as I am heartened to witness Trump backing down from his previous statements.

I am left to wonder, too, why he would say today that he “didn’t like the sight” of families being separated. When did that “sight” upset him? Did it just happen? Or was he upset all along? If it’s the latter, then why continue to implement such a policy?

Well, he acted today as he should have done before this crisis erupted. Now it’s time to find a comprehensive solution to the nation’s immigration policy.

Get busy, Mr. President and members of Congress.

national news

GOP drumbeat is getting louder

Well, shut my mouth and call me speechless.

U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, the Clarendon (Texas) Republican, has weighed in with a stout statement of criticism of Donald J. Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy on illegal immigration.

Here is what Thornberry said today in a statement released by his office:

“Our immigration system is in need of a major overhaul, but there is no excuse for separating children from their parents. We should begin with heightened border security and interior enforcement, not the division of families. The House is currently considering legislation to secure our borders in the most humane way possible and to address the status of DACA recipients currently in our country. We also need to reform our legal immigration system so that decisions are timely, contributing to the health and well-being of country.”

Can you believe it? Neither can I. But he said it. Welcome aboard the indignation band wagon, Rep. Thornberry.

“There is no excuse for separating children from their parents,” Thornberry said.

He is right. No excuse. None. Zero.

Yet the president of the United States keeps doubling and tripling down on this hideous policy, all the while blaming congressional Democrats for enacting a bill that they never enacted.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican, has promised to introduce legislation that keeps families united. He has been joined by the state’s senior U.S. senator, John Cornyn, another Republican lawmaker. U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan has declared his intention to work toward ending this policy.

Will the president listen to these individuals? Will he do what he needs to do and stop this hideous treatment of children who have been caught up in the immigration sausage grinder?

He will if he has a speck of decency in his soul. Many of us, though, wonder if he does.

International news

More shallow idiocy from POTUS

Check out this image from a meeting today that the president of the United States had with small business leaders.

He was talking to them about his “zero tolerance” policy, the one that allows children to be taken from their parents at the border. Donald Trump equated all illegal entrants into the United States with vicious gang members intent on bring death and destruction to this country.

He made no mention, of course, of those who are fleeing persecution in their own country or their pursuit of a better life in the Land of Opportunity.

Then to show how much he loves the nation he was elected to govern, the president decided to hug the flag. Yep. He hugged Old Glory. He wrapped the Stars and Stripes in his arms in some sort of childish demonstration of his patriotic fervor.

He made me laugh. Out loud.

A quote from the famed author Sinclair Lewis has been making the rounds, in which he said, “When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a bible.”

That’s a big harsh, in my view.

However, the president’s shallow demonstration — with that goofy flag hugging routine — while it plays well to his base, illustrates a level of superficiality I’ve never seen in the Leader of the Free World.

Until now.

International news

‘I, alone, can fix it … ‘

You might recall the bold — and reckless — declaration that Donald J. Trump made after being nominated by the Republican Party to run for president of the United States.

“I, alone, can fix it,” he said, referring to the myriad ills he said were afflicting the nation at the time.

Many of us ridiculed the nominee for that statement. No president can do much of anything “alone” without help and cooperation.

Guess what. None of us saw the crisis that is developing at this moment with a Trump administration policy that allows for children to be taken from their parents at the nation’s border. It’s a hideous policy. It is the creation of an administration that has demonized illegal immigrants, portraying them as criminals intent on murdering, raping Americans, selling them drugs.

Here’s more to ponder: Donald Trump can ease this crisis “alone,” with a signature and a phone call.

The president can halt the “zero tolerance” policy all by himself. It is not a product of a “Democrat bill,” which he has contended falsely.

It turns out the 2016 GOP presidential nominee was more truthful than we imagined at the time when he said “I, alone” can repair this or that.

If only he would act.

He has created a crisis. The president needs to fix it.