American Outrage over Central American Invasion Mounting

I’ve been reporting on immigration for nearly three decades. Last week had more breaking news, much of it troubling, than any seven-day period since the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. Stories were developing so quickly that I left my television on all day to be sure that before I filed a story, it had the latest facts included.

Because blogs are short by definition, I may not be able to include the White House immigration law subversions that offend you the most. If so, I apologize. Because the multiple administration violations create a highly competitive field, I recommend you check back regularly for updates.

I’ll break my blog up into the bad and, yes, the good. First, the bad: One of the proposals the Obama administration has floated would allow Honduran nationals to apply for refugee status in their own country. That is, Hondurans could take the bus or walk to the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa where immigration officials would then meet and vet them, thus avoiding the allegedly tedious and perilous journey north.

Recruiting refugees in their home countries is, to put it mildly, unprecedented. The administration has left purposely unclear the numbers of permanent legal resident status visas that would be awarded. Agencies involved in drafting the program estimate 5,000 will apply, with 1,750 accepted. The facts on the ground, however, indicate many more are probable. Since October 1, more than 16,500 have arrived from Honduras alone.

The end total will reach the thousands with the proposal sure to be expanded to include other Central American countries and – who knows – eventually even more poverty stricken nations. Refugees get work permits, social security cards and the benefits that accompany legal status.

The good news is that as the aliens, including many teenagers, are relocated throughout the U.S., the outrage has been steadily growing. In Boston, one of the bluest cities in ultra-blue Massachusetts, thousands showed up this weekend to join the “Stop the Invasion Rally” to reject Governor Deval Patrick’s plan to house aliens in local neighborhoods. Organizer Jeff Kuhner, a WRKO talk show host and legal immigrant, estimated the number of attendees at 10,000. Kuhner described their mood as “livid.”

For years, too many Americans have viewed immigration passively, often because it’s concentrated among border states or in major metropolitan areas. But now that uninspected, unskilled, under-educated and unannounced aliens have been dropped off in their neighborhoods, harsh reality has set in.

With Congress set to go on its annual five-week recess, or what it calls “constituent work days,” legislators can expect to get an angry earful from Americans fed up with Obama’s destructive inattention to securing the border and to encouraging illegal immigration. The collective message citizens will deliver to their representatives will be: Americans come first, send the aliens home and secure the border.

Listen to the CAPS July radio border surge ad here that draws attention to poor American children’s needs.