OPINION | Barry Richard: Hypocrisy Over Border Policy is Maddening

Separating children from their parents at the border is horrible. So why do so many parents put their children through that by sneaking into the United States illegally?

Now, if you listen to the organized outrage from those on the left and their shills in the media, you would believe the Trump Administration had ordered flying monkeys to rip immigrant children from their mother's arms and toss them into concentration camps. Kind of like the FDR Democrats did to Japanese Americas after Pearl Harbor.

Between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, including orphaned infants, were rounded up--more out of racism than for security reasons--and placed in camps in "poor living conditions," according to the War Relocation Authority in 1943. Some 62 percent were U.S. citizens.

This is not that. But that doesn't matter to the leftists and the media.

Some 2,000 children of immigrants who were arrested for entering the U.S. illegally are being cared for at shelters funded by the Department of Health and Human Services. They are well cared for. Their parents, not the U.S. government, placed the children's safety in jeopardy. Rather than seeking amnesty and designated entry points, they chose to sneak across the border illegally and were caught.

For decades, the American government has been unable to negotiate a proper immigration policy that shows compassion while protecting the interest of American citizens. The same principled leaders--Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, to name a few--who for years called for tougher border security, including a wall, are suddenly opposed to the idea.

In an effort to politicize the current situation, Democrats and the press are using children to try and score points with voters. Instead, they should work with the Trump Administration and Republicans to find a solution to the problem, including funding for a wall that would prevent immigrants with children from illegally entering the country in the first place.

Barry Richard is the host of The Barry Richard Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. Contact him at barry@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @BarryJRichard58. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.