OPINION | Barry Richard: Why Won’t Democrats Work to End Border Crisis?
Democrats in Congress are refusing to back any legislation to end the so-called border crisis that has seen some children of illegal immigrants taken from their parents and placed in detention facilities. They are demanding President Trump issue an executive order restoring the "catch and release" policy adopted by the former Obama Administration instead.
The media-manufactured border "crisis," probably to divert attention from the I.G.'s incredibly damning report and the subsequent fallout, is dominating network and cable news coverage. Most, if not all of the news programs, have focused almost exclusively on the immigration issue, with only a fraction of the airtime if any allotted to coverage of the political scandal.
With Democrat members of Congress screaming and heckling President Trump as he attempts to resolve the border situation, one begins to realize just how little interest they have in fixing the problem. These showboaters are more interested in promoting themselves while exploiting others' misery than in finding a solution.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) went so far as to say Democrats will not support a legislative fix:
“There are so many obstacles to legislation and when the president can do it with his own pen, it makes no sense. Legislation is not the way to go here when it’s so easy for the president to sign it.”
The Democrats are demanding a return to "catch and release" rather than a long-term solution. That is not acceptable to most Americans.
Democrats have likened the border policy to the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, and the Japanese internment camps during World War ll. To do so cheapens the significance of those evil and horrendous occurrences. It sells papers and raises campaign contributions, but it doesn't solve the problem.
Remember the good old days, when Democrats believed that protecting our border mattered?
Congress ought to get to work to finally address the immigration and border crisis that has been festering for decades. Standing on the sidelines screaming at the president as he attempts to find a solution to the problem is childish, non-productive and not what we pay these people to do.
Pick up the phone. Send a text or an email. Demand that your delegation get to work with the White House to fix this problem and make America's borders secure again.
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.