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In a 2009 speech at Georgetown Law School, Sen. Schumer said the following: “…illegal immigration is wrong. We must create a system that converts the flow of primarily low-skilled illegal immigrants into the United States into a more manageable and controlled flow of legal immigrants who can be absorbed by our economy.”
Fast-forward to last week and a different Chuck Schumer emerged. Citing a “drop” in the U.S. birth rate (could the aborting of 60 million-plus babies be a factor?), Schumer said, “The only way we are going to have a great future in America is if we welcome and embrace immigrants, dreamers, and all of them, because our ultimate goal is to help the dreamers, but get a path to citizenship for all 11 million or however many undocumented there are here.”
Schumer doesn’t know how many there are because the Department of Homeland Security can’t tell him. Neither can he say how many are bringing in drugs, how many are terrorists, or pedophiles, or human traffickers. Border Patrol has managed to arrest some people who fit these categories, but the number of “gotaways” continues to rise so they can’t calculate the total.
Schumer and his fellow legislators pass laws they presumably expect will be enforced. What is happening at the southern border is massive lawbreaking. If Schumer and the Biden administration refuse to enforce immigration laws, are they not violating their oaths of office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States? Part of the oath each senator takes is to “…faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.” Schumer is not faithfully discharging his duties when he encourages lawbreaking.
When DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before House and Senate committees that the border is “secure,” and pictures show the opposite, it is akin to claiming American astronauts never landed on the moon.
A reporter should ask Schumer and other elected officials who refuse to close the border how many are enough? Do we welcome the world? Is there to be no limit and if so, based on what? Do they have a number in mind? What is their goal? Schumer claims it is about importing more workers because there are currently not enough. There are many reasons for this, in addition to abortion. Other reasons include money spent during Covid-19, allowing people to receive a check without having to earn a check. Some have been reluctant to return to work as evidenced by the number of “now hiring” signs hanging in many business windows.
Between the 1920s and 1960s, immigration was largely shut down in America. A quota system was created to limit immigrants from many countries. It allowed those who arrived during the European migration that began in 1846 to fully assimilate into American culture, learn English, the nation’s history, and laws.
We have become hyphenated Americans with too many clinging to their native land in language and culture. No nation can be sustained in its character without controlling who is allowed to enter. Other nations have far more restrictive immigration laws and paths to citizenship than ours.
Sen. Schumer’s flip-flop on illegal immigration will only make things worse. Maybe Governors Greg Abbot (R-TX) and Ron DeSantis (R-FL) should bus and fly some of them into Schumer’s neighborhood as they did to Martha’s Vineyard, New York and Philadelphia. That might make him flip again.
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Cal Thomas, America's most-syndicated columnist, is the author of 10 books.