Thread: 'My compassion is for American children': Rep. Metcalfe on kids of those caught in im

'My compassion is for American children': Rep. Metcalfe on kids of those caught in immigration raids


rotesters from such groups as Tuesdays with Toomey, Rise Up York and CASA stage a demonstration
during a press conference by state lawmakers unveiling bills to target "illegal alien invasion."
(Ivey DeJesus/PennLive)

March 13, 2017 at 3:52 PM, updated March 13, 2017 at 11:19 PM

Here's all you need to know about the state of debate over illegal immigration in Donald Trump's America:

The innocent children who get trapped in the government's unfeeling maw when their undocumented parents are busted in immigration raids aren't worth your compassion or charity.

And if they happen to be native-born, which makes them legal citizens, those kids aren't entitled to the same rights and protections as your children.

That's according to state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, one of the most vocal conservatives in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and such a lightning rod for controversy that other lightning rods actually try to avoid him.

"I'm concerned about the American children who are losing opportunities and resources," to children in the country illegally, Metcalfe, that chairman of the House State Government, said Monday. "My compassion is for American children."

And those native-born kids of undocumented immigrants? They're Americans, right?
Nope.

They're just "anchor babies," who have profited from a loose reading of the 14th Amendment, he argued.

Got all that? Separate and unequal - alive and well in Pennsylvania.

Metcalfe was fresh off a press conference on a package of bills intended to stem the flow of the nonexistent "illegal alien invasion" (more on that in a minute) when he let that chestnut slip.

The bills that Metcalfe, along with the usual cast of House conservatives, rolled out Monday have been floating around Harrisburg for years. They'd punish employers who hire undocumented workers; crack down on so-called "sanctuary campuses" and bar undocumented immigrants from collecting government benefits.

He and his colleagues faced an audience of reporters and protesters from groups such as Tuesdays with Toomey, REAL Citizens for Pennsylvania and Rise Up York. They mostly stood silent, only answering with a quiet "human" every time Metcalfe used the words "illegal alien."

Look, it's no secret that Metcalfe holds some pretty terrible ideas (which include stuff like voter ID, an overt hostility to abortion rights and marriage equality).

But even by his standards, his comments went way beyond the pale.

Metcalfe's news conference was held just a couple of days after PennLive revealed that federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers had been sweeping Harrisburg's Allison Hill neighborhood and detaining those without the proper documentation.

Those raids, scarcely two miles from the Capitol's gilded halls, broke up families, hurt local businesses and left some people too afraid to even leave the house.

But that sentiment behind his statement isn't surprising.

Not at all.

The impolite stuff Americans used to whisper about behind closed doors is now being said out loud.

That's where we're at it now - Jewish cemeteries are getting vandalized, Indian immigrants are getting shot and bomb threats are being phoned into J.C.C.s across the country.

It's now okay to say that some children, just by an accident of birth, aren't entitled to as much charity or sympathy as American kids. As if geography or a border line makes a difference to a child whose parent has been torn from them.

Doubt it?

Look no further than last week's Quinnipiac University poll, where two-thirds of Americans said the level of hatred and prejudice in the country has increased since President Donald Trump's election last November.

Trump, the cackling, truth-averse demagogue who's vowed to build a border wall and signed a second executive order cracking down on legal immigration, is the new "sheriff" who's going to fix immigration and get the country back on the straight and narrow, Metcalfe said.

"Donald Trump has certainly stood strong in standing up for the rights of Americans, first ensuring American citizens' rights are protected, ensuring those immigrating legally are protected and ensuring the rule of law and the Constitution are upheld and defended," he said.

Look - no one's talking about not defending the Constitution. Those employment verification laws work two ways - to verify legal status and to ensure that some unscrupulous vulture doesn't take advantage of someone desperate for a fresh chance in a foreign land.

But when you start throwing around words like invasion when, in fact, the 140,000 or so undocumented immigrants who make up a little less than 2 percent of the state's 12 million people are "invaders" come here to steal jobs and commit violent crimes?

That's just fear-mongering.

And when you say that innocent children - regardless of their birth, citizenship or ethnic background aren't worth the same sympathy and charity as "real" American children?
That's just shameful.

http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2017...maker_fig.html

What is SHAMEFUL is their President has NO sympathy and charity for them.

Send them back. These countries need to be forced to take care of their own people...or they will keep sending them!

Stop the unrelenting invasion of OUR country. No taxpayer money for refugees, asylum or illegal aliens.

NOTHING BUT DEPORTATION!

You know I agree the level of hate, already pretty high, has increased tremendously.

It is not hate by conservatives, supporters of the President. The had that has exploded is from those who don't want the President.

Is it hateful to suggest that people who are breaking many of our laws on a daily basis, are scamming our systems, using our resources, and shouldn't be here in the first place, should return to their homes.

Is it hateful to want our laws enforced?

They are trying to accuse others of their own sins. Nice try, but I think everyone has their number.