Like it or not, "we are all Murrieta"

Is the word crisis too strong?

President Barack Obama asked Congress for $3.7 billion in emergency funding Tuesday to battle what he called an “urgent humanitarian situation” — namely, the virtually unimpeded influx of children and teens arriving without parents across the Southwestern border.

The day before that request, the White House was suggesting they would ask for $2 billion. If that is suggestive of how quickly matters are worsening, then crisis is not strong enough a word. How about disaster?

Do we really intend to open our borders to any child from anywhere who has a hard-luck story about living in a Third World country where disease, hunger, lawlessness and poverty are the common lot? If so, we had better realize that we are committing our own country and our own citizens to a steady decline that will end inevitably in more disease, more hunger, more lawlessness and more poverty here at home.   

Imagine if Kalispell awoke one morning to find five busloads of immigrants from Central America de-boarding at the county courthouse parking lot. Imagine if it happened more than once. Imagine if it were considered our unquestioned responsibility to take in these strangers, and to put unlimited resources at their disposal, and that these decisions were being made for us by unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.

No doubt the Flathead Valley would be touched by the plight of these new immigrants. Our own bureaucracies would move into action quickly and efficiently. A call would be made to the Department of Family Services to alert the staff about these new arrivals, and advising that among the 100 or so people, 75 are children under the age of 12. After investigation, it might turn out that 50 of the 75 children under 12 were unaccompanied by a relative or responsible adult. Of the adults, only 10 have IDs. When interviewed, the majority tell the department’s staff that they came to America because of their fear of being abused and persecuted by authorities from their respective countries. They say that if they were to return to their countries, they would be thrown in jail, or killed.

A common thread is woven throughout the fabric of their stories — that is, they came to escape from tyranny and they have relatives here in the United States who would gladly take them in and provide for their needs. Most have written on a scrap of paper the names and addresses of these “willing” relatives. All that is needed is to have the means to get to these folks and all will be well.

Immediately, Family Services convenes a hastily arranged meeting involving the Kalispell police chief, the mayor, health department, religious leaders and school administrators. Back at the courthouse parking lot, the newly arrived folks are taken (by the same buses that brought them here) to the fairgrounds and offered a temporary sanctuary with hastily gathered floor mats, clothing, food, etc. Spanish-speaking interpreters are located and summoned to the fairgrounds to facilitate communications. 

Life goes on as it was before, except now everything is different. Meanwhile, attempts to obtain clarification and support from the Department of Homeland Security go unheeded. And worst of all, the Border Patrol continues to be unable to secure the border. We are told that as many as 70 percent of Border Patrol agents are now assigned to caring for these illegal immigrants — children and otherwise — thus leaving the border even less secure than ever.

If you think this is a fantasy, then you haven’t been reading the news. The scenario outlined above has already happened in numerous cities across the country, including Murietta, California, where protesters have tried to stop buses from bringing more illegal immigrants into the town. 

It’s not that the people in Murietta don’t care about illegal immigrants; it’s that they do care about their own families and their own community. And they don’t believe they can count on the president or Congress to do the right thing for them.

As the mayor of Murietta said, “If we don’t fix the problem in Washington, D.C., this will just continue to happen.”

We are all Murietta. There is no reason to think that Kalispell or Whitefish or Polson will not be next. And there is no reason to think that anything will change unless Kalispell and Whitefish and Polson join together in solidarity with Murietta and say enough is enough.