Congressional Compassion for Central American Aliens, None for 1.6 Million Homeless American Children

By Joe Guzzardi
July 1, 2014

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she’d like to take the Central America aliens held at illegal immigrant detention centers home with her. Pelosi views the invasion of tens of thousands of aliens as a “humanitarian opportunity.” After all, Pelosi illogically reasoned, we’re “all Americans,” meaning everyone in the Americas’ northern and southern hemisphere.

While Pelosi was in Brownsville, TX at the invitation of U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, she played a favorite amnesty advocate trump card: “These are children—children and families.” Pelosi referred to her own five children and nine grandchildren as evidence that the United States has a “moral responsibility to address this is a dignified way.”

Conditions could get crowded in Pelosi’s house if she gets her wish. The Border Patrol has detained More than 52,000 Central American minors since October, 2013 and by year end, 150,000 are expected. Assuming Pelosi is serious, which she’s not, the question becomes to which home would she take the aliens? Pelosi owns a vast St. Helena, CA vineyard, residential real estate in Sacramento and commercial property in San Francisco. Despite her apparent sympathy for the poor, Pelosi has little firsthand experience with poverty. According to the latest financial data, Pelosi’s net worth skyrocketed 62 percent to an estimated $35 million, much of it generated by the sale of Apple stock.

Pelosi’s family size isn’t a variable in the border debate. If the sovereign American nation is to survive, and it’s Pelosi’s sworn duty to ensure that it does, immigration laws must be enforced. Loopholes like the one that allows Central Americans to stay while Mexicans and Canadians are immediately returned home must be closed.

If she’s looking for a humanitarian opportunity, Pelosi should focus on the 1.6 million homeless American children, the 50 million Americans living below the $23,500 poverty line, or the 47 million who receive food stamps, 13 million more than in 2008 when the Obama administration took office.

At her border press conference, Pelosi lied that she doesn’t know what laws may govern the children’s fate. Pelosi’s is not only aware of the existing immigration laws but she’s worked tirelessly to liberalize them. A year ago, Pelosi staunchly defended the Senate immigration bill that would give amnesty to about 12 million illegal aliens and, within a decade, nearly triple, legal immigration. When the House refused to take up the Senate bill, Pelosi cosponsored identical House legislation. 

Pelosi is consistent in her amnesty advocacy. Last year, during an interview with the Spanish language network Univision, Pelosi announced her erroneous interpretation of immigration law when she said that being an illegal immigrant is “not reason for deportation.” And despite the border mess, in which her pro-immigration posturing has played a vital role, Pelosi promised to “never give up” on comprehensive immigration reform’s chances.

I’ve been covering Pelosi’s congressional career since it began in 1987. Never, not even after 9/11, have I heard an outpouring of emotion on behalf of struggling Americans equal to what she demonstrated at the border for the aliens.

Americans hope and pray for the best outcome for the Central Americans; few of us begrudge Pelosi her fortune. What would reassure Americans, however, would be if Pelosi and her congressional colleagues could at least occasionally display as much solicitude for the millions of suffering Americans as they do for illegal immigrants.

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Joe Guzzardi is a Californians for Population Stabilization Senior Writing Fellow whose columns have been nationally syndicated since 1987. Contact him at [email protected]