Edward Konecnik, Contributor, The American Dossier
For months and months, the main stream media has tried to convince us how there is absolutely no crisis on the Mexican border, and you must be some kind of white nationalist racist to think otherwise.
The Wall Street Journal reports: “Arrests of families crossing the US-Mexico border illegally in the past five months hit a record…From October through February, border agents arrested 136,150 people traveling in families at the southern border…107,212 people were arrested during the federal fiscal year that ended in September. More than 66,400 people were arrested in February. The numbers were the sharpest evidence yet that, despite Mr. Trump’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, the flow of migrants is only growing.” Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said, “This situation is not sustainable. The system is well beyond capacity and remains at the breaking point.”
The ramifications of this reality are formidable and worrisome because as of today, we have no idea how many immigrants live illegally in the United States. Shouldn't we find out before we make more plans?
It is entirely possible the real number of people living here illegally is north of 25 million. That's bigger than the population of 48 out of 50 states. It's enough to change this country completely and forever.
The decisions we make today about immigration are irreversible. It will help determine the health of the country we leave to our grandchildren. The Democrats and advocates of open borders do not believe in honest disagreement. To them it is a moral question and if you agree with them, you are virtuous and if you don't, you're a monster. There can be no compromise so policy debates are pointless. There are only the battles between good and evil. "Negativity" is what the activist left now calls disagreement.
It is time for sober Democrats to come to their senses and rejoin the adult conversation with intellectual honesty.
Here are some of the questions they should have to answer when that happens.
First and most obvious, how many immigrants should we admit every year? We currently take a little over a million every year legally.
Should we double that to over two million? How about 10 million immigrants a year? Is there any number that's too high? And if so, why?
What sort of government services are immigrants entitled to? Democrats promise universal health care. Do immigrants get that too and who pays for it?
Do all of them get citizenship and voting rights?
Do they immediately start paying into the Reparations for Slavery Fund that Democrats are now promoting?
How many immigrants can our system support? Do we have enough schools and hospitals with doctors and nurses to treat the number of immigrants we want to admit?
Previous waves of immigrants were asked to buy into this country's most basic ideals. Our schools made them learn English and tried to instill patriotism. We called it assimilation. We thought it was critical to our social cohesion. Are we still for that?
Edward Konecnik is a retired music teacher, musician and singer. He produced the original Value Music Video for the NY State Curriculum Guide, “Lessons In Values Education” and was awarded first place prize for his anti-drug value music video “Don’t Start” by Governor Mario Cuomo (1986).
Konecnik was invited to perform in Slovakia on TV and in festivals by the Slovak cultural agency, Matica Slovenska.
He is the first American artist invited to record in Slovakia for OPUS Records. “Prisiel som ja z Ameriky” Slovak folk songs. (1989) Instrumental accompaniments performed on synthesizer by Ed Konecnik “Lovely Lady Liberty” (1990).Slovak melodies with English lyrics in country style.
He is also District 30 Media Center Director.
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