Why Are You So Shocked?

No one should be shocked by what is happening at our borders.  The current President announced   his position on immigration and his  attitude toward immigrants at the very beginning of his candidacy.  Ill-informed as that position and attitude might have been then and ill-informed as it may be now,  no one can say that what is happening comes as a surprise or as a shock.  The decision made to remove children from their parents as a means to deter immigrants from seeking asylum or access to the United States has become Administration policy (a “Zero-Tolerance policy”announced by the Attorney General on April 6, 2018).  We now know that the plan to do so was discussed by the Trump administration immediately after the inauguration (February 2, 2017).  However, the President and his Secretary of Homeland Security maintain that such a policy is not of their own making—that they are simply obeying and enforcing the law.  The fault lies elsewhere (as it always does with this Administration).  It is the fault of Congress, or the Democrats, or they are justified because former presidents did it, too.  

The current President has announced through his former attorney and his current attorney that he is “the law.”  John Dowd said, “The President cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer under the Constitution (Article II)…”  Richard Nixon said something similar, “when the President does it, that means it is not illegal.”  I disagree totally with this interpretation of the Office and of the Constitution—BUT, if the President believes it.…

Well, then, if the President is “the law” he can stop the present practice of separating children from their parents at our borders immediately!  If he is “the law” he doesn’t need the Democrats to come to the table, nor does he need a  new “Immigration Bill” (that covers what he calls the “loopholes” in current immigration laws). He can just make his own!  Why, he doesn’t even need Congress, even if “his people” are currently the majority and in his pocket.  He doesn’t need the Supreme Court either—but if he can nominate one or two more justices—he’ll have the court in his pocket and his “Muslim Ban” will stand!

Why are you surprised?  Why are you so shocked?  Ah, I see, you took him seriously, but not literally.  What a mistake!