Last week’s letter to the editor on the failed Border Act expressed a desire to be as apolitical as possible. It certainly sounded as reasonable as possible in our overheated political climate. However, it was based on three things that are simply not true and reflect the inaccuracy and falsehoods that so easily pass for information if left unchallenged.
First, most important and most volatile was the statement the bill allowed 5,000 illegals a day to pass into the country. The bill in fact called for the automatic closing of the border after 5,000 encounters in a day. An “encounter” is the opposite of “allowing a crossing.” An encounter can end in immediate arrest, immediate detention, even immediate deportation.
Second, that statement was made that the bill included 90% of what had been the policy of the previous three years. The bill in fact increased detention and deportation by making asylum seeking more difficult. expanding ICE’s capacity to detain 50,000 people, the highest number of any administration ever, it increased ICE funding, which is undoubtedly one of the reasons the National Border Patrol Union endorsed the bill.
Third, to suggest Trump had nothing to do with the bill being abandoned by Republicans ignores the fact on February 5th he posted, “Only a fool or a Radical Left Democrat would vote for the horrendous Border Bill which only gives shut down authority after 5,000 encounters a day.”
The one thing I would commend the author for is referring to Democrats as Democrats rather than Leftist Liberal Radical Democrats. But I’m afraid that only goes to show one can sound reasonable and still deal in misinformation.
Gordon McAlister
Moorefield
