A bad policy regarding families seeking asylum from violence in Central America is being made even worse by the horrendous public relations efforts from the White House and from the president himself.
I can try to understand the thinking on both on sides of the issue. Those who have come here via legal means and are now citizens or legal aliens can feel frustrated that others now try to come in illegally to take their jobs by accepting lower pay.
But let's add a few kernels of accuracy... many of those trying to come here by are seeking asylum from horrendous and life-threatening conditions at home. And this great country has traditionally offered refuge for people fleeing violence or starvation. That's how many of our own grandparents and great-grandparents got here from elsewhere. Lady Liberty awaited them in the harbor, offering a light of peace and hope.
There's no statue to welcome refugees along our southern border, but rather the reputation of America as a land of immigrants, long welcomed to help us grow and be better.
The Administration's new get-tough policy has not worked. The number of people trying to come in from the south has actually increased noticeably since the policy was put into place in April.
The image of families being separated is not a good one for people around the world to see, where we have for centuries been the place that welcomed the "tired and the poor."
Worse yet is the image being played worldwide that we are now a nation torn apart, with our president turning it into a partisan fight by falsely placing the blame on the Democrats. Despite what he and Fox News say, this is 100% a White House policy and not, as he says, "the Dems' law."
Placing the blame, falsely, on Democrats is a cowardly and divisive PR strategy. It also avoids coming up with a humane solution. Using poor and helpless parents and children as leverage in a quest for billions for a needless wall is disgusting and flies in the face of principles that have made America great. Instead of sitting down with both parties to come to a fast and fair solution, the president simply places blame where it doesn't belong and further divides us, even as families are ripped apart.
This is the sort of thing the U.S. has condemned other nations for doing, yet the president's response to a UN statement criticizing it is simply to threaten to withdraw from that UN committee.
Once again, the president is drastically harming our hard-earned reputation as a land of decent and compassionate people, as a beacon of right for other nations to look to as a model.
It's not too late, though. Fast and compassionate and non-partisan action can alleviate the immediate human crisis and put us back on a path on which we belong as a trusted and fair leading partner among the world's nations.