The Latest Federal Foolishness

A Comedy of Errors in Immigration Policy

It has come to my attention that our good and magnanimous Republic—so long known as a beacon of hope, charity, and common sense—has once again set itself upon fixing what’s not broken and breaking what was working just fine. The latest chapter in our grand national comedy concerns the halting of services to so-called refugees, or rather, illegal aliens, who had been arriving in these United States with a frequency unseen in three decades, encouraged by do-gooders of every political stripe who took it upon themselves to rehome foreign wanderers as though they were stray housecats in need of a warm hearth.

More than 160,000 well-meaning but woefully misguided Americans signed up to resettle these newcomers through the Welcome Corps, a venture that appears to be equal parts charity and hobby. Over 800,000 arrivals from distant lands—Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ukraine, and Afghanistan—were admitted under a scheme called humanitarian parole, suggesting a favor done rather than a right earned.

Such was the state of things until President Donald Trump, with a characteristic absence of patience for bureaucratic flimflammery, promptly slammed the door on the whole affair, suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for ninety days—an event that sent nonprofit organizations into a fit of distress, much like a shopkeeper realizing he has been handing out goods on credit with no hope of repayment.

In Nevada, where more than 8,000 such persons found placement in the last fiscal year, agencies like the Northern Nevada International Center (NNIC) found themselves suddenly instructed to cease operations for over 100 illegal aliens who had already arrived in the Silver State. Once flush with taxpayer money, the organizations are looking to private charity, an arrangement that might have been advisable at the start.

Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada suffered under this new reality, though it’s difficult to discern whether they were more concerned for the so-called refugees or their payroll. Their employees, formerly occupied in resettlement services, have now been reassigned to related tasks, ensuring that at least the business of providing for the non-taxpaying populace continues in some capacity.

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security, perhaps in a rare moment of self-awareness, admitted that the previous administration had rather abused the humanitarian parole system. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, taking the novel approach of asking whether government actions serve the interests of actual American citizens, issued a statement suggesting that every dollar spent must justify itself by making America safer, stronger, or more prosperous—criteria which, one assumes, disqualify quite a few of the programs currently siphoning taxpayer funds.

NNIC officials, however, lament the predicament of their clients, insisting that illegal aliens contribute some $20 million annually to the Northern Nevada economy, though one must assume that such calculations do not include the cost of housing, feeding, and providing medical care for them.

Private citizens who had taken it upon themselves to usher in foreign newcomers are disappointed.

Sponsors are left scrambling to explain to their sponsees that the great welcome wagon derailed. Some, like Clydie Wakefield, a retired teacher from Utah, took it upon himself to lobby lawmakers to reinstate the program, clinging to the hope that their moral righteousness will outweigh the realities of national security and fiscal responsibility.

One such sponsor, Chuck Pugh of Pennsylvania, gathered a bipartisan group—including, he assures us, even a Trump supporter—to bring an Afghan family to Philadelphia. He now finds himself with money raised and no one to spend it on, much like a man throwing a party to realize the guests are getting sent away.

Thus, the great machinery of government rolls on—sometimes forward, often backward, and occasionally in circles—while the American taxpayer foots the bill, and the grand question remains unanswered: What, precisely, is the duty of a nation? To its citizens first, or to the great mass of the world that would pour in if given the chance?

The latest developments suggest that, at least for now, common sense has won a round. But as history shows, it is always a temporary victory.