In defense of vetting of immigrants

Explaining President Trump’s agenda to his detractors is a useless endeavor. Watching the media’s attack on the President, with their rhetoric and lies of omission, is dispiriting.

America has a legal principle that the Rule of Law should govern our nation. This indisputable fact has existed since the inception of our country.

Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution states: “The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion [and] domestic violence.” That violence has been visited on Americans and is manifested in the Remembrance Project (www.theremembranceproject.org).

America has established borders which must be recognized. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is our largest federal law enforcement agency, consisting of 45,000 sworn agents covering 327 ports of entry. Their duty is to apprehend individuals entering illegally.

In February 2016, the president of the National Border Patrol Council informed the House Judiciary Committee that U.S. Customs agents had been told to release illegal immigrants, without deportation hearings. That order came from the Obama administration.

In December 2016, Obama shut down Operation Phalanx, an aerial surveillance program credited with stopping more than 100,000 illegal aliens, including drug mules and human traffickers.

In June 2012, Obama implemented Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, allowing thousands of illegal immigrants to remain without consequence.

There are hundreds of thousands of Americans living on the streets in our cities. Drive around Seattle and the Sodo district. See the homeless and the unemployed under the freeways and in parks. We cannot take care of these. How can we care for millions more entering without vetting?

Barry Clemons

Poulsbo

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