Springfield News-Sun

Biden’s proposed payout to immigrants almost farcical

- Armstrong Williams Armstrong Williams is CEO of Howard Stirk Holdings, which owns TV stations throughout the United States.

It is not often that I read news that leaves even me so dumbfounde­d that I need to fact-check it. Even after my thorough fact check, I had to send the article to my production team to make sure I was not going crazy.

Yes, the story in question was, in fact, true: A Wall Street Journal report titled “U.S. in Talks to Pay Hundreds of Millions to Families Separated at Border.” The article details a plan put forth by the Biden administra­tion to pay immigrants who were separated from their families up to $450,000 per person. Yes, you are reading this correctly: per person, not per family.

As I dug further, this story became even more troubling, especially when compared to other forms of government compensati­on. How much does the family of a fallen soldier get paid? $100,000. To put this in perspectiv­e, if you die serving our country, arguably the highest honor an individual can do for their country, your family will be paid $100,000. In general, that seems reasonable. However, if you openly defy our country’s laws and cross the border illegally and are, as a result of breaking the law, separated from your family, you will be paid $450,000. To reiterate, the Biden administra­tion is contemplat­ing a payout of $450,000 per person. That means a family of five will be paid $2,250,000 for breaking the law. A fallen soldier’s entire family does not even make one-tenth of that. So much for giving your life for your country.

How about the average salary of an American worker, which is approximat­ely $52,000? The median salary is far less, at under $35,000. American workers work every day, tooth and nail, often 10 or more hours a day, seven days a week, to earn that money. Cross the border illegally, though? You can earn more than eight times more. Where is the disconnect here? Am I missing something?

It is no question that President Joe Biden has been openly endorsing illegal immigratio­n with both his words and actions. Just ask those crossing the border illegally. They will tell you that Biden told them to come. What exactly is the plan here?

Biden took an oath to “defend America from threats foreign and domestic,” yet as we are faced with a threat never faced before, he is taking a back seat and eating ice cream on his weekend trips to Delaware.

In July of this year, nearly 200,000 people were reported by the Customs and Border Protection Agency as crossing into the country illegally. In short, more than 1,200,000 people have entered our country illegally since Biden took office. Despite this, has Biden even visited the border? Of course he hasn’t.

As a student of history, I recognize the fact that “history repeats itself.” If we do not study history and learn from it, we are bound to fall victim to the mistakes of the past. That is why the crisis at the border is so troubling to me.

Reading the history of the ancient Roman Empire, we see clear parallels to the state of our country. Famously, Germanic tribes and people from neighborin­g states entered Rome illegally, seeking refuge in what was, at the time, the greatest empire in the world. The Roman government began to prioritize the needs of the vast amounts of new non-citizens at the expense of the Roman citizens. What happened next? Inner turmoil, despair and civil war. The final outcome was that Rome fell. Are we heading down the same path?

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