We have a refugee problem.

Illegal aliens can be easily stopped, just make it illegal for Americans to hire them, and enforce those laws with fines and jail terms. No walls, no border troops, no jails or courts, nada. Illegals come here looking for work, work that is being denied to American workers by American businesses. Deny it to them and the illegals will, ummmm, self-deport. It really is that simple, boys and girls.

But what is happening now on the border, particularly this invasion of children, is not an immigration issue, its a refugee problem, and that is something fundamentally different. Every country has the right to protect its borders against unauthorized entry. But we also have an obligation, one codified by treaties we have signed and UN conventions we are a participatory to, to offer refugees protection from oppression and death. This latest children’s crusade from Central America is not composed of illegal workers sneaking in or smugglers toting bales of marijuana, these are kids who are crossing the border openly and willingly turning themselves in to the authorities for sanctuary. They have a lot more in common with the Jews trying to escape Nazi Germany (that we also turned away at our borders), or the thousands streaming out of Syria and Iraq to refugee camps in neighboring countries than with the foreigners who come in illegally to pick our fruit, construct our buildings, mow our lawns and nanny our children. These are people who are in fear for their lives and freedom.

Its not like it hasn’t happened before. When Castro took over in Cuba, the US government not only welcomed Cuban exiles, it subsidized them. It encouraged them to come with papers, programs and pesos. I know, at one time we had eleven of them living in our house with us. My cousin came over as a Pedro Pan kid, and my stepfather was an actual “illegal”, he actually swam the Rio Grande and turned himself in to US authorities who did not repatriate him because he had a price on his head in Cuba. The other nine were their relatives who came later.

Of course, at least part of this largesse on our part was for political reasons, it embarrassed Castro that people were so desperate to escape his Worker’s Paradise that they were willing to risk their lives in the Gulf Stream and the Straits of Florida, and we were willing to support this population because it fit in perfectly with our Cold War propaganda strategy.

But this latest wave of refugees is not from Socialist Nicaragua or Venezuela, or even capitalist Mexico. They are from countries undergoing drug wars, violence and oppression which our own appetite for narcotics feeds and makes possible. Yes, we do have a responsibility for these people, and we can’t hide behind a self-righteous indignation about “amnesty” to avoid it.