AMERICAN OPINION AND THE BORDER CRISIS – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  What is striking is the number of Hispanics who agree with the majority of Americans on this issue.  From Breitbart:

If you are curious as to why the mainstream media so quickly lost interest in the still-ongoing story of our Southern border crisis, it has everything to do with public opinion and little to do with competing stories in the Ukraine and Gaza.

When this story first broke at Breitbart Texas, the media jumped all over it. At first, it was obvious the media planned to exploit the story of 50-plus thousand unaccompanied Central American children illegally crossing our border as a way to pressure the GOP into caving on amnesty. A new poll from Economist/YouGov shows how badly that plan backfired -- even among Hispanics.

Rather than convince the American people that passing a mass amnesty is what's needed, the burst of border coverage earlier this month convinced 77% of the American people that the kids need to be sent back home. A full 42% want the kids sent back immediately regardless of what's happening in their home countries. Add to that another 35% who want them sent back unless their home country is deemed unsafe.

Only 11% want what Obama, Democrats, and the media want -- which is amnesty for everyone.

The numbers are not all that different among Hispanics. Only 22% want to give the children amnesty. A full 64% want the children deported. Of that 64%, 28% want them deported immediately; 36% want them deported unless their home country is deemed unsafe.

That puts Hispanics almost perfectly in line with the rest of country.

The poll also shows that the media's collective decision to, at least for now, ignore the crisis, is out of step with the American people; 81% of whom see it as a serious problem.

The biggest tell that the media's propaganda campaign backfired is that a full 57% of those polled believe that the jump in illegals is due to the belief the American government will grant children amnesty. Only 29% believe it has anything to do with increased violence in Central America.

The poll also shows that only 40% of Hispanics believe violence is what prompted the flood of illegal children. A full 51% believe it was the promise of amnesty.

What Democrats and the media fail to understand is that what's making the American people uneasy is a sense of chaos. The fact that Obama has already entered his post-presidency phase of golf, celebrity dinner parties, cash-grabs, and lavish vacations, only contributes to that sense of unease.

COMMENT:  Some way must be found to take care of these kids while they're here – we are a Judeo-Christian nation, after all – but repatriate them in an orderly manner, being sensitive to legitimate claims of persecution. 

With a little imagination we could come up with a program to increase immigration from Latin America, but immigration in line with American laws and practices.  There are millions of people, many of them Hispanic, who are waiting to get into this country legally.  What do we tell them if we open the gates to those who choose not to follow the law.

George Will surprised conservatives over the weekend by suggesting that we could absorb all the children at the border into the U.S. by spreading them around the country.  That is true, and Will is speaking compassionately.  But there is still the matter of those children who are parts of families trying to enter legally.  We need the wisdom of Solomon on this, not the wisdom of Barack.

July 29, 2014