How much abuse of a government system we rely on should we tolerate before we finally say no? We got an answer earlier this month when Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was finally deported for a crime committed years before.
If you are a Democrat money grows on taxpayer trees. When problems that impact citizens conflict with issues like immigration the hot button usually wins. Social Security is failing. The program’s taxpayer numbers can be used to work illegally or collect fraudulent tax refunds. None of these facts can compete with activist politics.
Why do we tolerate the abuse of Social Security?
The Congressional Budget Office predicts that Social Security benefits will have to be reduced by nearly one-third by 2030 because the trust will be “exhausted.”1 We spent $905 billion on Social Security benefits last year.2 A program this massive that relies on unique numbers for each and every worker just begs to be defrauded. When it happens we shouldn’t be shocked. What should shock and appall us is a national dialogue that turns undocumented aliens into victims after they game a program that has a tough time verifying who should be working in the U.S. and who should not.
De Rayos worked under a fraudulent Social Security number. We went through a similar activist circus with Elvira Arellano in Chicago. Both women are poster children for American unfairness.
Congressmen make de Rayos a victim and martyr
Instead of asking why it took so long to deport de Rayos, pro-immigrant Democrats joined immigration activists to turn her into a martyr and victim of Trump’s sinister plans for illegal aliens.
Two congressmen, Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), plan to bring the deported de Rayos’ children to Trump’s first State of the Union tomorrow night. They called her “one of the first well-known victims of President Trump’s new immigration policies.”3
Let’s hope she isn’t the last.
The press latched on to this one from the get go. Press Secretary Sean Spicer was asked in a February 21, 2017 briefing whether de Rayos was “a threat to this country” or “a threat to public safety.”4 Spicer’s response was spot on:
But our job shouldn’t be to figure out should this individual not have to abide by the law, should this individual get a pass.5
That’s the problem with every argument that seeks to turn de Rayos and others in her situation into victims of our government. We can’t pick and choose. While there are many who would prefer to excuse every illegal in this woman’s shoes, it’s hard to sell preferential enforcement to citizens who are expected to abide by the law.
Immigrants now citizens did the right thing
While liberal America worked itself into a lather over de Rayos’ deportation more than 25,000 immigrants became citizens during ceremonies that took place this month.6 They didn’t inspire protests or demonstrations. We didn’t hear a lot about these immigrants who did the right thing. They weren’t politicized or turned into heroes, victims, or martyrs. Our country’s newest members didn’t make speeches about how unfair America is or how racist our president’s policies are. My guess is they are thankful they came here the right way and are now Americans.
De Rayos? She didn’t do the right thing. Now she’s gone.
UPDATE April 9, 2017: Being deported is not the end
De Rayos may be gone but not all hope is lost. Federal figures on illegal reentry offenses show that those prosecuted were deported an average of 3.2 times.7 The recent $12 million indictment of a Missouri man for multiple offenses including refund fraud and identity theft shows what can happen when these individuals come back.
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