Guest Editorial

By: 
Joe Guzzardi

Clinton, Bush, Obama align with open borders groups

The latest chapter in the ongoing open border crisis involves four former first families associated with groups whose mission is to transport migrants from their home countries to the United States. Immigration lawyers call this “aiding and abetting,” a federal crime.
One claim that journalists on the immigration beat should never make: “I’ve seen it all.” Some might label the open borders crisis that has allowed more than 5 million illegal aliens to cross into the U.S. interior and the refusal by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to enforce immigration law the apex of criminality. Under Biden, annual illegal immigration entries far exceed the legal entry total. Many aliens have been granted parole, an immigration status that includes work permission. And after a year, parolees have access to federal welfare programs as if they were lawfully present. Parole was never intended to be granted en masse, munificence that Biden is not allowed to authorize. Despite the strictly defined guidelines, Biden has paroled 1 million aliens, including 800,000 who are inadmissible.
As troubling as Biden’s and Mayorkas’ contempt for immigration law is, a recent news story may be more worrisome. The story revealed that a nongovernmental organization (NGO), Welcome.US, is expanding its scope. Originally created in partnership with American Express Global Business Travel (AEGBT), the NGO helped relocate Afghans to the U.S. during 2021 and 2022. Now working in tandem with Miles4Migrants while retaining its association with AEGBT, the NGO is committed to funding flights into the U.S. interior for migrants, likely unvetted, from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, Ukraine and Nicaragua.
The Afghan endeavor, with ties to billionaire George Soros, also had corporate backing from Walmart, Airbnb, The New York Times, the Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Starbucks, The Washington Post, Goldman Sachs, Goodwill Industries, Microsoft and Chobani. Soros’ Open Society Foundations has placed several of its members on the Welcome.US “National Welcome Council.”
That huge Fortune 500 companies, George Soros and immigration expansionist activists like President Obama’s Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council Cecilia Muñoz are all-in on facilitating more migration is no surprise. Other names on the list, however, while not a total shock, are a grave disappointment to an American majority who want to return to historic immigration levels, 230,000 annually, and sustainable population growth. The Census Bureau identified immigration and births to immigrants as the main driver of population growth.
The Welcome.US website identifies as Honorary Co-Chairs Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Laura and George Bush, and Michelle and Barack Obama. These influential first families are the most elite among the elite. They have the power of persuasion and vast wealth. The Carters, net worth about $10 million, are the group’s paupers. Then come the Bushes – Laura and George W., with a net worth of $120 million; the Obamas, $135 million; and the Clintons, $250 million. During their terms, the four ex-presidents encouraged, with some success, more immigration.
Carter signed the Refugee Act of 1980. Bush pushed hard for amnesty from Day One of his administration, and two years ago, he wrote a book extolling the benefits of immigration. In 1998, Clinton signed the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act that increased the cap on H-1B visas from the then-current 65,000 level to 115,000 for FY 1999, 115,000 in FY 2000 and 107,500 in FY 2001. Obama issued several pro-immigration executive orders.
Assume that politics plays no part in ex-presidents’ migrant relocation quest, and that the highest ideals motivate the four, a more important question still lurks. Some may ask if the presidents are violating U.S. Federal Code Title 8 Section 1324, Bringing in and Harboring Certain Aliens. The Code’s language includes these exact words referencing alien transport …. anyone who “brings to or attempts to bring to the U.S. …” is subject to criminal penalties. The current immigration status of the prospective incoming migrants is unknown, but the probability that many have neither been granted parole nor been adequately vetted is high. Moreover, the Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes DHS to prescribe parole “only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.”
Clinton and the Obamas have Juris Doctor degrees from, respectively, Yale and Harvard. If they didn’t know the federal immigration codes before signing up with Welcome.US, they should have researched them. Actively promoting refugee resettlement, which most Americans oppose, is unworthy of former presidential families. More mass immigration loosens the labor market, expands population unsustainably and is especially harmful to society’s most vulnerable job seekers – issues that Democrats claim to care about. However, judging by their actions, they do not. With Title 42 ending on May 11, the U.S. will experience a huge immigration influx. Thousands are lined up at the Southwest border; no need to fly in migrants.

Joe Guzzardi is a Project for Immigration Reform analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com.

Category:

The Press

The Press
1550 Woodville Road
Millbury, OH 43447

(419) 836-2221

Email Us

Facebook Twitter

Ohio News Media Association