To: President Donald Trump
President Obama: Don’t let the border become your Katrina moment
The country is waiting for your moral leadership. Visit the border and condemn the xenophobia directed at refugees from Central America.
Why is this important?
The crisis at the border is only getting worse. So where’s President Obama? More than a month after the nation learned that thousands of families and unaccompanied children from Central America, he still hasn’t so much as visited the squalid facilities where these folks are being held and processed. Even Democratic Reps. Raul Grijalva and Henry Cuellar are calling it “Obama’s Katrina” -- another president failing to assert moral leadership at a time when it is most needed.
In fact, President Obama just went to Texas -- but not for the reason you’d think. He is sweeping through Texas and other Southwestern states to raise money for elections. There’s just no excuse for this -- as the president makes decisions about the fates of these children and families, his response to this tragedy should be informed by direct experience of what these folks went through to get here and what they’re going through now that they’ve arrived.
It’s telling that even now, President Obama continues to treat the flow of children into this country as an immigration issue instead of the humanitarian issue it is. He hasn’t even addressed the rise in virulent right-wing xenophobia cropping up as residents along the border turn back buses of refugees. Even Glenn Beck, the former Fox News host who once called the president a “racist” who has a “deep-seated hatred for white people” is standing up to the worst ugliness on the right, going to the border with trucks full of teddy bears, soccer balls, and food.
President Obama needs to step up to the plate. These are children, not a political calculation. Tell him to visit detention facilities at the border immediately, and to speak out against the rising tide of xenophobia in US political rhetoric.
In fact, President Obama just went to Texas -- but not for the reason you’d think. He is sweeping through Texas and other Southwestern states to raise money for elections. There’s just no excuse for this -- as the president makes decisions about the fates of these children and families, his response to this tragedy should be informed by direct experience of what these folks went through to get here and what they’re going through now that they’ve arrived.
It’s telling that even now, President Obama continues to treat the flow of children into this country as an immigration issue instead of the humanitarian issue it is. He hasn’t even addressed the rise in virulent right-wing xenophobia cropping up as residents along the border turn back buses of refugees. Even Glenn Beck, the former Fox News host who once called the president a “racist” who has a “deep-seated hatred for white people” is standing up to the worst ugliness on the right, going to the border with trucks full of teddy bears, soccer balls, and food.
President Obama needs to step up to the plate. These are children, not a political calculation. Tell him to visit detention facilities at the border immediately, and to speak out against the rising tide of xenophobia in US political rhetoric.