McCroskey Commentary: Don’t Mock Those Against Mandates While Ignoring Immigration Disaster

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The debate continues about mandatory vaccinations and requiring proof to travel or enter a restaurant or take part in other normal activities we used to enjoy.  

I’ve noticed the mandatory vaccination crew is intense and wants it to be as they suggest — mandatory.  

But here’s what confuses me. While they are quick to make fun of those who don’t want to be vaccinated, they seem silent on the illegal aliens and others flooding our borders or being imported from places such as Afghanistan who are often neither vaccinated nor required to be.

So perhaps someone supporting the mandates on Americans in order to keep their jobs could explain to me why that is so?

A couple years ago, my wife and I went to Ellis Island. For those too young to remember, that’s where many people entering the United States came first. In fact, part of our reason to go there was to look for some of her grandparents who did just that — came here legally.

In those days, there were requirements to enter the greatest country in the world. One of those requirements was you had to be healthy. If you weren’t, but could be soon, they had a place you had to stay until cleared medically.  

But there were other requirements too.  

You had to have a sponsor, be self-sufficient and were not eligible for any government assistance (if there was even any then). Basically, you had to take care of yourself and not be a burden on the taxpayers.

The place was covered with banners, one of which included language from the Welfare Reform Act, which read in part, “bars legal permanent residents from receiving federal benefits, such as Medicaid, for five years.”

Another dated 1906 read that the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization was established and provided a three-step process to naturalization: Declare their intent to establish naturalization, file a petition to do so and appear with two character witnesses in front of a judge who will assess their ability to speak English.

Oh yes, the final requirement was to take an “oath of allegiance” to the United States of America.  

These were the requirements to come here.



So here’s my real question today — what the heck happened? (I wanted to use a much stronger word, but it is a family-friendly newspaper.)

Today, we admit thousands of people from all over the world with all kinds of medical conditions, and we not only allow it, we reward it with benefits they have not contributed to. We not only don’t expect them to be self-sufficient or speak English, but we are shipping them around the country even after some have tested positive for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, we’re told that our social programs, which we have had to financially supported under penalty of law all of our lives, will go broke in just a few years. It will happen sooner if we add undocumented (illegal) aliens to the mix.

In the language of the oath they are required to take is a part that says they declare they will support and defend our Constitution and support our laws.

But as we clearly see, many don’t.

Here’s my point this week — I believe we all want to see legal immigration into the U.S. But what we’re watching at our southern border is not legal or healthy for our country. Bringing poorly vetted folks from other countries and dispersing them into communities, especially if they have illnesses we’ve already beaten, while exempting them from vaccinations, but at the same time mandating our actual citizens be vaccinated or be fired, is nauseating.

Our elected officials take an oath to defend the Constitution and enforce the laws of our land. But many, if not most, don’t. And we let them get away with it.

I’m vaccinated and I did it by choice.  

But until the pinheads we watch daily on TV, especially those elected to “represent” us, use the same standards for everyone, they are just that — pinheads not worthy of serious consideration when they speak.

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John McCroskey was Lewis County sheriff from 1995 to 2005. He lives outside Chehalis and can be contacted at musingsonthemiddlefork@gmail.com.