During Monday’s “Special Report” panel segment, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer explained how the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 is being used in ways it was not intended pertaining to the influx of Central American youth at U.S.-Mexico border.
Krauthammer asked why the law does not apply to Canada or Mexico if it is the humane law and suggested the interpretation by the Obama administration is instead a cynical political play to inflame Hispanics and pro-immigration groups.
“[T]he law was passed in ’08 – yes in the Bush administration, yes unanimously,” Krauthammer said. “But it was intend for sex trafficking. It was intended for small numbers of kids and it made a lot of sense. It was never intended for a mass influx, a mass immigration. And people are yelling you are inhumane to return them. Well that’s exactly what the law is for Mexicans or Canadians. So, if it’s inhumane why haven’t we heard a protest about the return of kids who come in from Mexico? It was intended for something else. Obama is clearly making the statement indirectly by that story you just gave from AP and through his Homeland Security secretary who refused to answer about deportation that he’s opening the doors of America to this influx. It will double, it will triple.”
“When we were told last week that ‘Oh, Obama wants to change the law to make it apply to Central Americans as it does to Mexicans,’ I was saying, ‘Show us you’re serious. Introduce a law immediately into Congress and get it passed.’ He didn’t. He obviously was never serious. I don’t think he’s lost on this. I think he knows what to do. He wants to win the political argument with Hispanics and other pro-immigration groups and he’s doing it for political reasons very, very cynically.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.