Barack Obama spoke today to the Latino interest group La Raza ("The Race"). No doubt the more militant members were already favorably disposed toward him, what with his insistence that American parents should be making sure their children speak Spanish.
But what caught my eye was this snippet:
The system isn't working . . . when communities are terrorized by (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) immigration raids, when nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when children come home from school to find their parents missing.
Really? So what this means is that ICE officials, enforcing this country's immigration laws, are terrorists?
As for the nursing mothers being "torn" from their babies, here's the context, courtesy of The Boston Globe:
Immigration agents "worked closely with DSS both before the operation commenced and at every stage of the operation, to be sure that no child would be without a sole caregiver," Julie L. Myers , the assistant secretary of homeland security, wrote in a letter to Patrick.
Myers, as well as a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said that each of the 361 detainees was asked about child-care needs several times. They pointed out that 60 women who were found to be the sole caregivers to their children have since been released, though they will still face a court hearing.
Contrary to Barack's insinuation, it is not US policy to tear children from their mothers' arms. And perhaps the ICE officials Obama accuses of "terroriz[ing]" -- who are already doing a difficult and thankless job -- deserve a little more respect from the guy who's campaigning to be their boss.
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