Really!
Here is the photo that accompanies an opinion piece at the once respectable Christian Science Monitor. Have a look at the “asylum seeker” and her family—see any shackles? Looks to me like Ms. Garcia from Honduras (did I miss a war in that country?) has a lovely modern kitchen (granite counter tops!). Both sons look well-fed. One son is obviously using a ‘smartphone’ of some sort. A toy truck on the floor would indicate that the kids have stuff. Shackles?
I searched the article looking for some factual information about shackles and didn’t see a thing. And, let’s remember that a large percentage of “asylum seekers” in the US are simply released to relatives until their case is reviewed. They should count their lucky stars they didn’t try to get into Australia!
I want to remind readers that asylum (when first included in the Refugee Act of 1980) was meant for the odd political dissident (like a Russian ballet dancer wishing to defect), not the 29,500 this op-ed says we granted asylum to in 2012. It was never intended to allow tens of thousands to enter the US for flimsy reasons like hubby abused his wife.
The article is one more pitch for Congress to advance the so-called Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill that is languishing and that Obama has to resurrect now to cover his Obamacare roll-out catastrophe.
P.S. Once asylum is granted, Ms. Garcia will be eligible for all of our welfare programs just like any other refugee. Obamacare/Medicare too! See our fact sheet, here.