As a conservative sometimes it makes me cringe a little when I hear some of the statements that come from my right leaning colleagues. Case in point, recently a few have revved up their latest attacks on illegal immigration claiming that the sole reason for the U.S. swine flu outbreak is caused by undocumented Mexican immigrant crossing the border. Once again they are calling for a complete shut down of the border, at all levels, and stating that the government must do something about these "dirty" immigrants who they claim are causing this outbreak .....
One word for them,
baloney!!While I agree we need to severely restrict travel to and from Mexico, (Goodness knows I won't be going there anytime soon) and take steps necessary to protect our citizens form a possible epidemic, making this health issue another spring board for xenophobic commentary isn't helping anyone. In fact it will hurt us (GOP) in the long run.
The reality is most cases in the US of the swine flue have been caused by Americans traveling to Mexico for vacation and coming back with the virus. About half of the current cases coming from
New York from a group of students who recently returned from a trip to Mexico.
The first person to die of the flu in America is
a Mexican 22-month-old baby boy who came to the US for treatment.
Now if some want to use the death of this toddler as their rallying cry to shut the boarder, I think they may want to reevaluate their principles. I pray for the family of this little boy and the hundreds who are suffering through this virus.
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