SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: ‘Defending’ immigrant children is all about politics

Jun 23, 2018, 8:00 AM

immigrant children...

In this photo provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, people who've been taken into custody related to cases of illegal entry into the United States, sit in one of the cages at a facility in McAllen, Texas, Sunday, June 17, 2018. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Rio Grande Valley Sector via AP)

(U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Rio Grande Valley Sector via AP)

As I’ve been talking about all week, Washington politicians are making a big deal of standing up for the “resistance” against Trump’s immigration policies. Mayor Jenny Durkan gallivanted off to Texas with a taxpayer-funded police security detail so that she could put on her little show for the “resistance.” And now Governor Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson have announced that they are filing a 27th lawsuit against the Trump administration over the separated immigrant children.

Hey Bob — are you going to file any lawsuits against Jenny Durkan? What about against the Seattle City Council? Or the King County Council? You say you’re going after Trump over “deplorable conditions” for kids along the Texas-Mexico border. There are deplorable conditions all around the state in which you are the attorney general. Are you going to take care of your own state before you try to take care of the nation?

RELATED: Jenny Durkan will hug kids a the border, but not baby abandoned in Seattle

You said your heart breaks for the immigrant children in these tents on the border. Does your heart break for the children who are in these drug RVs and tents in Seattle?

Can anyone explain that to me? Can anyone give me the rationale for why our attorney general would complain about conditions on the Texas-Mexico border but have no problem with crime-filled encampments in his own state?

He can’t — if he goes after any Democrat in this state, he might lose some of the party’s support when he runs for governor in 2020. It’s all about politics. It’s not about compassion, apart from compassion for those who can make him governor. It’s definitely not about children.

On Thursday night, a huge multi-faith procession was held, with hundreds of people marching from the Protestant St. Mark’s Cathedral to the Catholic St. James’ Cathedral on the other side of Capitol Hill to protest what’s going on at the border and pray for the immigrant children. The pastor at St. Mark’s, Reverend Nancy Ross, this week compared the U.S. immigration practices to terrorism.

Look, I don’t think anybody loves the sight of those kids in tents on the border. You may disagree with immigration policy. But to compare the United States enforcing its borders to Al-Quaeda or any other terrorist organization is just pure insanity. That is such a grossly irresponsible thing to say.

So after that quote, when I saw this march on Capitol Hill, I couldn’t help wondering how much this was really about faith. This protest is fine if you’re truly sincere in your Christian faith about hating seeing these kids down here. But I just don’t believe it. I don’t believe in their sincerity.

Were these people just using the churches as a cover for politics? I don’t know what the motivation is of the people who claim to care. But I don’t think that it’s about their Christian faith. I think that it is using a church as a facade for legitimacy so you can express your hatred for the president.

 

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Dori: ‘Defending’ immigrant children is all about politics