Thread by @JMHendersonSr

Federal law makes the act of providing a #falsestatement to the government a #crime.

You know what this looks like:

@Alyssa_Milano
@voxdotcom
@RepBarbaraLee
@gethimouttahere
@CBSNews
@chrislhayes
@sfpelosi
@TexasTribune
@RaicesTexas
@Refugees
@RefugeesChief
@NPR

FBI Agent [to a person of interest, after appropriate warnings]:

"Were you at First Central Bank between 10 and 11 am on Tuesday, August 3rd, 2016?"

Person of Interest: "Not at all! I was in South Carolina, boarding the Big M Riverboat, for a day of gambling with friends."

FBI Agent: "Let me show you a video taken inside the bank on the date and time in question." [shows video clearly depicting the person of interest in the bank, video date, and time stamp confirms date and time].

FBI Agent: "Stand up and turn around, I am placing you under arrest on suspicion of violating #18USC1001."

That's it. Lie to the federal government? It's a crime.

Okay, Jim. So what?

So what, you say?

#Cashmeoutside, #howboutdat?

Or, on a more serious note, how about this:

There are actual, real r#efugees who #legitimately #fear #persecution by their government, or by groups their government does not or cannot control, in their home country.

They are lawfully permitted to seek #asylum in third countries, including the USA.

But not everyone is a refugee.

Many are #economicmigrants. That simply means that they are doing what you and I might do: #relocating for #better #economicopportunities.

Nothing per se immoral or evil in that, either.

But here's the tricky part: asylum applicants are put into a different track of treatment than others that simply seek to migrate to America for their own economic benefit.

Asylees have the concern of both domestic and international law to protect them from harms at home.

So, now, we have thousands, hundreds of thousands, of economic migrants that have been advised and directed by various organizations to frame their movement to the USA as "fleeing" danger at home.

I AM NOT SAYING ALL SUCH CLAIMS ARE LIES.

But we know that the terribly sad death of a dad and infant daughter this week came at the end of a trek in which husband, wife, and daughter, against the urging of grandmother, traveled north toward the US "#becausetheywantedtheirownhome."

When they arrived at a port of entry, they were not immediately processed, the first step in making a claim for #asylum. Rather than waiting their turn, they took to the damning waters of the #RioGrande.

Sadly, terribly, their decision cost the lives of dad and daughter.

But here's the thing.

If they were #honest about their #reasons for coming to the USA, their asylum #application would, like most such applications, eventually have been #denied.

Because

"wanting your own home"

while a perfectly honorable desire is not grounds for a grant of asylum.

And, if they did as some NGOs urge economic migrants to do and misrepresented the cause of their migration, they would have violated Title 18 USC 1001, a federal crime.

I'm not looking to hang the deceased dad. This situation is terrible and untenable.

But I'm not going to sit by and keep my yap shut while #lyingliars in the #lapdancemedia and the #Congress attempt to pin these deaths on America, generally, or the President, specifically.

#Flee #tyranny? Absolutely.

#Seek a #betterlife? Certainly.

#Lie #about #why you are seeking a new country? No.

#SwimtheRioGrande #withaninfant? Never!

Federal law makes the act of providing a #falsestatement to the government a #crime.

You know what this looks like:

@Alyssa_Milano
@voxdotcom
@RepBarbaraLee
@gethimouttahere
@CBSNews
@chrislhayes
@sfpelosi
@TexasTribune
@RaicesTexas
@Refugees
@RefugeesChief
@NPR

FBI Agent [to a person of interest, after appropriate warnings]:

"Were you at First Central Bank between 10 and 11 am on Tuesday, August 3rd, 2016?"

Person of Interest: "Not at all! I was in South Carolina, boarding the Big M Riverboat, for a day of gambling with friends."

FBI Agent: "Let me show you a video taken inside the bank on the date and time in question." [shows video clearly depicting the person of interest in the bank, video date, and time stamp confirms date and time].

FBI Agent: "Stand up and turn around, I am placing you under arrest on suspicion of violating #18USC1001."

That's it. Lie to the federal government? It's a crime.

Okay, Jim. So what?

So what, you say?

#Cashmeoutside, #howboutdat?

Or, on a more serious note, how about this:

There are actual, real r#efugees who #legitimately #fear #persecution by their government, or by groups their government does not or cannot control, in their home country.

They are lawfully permitted to seek #asylum in third countries, including the USA.

But not everyone is a refugee.

Many are #economicmigrants. That simply means that they are doing what you and I might do: #relocating for #better #economicopportunities.

Nothing per se immoral or evil in that, either.

But here's the tricky part: asylum applicants are put into a different track of treatment than others that simply seek to migrate to America for their own economic benefit.

Asylees have the concern of both domestic and international law to protect them from harms at home.

So, now, we have thousands, hundreds of thousands, of economic migrants that have been advised and directed by various organizations to frame their movement to the USA as "fleeing" danger at home.

I AM NOT SAYING ALL SUCH CLAIMS ARE LIES.

But we know that the terribly sad death of a dad and infant daughter this week came at the end of a trek in which husband, wife, and daughter, against the urging of grandmother, traveled north toward the US "#becausetheywantedtheirownhome."

When they arrived at a port of entry, they were not immediately processed, the first step in making a claim for #asylum. Rather than waiting their turn, they took to the damning waters of the #RioGrande.

Sadly, terribly, their decision cost the lives of dad and daughter.

But here's the thing.

If they were #honest about their #reasons for coming to the USA, their asylum #application would, like most such applications, eventually have been #denied.

Because

"wanting your own home"

while a perfectly honorable desire is not grounds for a grant of asylum.

And, if they did as some NGOs urge economic migrants to do and misrepresented the cause of their migration, they would have violated Title 18 USC 1001, a federal crime.

I'm not looking to hang the deceased dad. This situation is terrible and untenable.

But I'm not going to sit by and keep my yap shut while #lyingliars in the #lapdancemedia and the #Congress attempt to pin these deaths on America, generally, or the President, specifically.

#Flee #tyranny? Absolutely.

#Seek a #betterlife? Certainly.

#Lie #about #why you are seeking a new country? No.

#SwimtheRioGrande #withaninfant? Never!

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