Coming to America
NEIL DIAMOND LYRICS
Far,
We've been traveling far
Without a home
But not without a star
Free,
Only want to be free
We huddle close
Hang on to a dream
On the boats and on the planes
They're coming to America
Never looking back again,
They're coming to America
Home
Don't it seem so far away
Oh, we're traveling light today
In the eye of the storm
In the eye of the storm
Home
To a new and a shiny place
Make our bed and we'll say our grace
Freedom's light burning warm
Freedom's light burning warm
Everywhere around the world
They're coming to America
Ev'ry time that flag's unfurled
They're coming to America
Got a dream to take them there
They're coming to America
Got a dream they've come to share
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
Today, Today,
Today, Today, Today
My country 'tis of thee (today)
Sweet land of liberty (today)
Of thee I sing (today)
Of thee I sing
Today, Today, Today
Today, today, today......
We've been traveling far
Without a home
But not without a star
Free,
Only want to be free
We huddle close
Hang on to a dream
On the boats and on the planes
They're coming to America
Never looking back again,
They're coming to America
Home
Don't it seem so far away
Oh, we're traveling light today
In the eye of the storm
In the eye of the storm
Home
To a new and a shiny place
Make our bed and we'll say our grace
Freedom's light burning warm
Freedom's light burning warm
Everywhere around the world
They're coming to America
Ev'ry time that flag's unfurled
They're coming to America
Got a dream to take them there
They're coming to America
Got a dream they've come to share
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
Today, Today,
Today, Today, Today
My country 'tis of thee (today)
Sweet land of liberty (today)
Of thee I sing (today)
Of thee I sing
Today, Today, Today
Today, today, today......
How we can help kids crossing the border
Editor's note: Sally Kohn is a progressive activist, columnist and television commentator. Follow her on Twitter @sallykohn. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- Heather Reynolds, the head of the nonprofit organization Catholic Charities, tells the story she heard from an 8-year-old girl from Guatemala who recently crossed the border without her family. "These kids were taken by drug cartels and others and would arrive back at their neighbors' dead with their organs cut out of them. Obviously, this little girl had seen stuff none of us could ever imagine."
The little girl's relatives hired a "coyote" to smuggle her into the United States. "On her journey here, she was sold as a sex slave. Finally escaping, this 8-year-old crossed the Rio Grande," said Reynolds.
The United States has a humanitarian crisis at its Southern border, as the number of unaccompanied children trying to enter the country has increased by 90% over just last year.
The Republicans are also trying to turn this into a political crisis by accusing the Obama administration and the push for immigration reform for enticing more undocumented immigrants. Once again, Republicans are bashing President Obama, this time by using suffering children as their political pawns.
Every parent can imagine it's not an easy decision to send your child with a stranger thousands of miles away to a foreign country. These are little kids, for crying out loud. That's not something you do because you want to, it's something you do because you have to.
Escalating violence in Central America is driving the new wave of migrating children. As the Los Angeles Times reports, "Although there has always been crushing poverty in Central America, violence in the region has escalated in recent years. For example, Honduras has the most murders per capita of any country. Drug cartels and gangs are at the root of the increased violence. Some of these children are fleeing gang initiations, according to several reports."
While historically most of the children who came to the United States illegally were from Mexico, that changed in 2013 when for the first time the number of unaccompanied migrant children from Central America eclipsed those from Mexico. Actually, the number of undocumented kids coming from Mexico has decreased in recent years.
Nonetheless, Republicans insist it's Obama's fault. Republican House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlattesaid, "Many of the Obama administration's policies... have led to a surge of minors arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border." Republican Speaker of the House John Boehneralleged the President's "lax enforcement at Mexico's borders" are giving a "free pass" to immigrants trying to come to the United States.
These claims ignore the fact that President Obama has deported immigrants at a higher rate than President George W. Bush and is on track to have deported three million immigrants by the end of his presidency. One might call this rate of deportation inhumane or un-American, but no one could reasonably call it "lax" -- no one, that is, except Republicans fixated on attacking the President no matter what.
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, implicating the President's program of administrative relief for young immigrant "dreamers" brought to the United States as kids, accused the President of "incentivizing" unaccompanied children to migrate with the promise of "citizenship for anyone in the world who arrives illegally in the country by a certain age." Sessions said, "President Obama is responsible for this calamity."
Yet, the increase in unaccompanied children escaping Central American began back in 2009, long before President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Opinion: How we can help kids crossing the border - CNN.com http://cnn.it/1mbYVAN
