Senator John Cornyn (R, TX) exploded nationally on Twitter, after tweeting a quote from The New York Times saying that instead of stopping illegal immigration, President Joe Biden has “emphasized the humane treatment of immigrants, regardless of their legal status.”
His people said the Senator was just quoting the article, though many correctly took the Tweet at face value.
Cornyn said that while former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama advocated for clamping down on illegal immigration, Biden “incentivizes” it. Many Republicans are pointing the finger at the Biden administration, saying the recent surge of asylum-seeking unaccompanied minors at the border is a result of lax policies.
President Biden has instead emphasized the humane treatment of immigrants, regardless of their legal status.@nytimes https://t.co/5IuyZTXm6x
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) March 22, 2021
It appears that Senator Cornyn has not learned the lessons of the former president, that quoting on Twitter is tantamount to endorsement. Of course his people tried to backpedal on such a tone-deaf comment.
The real importance of this is that Cornyn is a bellwether of the general attitude suffusing the Republican Party. By their legislative proposals in Washington and various state legislatures, it is not just immigrants that they oppose treating with humanity.
The naked effort to disenfranchise voters, the full-throated opposition to any legislation that would benefit individuals, the attempts to outright sabotage any efforts at healthcare that does not leave patients destitute, and the attempts by many in the party to gaslight the insurrection of January 6th—none of these actions even remotely reflect the oath of office these politicians solemnly swore.
In case anyone missed the reference to the “canary in the coal mine,” canaries were used as early warning systems to alert miners to the presence of poisonous gases in the tunnels. It is anyone’s guess how deeply the poisoned frame of mind of the Republican Party has spread. But with this blatantly racist view, the Cornyn canary is certainly numb to its presence.
No matter which way you peal the onion, the United States is still a nation of immigrants. Cornyn’s people included. The message that somehow one’s status as an immigrant puts one’s humanity in question is a dark road to go down. And it is a road that has been traveled too often in the past.
The bottom line is that anyone who thinks another human is not worthy of humanity deserves no place in a government body.
It is not us and them. It is just us humans. Ironically, it is racists that place themselves outside the bounds of humanity by failing to recognize it’s embrace.
