The ability of the Open-Borders types to use violent weather as an excuse to reduce migration enforcement is amazing.
The fact of the storms, according to them, means that:
- Haitians whose Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is running out, should not have to return to Haiti to help with reconstruction there, but, simultaneously,
- Mexicans and Central Americans, illegally present in Texas, should be allowed to stay to help with rebuilding Houston.
The open-borders people would never agree that their position suggests that rebuilding Houston (a victim of Harvey with a largely white population) is more important than rebuilding Haiti (a victim of Irma with a completely black population), but that's a logical consequence of their posture. Their point about the Haitians is that forcing illegal entrants to return will be hard on the individuals, but that the forced departure of some illegals from Houston would not meet some community needs, two non-parallel notions.
The argument, let's not make those who had benefitted for years from the Haitian TPS (short-term legal status and work permits) return home when TPS expires, was raised in the Washington Post on Saturday. The "need" for illegals in the construction trades in Houston was emphasized in this NPR report.
In Houston, let's do something sensible that will save tax money in the long run; let's not rebuild houses twice damaged in storms, let's buy out their owners and tear the damaged houses down instead, making way for some water-absorbing parkland in the flood plain and, by the way, reducing our need for construction workers.
Or is that just too much rationality all in one package?