Opinion: Immigration: President Obama’s border moat

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President Obama renewed his vow to fight for comprehensive immigration reform Tuesday during a visit to the border. Standing in the Texas heat, the president practically bragged about his administration’s efforts to crack down on those who attempt to cross into the U.S. illegally.

More agents are now assigned to the border than at any other time in history, he said. The number of intelligence analysts working there has nearly tripled. And drones patrol the skies. Yet despite his best efforts, the president joked, nothing seems to satisfy some Republicans’ demands for greater border security. ‘Maybe they’ll need a moat,’ he said. ‘Or alligators in the moat.’

Oddly, Obama isn’t the first to float the moat idea. Several years ago, the satirical website The Onion urged Congress to adopt a moat approach. The website, which bills itself as ‘America’s Finest News Source,’ also proposed a catapult defense system that would allow immigration officials to hurl objects over the current fence toward our neighbor to the south.

Though Obama’s gator moat remark may have been delivered as if it were a funny, off-the-cuff remark, it was written into the president’s speech, at least in the copy handed out to reporters.

It makes me wonder if the White House speechwriters might be getting their material from CNN and The Onion.

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--Sandra Hernandez