(Originally published in American Thinker.)
If people enter the U.S. illegally, the government will feed, clothe, and house them. This despite the fact that they have committed a crime to supposedly reach safety. The government will even fly them, at no personal expense, to other cities in the U.S. where they can start a new life.
With Hamas and Israel fighting each other, hundreds of American citizens have found themselves caught in a war zone. They want to reach safety and return home to the United States. However, the U.S. government is telling these fleeing citizens that they will have to pay for the cost the government incurs to get them home.
A citizen in Israel posted an e-mail he received from U.S. State Department’s Consular Affairs Crisis Management System after he requested help leaving Israel. The e-mail notes the danger in the country, saying “mortar and rocket fire may take place without warning.” It also acknowledges that U.S. airlines aren’t flying to Israel and that citizens need to fly to another airport where they can get a flight to back to the U.S.
This is not too surprising. CACMS also noted that it would be offering transit options to get citizens out of Israel. This is something most citizens would expect from the State Department during a time of crisis.
However, the e-mail then drops a bomb. “Departure assistance is provided via a loan from the U.S. government which requires travelers to sign a promissory note (an agreement to repay) prior to departure.”
In other words, during a war, the State Department is willing to help citizens, but only if they agree to repay the costs.
So, come to our country illegally, and the federal government will pay your bills. Want to come to the country legally to escape a war, and you have to pay.
Yitz Friedman, the communications manager at the American Accountability Foundation, and his wife were trapped in Israel after their flight was cancelled. They made it to the U.S. Embassy, expecting their government to help them.
He posted on X (formerly Twitter), “My wife and I have finally gotten ourselves on the way home to the US from Israel after days of fear and tremendous anxiety. Our original flight was canceled.
“While Poland, Hungary, Brazil, Romania, and other countries sent planes to bring their citizens home from the war zone, our government told us to fend for ourselves. I literally called our embassy asking for help and was essentially told to pound sand.
“Is this what it means to be an American abroad,” Friedman wrote.
He also noted that the U.S. government wasn’t the only entity to abandon U.S. citizens. “Almost all American airlines received taxpayer bailouts, and they were the first to abandon us. They were the first to cancel all flights,” he added.
Why is it our government continues to demonstrate through its actions that it couldn’t care less about U.S. citizens? It wants to protect and care for non-citizens who break the law to be here.
The Biden Administration needs to get its priorities straight.
Michael A. Letts is the CEO and Founder of In-VestUSA, a national grassroots non-profit organization helping hundreds of communities provide thousands of bulletproof vests for their police forces through educational, public relations, sponsorship, and fundraising programs.
