Observations of an Irishman: The Side of Immigration Nobody Is Talking About

February 13, 2018

Contributor

The American people are once again being told they need amnesty, DACA and comprehensive immigration reform. Politicians, pundits and the mainstream media have joined together to show Americans only ONE side of this issue.

They show the side of the illegal immigrant, highlighting their “plight,” making it seem as if these immigrants only went to America because some evil person put a gun to their head and forced them to. They share a narrative about how every illegal immigrant is hard-working, honest, humble and only acts with the very best intentions. They seek to destroy any American who dares say some immigrants may be lazy or have bad intentions or even be guilty of committing horrific crimes (such as this, this and this).

They share videos of families who are crying and distraught when one of them is being deported. In this charade, the immigrants even have a special name and label --- they are called "dreamers," and only a monster would be against the dreamers or seek to deny their dream, right?

Observations of an Irishman: Two Warnings for Americans

In this column, I am going to break down the narratives Americans hear every day, share the facts and highlight the human cost of amnesty.

International Law

Democrats tend to love the United Nations and are frequently heard quoting international law. Well, guess what one of the oldest international laws and norms is? It's state sovereignty, which is a nation's ability to control its own borders and what happens inside them. Legally, this means America can control who has the right to enter and stay within its borders.

America Is a Compassionate Nation, so We Should Show Compassion to Illegals

This is a line I hear from people on the left and right alike.

No one can deny the fact America is a compassionate, loving nation. Year after year, America is at the top of the list in terms of donating time and money. Look around the world and notice the millions today who have some version of freedom because of America --- look at those who were enslaved behind the iron curtain or how many Europeans (like me) would be speaking German if it was not for America. Look at the advancements in our everyday lives because of the ability of the American people to innovate and keep the fruits of their labor. Research any aspect of life and how they advanced and improved from the time of Christ to around 1800 and from 1800 until today.

Why has the world advanced more in 218 years than the prior 1800 years? The IDEA of America played a huge part in those advancements and the rest of the world has greatly benefited from them.

The question is not whether or not America should show compassion. The question is who should be the beneficiaries of that compassion.

Factually, America is a compassionate nation and God willing always will be. The question is not whether or not America should show compassion. The question is who should be the beneficiaries of that compassion --- those who broke the law or those who seek to do things the right way?

Illegal Immigrants Act Out of Love

This is easily one of the most infuriating lines. Those who are illegal in America at some point in time either did not care about America's laws, ignored the laws or simply did not think the honor and privilege of living in America was worth the time and effort involved. Perhaps they felt they were somehow more entitled than others to be in America. If this attitude is acting out of love, then how are those who are currently waiting in line to do things the right way acting? Maybe they are acting like fools because the American politicians and media completely ignored them.

America Needs Immigration Reform

I don’t say this lightly, but this is nothing but a flat-out LIE. America does not need immigration reform. America has every law it needs in law right now. America has laws of how immigrants can enter the country legally on many different levels, ranging from a guest, student, family, work and special talent visas. The laws are also very clear if you violate your visa terms, you can be deported and not allowed to enter America for up to ten years.

The Only Reform Needed Is the Political Will to Enforce the Laws on the Books

Sadly, America currently has a two-party system and both sides benefit politically from illegal immigration and amnesty --- the Democrats want new voters and the Republicans want cheap labor.

Observations of an Irishman: American Culture Is Different

When you take a step back from the emotion of amnesty, you will understand the absurdity of what politicians are actually saying. They are saying we have all these laws on the books which we ignore and don’t enforce and the solution to this is for us to write new laws which we promise to enforce. What is stopping future politicians from ignoring laws they don’t like down the road?

Illegals Do Jobs Americans Won’t Do

Former President Bush last week said illegals do jobs Americans won’t, and that y'all should just say thank you and welcome. If there is one president who should get the importance of having legal immigration, a secure border and no illegal immigration, logic would dictate it would be the man who was President during the worst terrorist attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor.

Sadly, even President Bush does not seem to understand the difference between legal and illegal immigration. While there is merit to his claim of Americans not doing certain jobs, why not write new visa laws that make it quicker, easier and cheaper for workers to gain legal entry into America to do these jobs? America has a right to know exactly who is in its country and for how long.

Human Story

My Democrat friends love to talk about fairness and compassion and tug on your heart-strings. I want to share a short story with you to highlight the side of immigration very few will ever focus on.

I was extremely blessed as a young boy to travel from Ireland to America and visit extended family in early 90s. I was impressionable and I immediately fell in love with America, with the beautiful women, amazing accents, warm weather, different culture, food and different sports. From the first person I met, I have loved Americans and have wanted to spend as much time with them as possible. As I grew up into a man, I only had one dream and that was to have the honor, privilege and the legal ability to say I was an American.

The most likely way for someone like me to get stateside was through the visa lottery for which I have always applied. However, I always felt like a lottery was a weak way to gain entry and I wanted to earn my way stateside. So I started doing a lot of volunteer work. I have written for numerous publications, worked behind the scenes and I am currently blessed to have my own show on TheBlaze Radio. I have done speaking tours stateside during my vacations. I have done all of these for free, because I am desperate to serve this amazing nation, but also with the hope that maybe one day an employer would see me and my work and give me an opportunity.

Observations of an Irishman: The Idea of America Is the Ultimate Experiment

Last February, my dream came true. An employer saw something in me and offered me a job. That employer was Glenn Beck. He offered me a job to work for him directly. I was going to live in the country I loved, live in the greatest state of the union --- Texas --- and work with one of my heroes. It was an amazing feeling. Sadly, it did not last.

After Glenn offered me a job, we met with lawyers and after answering questions, we found out I do not meet the visa requirement on both educational (do not have a college degree) or work experience grounds (I did not have any paid work experience doing the job Glenn offered).

Going Forward

Here are my choices:

1. I can admit my dream is dead, be forced to stay in a country I have nothing in common with, have no career prospects and struggle every day to put food on the table.

2. I can go against every principle I stand for and say America owes me (it does not) and go illegally and be called a “dreamer.”

3. I could go against what my faith teaches and marry someone just for a green card.

I refuse to abandon principles just because they hurt me personally.

I will admit I am struggling to accept my dream is dead and to accept my life in Ireland, but I refuse to abandon principles just because they hurt me personally. This is the choice I make, but there are millions in line who want to do things the right way --- do you think all of them will make that choice?

Most Important Question

The most important question around Amnesty and legal immigration has nothing to do with legal or illegal immigrants. It has to do with the American people, what type of country Americans want to live and what country they want to hand over to the next generation.

America is exceptional and different from every other nation in the world. I always believed that America was the country where if you did the right thing, followed the laws and worked hard you could have a bright future. Do Americans still believe that? Do they want to continue on that path? Do they want to hand that ideal over to their grandkids?

The case for amnesty will always be compelling, but it all boils down to one question --- does America reward those who broke the law regardless of their circumstances and intentions, or does it seek to show compassion and support to those who seek to follow America's laws and do the right thing?

The choice is yours.

Jonathon Dunne is an Irishman with a lifelong dream of becoming an American citizen. After waiting for over 13 years, Dunne received a job offer from Glenn Beck so he could achieve his dream, but unfortunately, he did not meet the requirements to apply for a visa. Unless laws change or Dunne decides to break the law (he won't), his American dream is dead. Despite this setback, he still loves America and seeks to be a positive influence on society by promoting the idea of America and God-given freedoms. While on a recent vacation, Dunne delivered sixteen presentations (for free) in eight different states across the U.S. During this time, he kept notes and we asked him to share some of his experiences. As you read the column below, imagine the words are being spoken in a thick, Irish accent. If you're having trouble imagining how that sounds, you can hear it for yourself by tuning into Dunne's free weekly podcast, "Freedom's Disciple," on TheBlaze Radio, available on SoundCloud, iTunes, iHeart Radio, Google Play and Stitcher.

BAKED LOBSTER? Maine restaurant owner sedates lobsters with marijuana before cooking them

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A restaurant owner in Southwest Harbor, Maine, has taken to sedating her lobsters with marijuana to help ease the pain of being being boiled alive — a popular way of cooking the crustaceans.

The owner of Charlotte's Legendary Lobster Pound, Charlotte Gill, said she feels bad for the lobsters she serves in her restaurant, noting, "there is no exit strategy" for them.

"She wants to get the lobsters baked before they're boiled," Glenn said on Thursday's episode of "The Glenn Beck Radio Program."

He wondered if marijuana actually made the lobsters more paranoid, recalling an "all-time classic" comic involving a paranoid lobster and a swipe at Glenn himself, a self-described "optimistic catastrophist."

Watch the video below to catch more of the conversation.

Of course Spooky Dude is connected to Kavanaugh hit job

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You know it's kind of crazy how blatantly transparent Democrats have been during the Kavanaugh hearings. I'm definitely not saying this in any kind of positive light. I'm just amazed at how the left is giving the entire country a direct insiders look on how they go about their business. I mean, this entire confirmation charade has got everything… from "mic checking" to shout down your opponents, to political grandstanding to gain favor for future elections, to shady plots involving big money donors advancing progressive agendas. This is truly a look inside the Left's political playbook. It's open for everyone to see, and they don't even really appear to give a crap to try and hide it.

RELATED: Well that escalated quickly

Take for instance the Ford sexual assault allegation. Grassley has given Ford until tomorrow to commit to a testimony that would be conducted in the next 72 hours. He wants it complete by Monday so they can move on with a committee vote. But Ford and her lawyer are delaying. They want the FBI to do an investigation, but procedurally that's not how this works. Ford's lawyer, Debra Katz, knows this. So why delay?

Well, it's pretty obvious. Again, the Left isn't trying to hide what they're doing here. Democrats want this delayed as close to the November midterms as possible. They study history just like anyone else does. When this nearly identical scenario happened with Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill back in 1991, it triggered what is now known as "The Year of the Woman" in the 1992 elections. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, was a product of that Democrat surge.

But the Ford accusation reveals a lot more. Back in August, a large group of Left-leaning groups co-signed a letter to both Senator Feinstein and Senator Grassley demanding Kavanaugh records. It was basically the same narrative that Cory Booker and Kamala Harris were using during the opening day of the confirmation hearing. One of the groups that co-signed the letter was called the Project on Government Oversight, or POGO. The vice chair of POGO is a woman named Debra Katz - YES - the same Debra Katz that is now the lawyer for Kavanaugh's accuser. Don't worry, this gets even more ridiculous. POGO is directly funded by - guess who - George Soros and the Open Society Foundation.

We're seeing a play-by-play political hit job live as it all plays out.

Soros' fingerprints are all over this. In June the Daily Caller reported that a group called Demand Justice had launched an effort to try and stop Kavanaugh's confirmation. They allocated five million to the project. Wanna take a guess where they get their money? Demand Justice gets their funding from something called the Sixteen Thirty Fund, and their funds come directly from George Soros and the Open Society Policy Center. They've given over two million in recent years.

We're seeing a play-by-play political hit job live as it all plays out. If you thought Netflix's House of Cards was fiction… I give you the Kavanaugh hearings.

Daily Wire’s Jeremy Boreing: Social media platforms want publisher’s rights, but not the liabilities

KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images

Jeremy Boreing, COO at the Daily Wire and executive producer of "The Ben Shapiro Show," joined Glenn Beck on Tuesday to weigh in on the ongoing debate about whether the government should regulate digital media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google.

In reference to leaked documents that revealed a "secret meeting that happened with Media Matters and their strategic plan," Glenn asked Boreing for his thoughts on "raw data" sharing (by social media platforms) and the suppression of conservative voices in digital media.

Boreing noted that Cambridge Analytica is under fire for using techniques, supplied to them by Facebook, to collect the same data sets that Media Matters has apparently collected.

"This is a pretty classic example of the left not being happy when the right does the same things that they are doing," he said.

"How do [conservative outlets] survive if you have Media Matters guiding Facebook and Twitter and Google on who to suppress and who not to?" Glenn asked.

"Unfortunately, I think that there's going to be a certain amount of lawfare that has to become a part of the tool belt of the right," Boreing said. "But specifically with these social media platforms, because of the Communications Decency Act in section 230, they sought protection from the government with being held liable in certain instances because they said 'we're not publishers, we're platforms.'"

"Now, they're trying to have it the other way. They're trying to say, 'No, we can act as publishers. We can determine what kind of opinions we want stated on our networks,'" he added.

Watch the clip below to catch more of the conversation.

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

Dennis Prager: The crisis in America is the greatest since the Civil War

Dennis Prager, syndicated radio host and founder of PragerU, joined Glenn on Tuesday's episode of "The Glenn Beck Radio Program" to weigh in on the volatile political climate in America today.

"I think that the crisis in America is the greatest in my lifetime and the greatest since the actual Civil War," Prager said.

"I never engage in hyperbole," he explained. "I may, like anyone, be wrong. But I took a vow 35 years ago when I started radio, that … I [would] try to tell the truth. And I've never been accused of a lie, I'm proud to tell you. I've been called every word, but not liar. And I took another vow, don't even exaggerate, because it works for about a year. But gradually people understand, 'He doesn't really mean that. He's just overstating the case. So, I am not overstating when I say we are in a civil war in the United States."

He noted the tremendous "gap between the left and the rest of the country" and gave an example of the now "normative" practice of not calling children "boys or girls" in schools because it's considered wrong to impose a gender identity.

"That is sick to the point of child abuse," he said. "We are watching crazy people take our country."

UPDATE: Here's how the discussion went on radio. Watch the video below.