“If it takes terminating that program or suspending it … I am willing to do that.”
— Republican Gov. Phil Bryant on the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program, which he believes could be a back door to illegal immigration into Mississippi.
Why it stinks: First, of course, is the sheer amorality of suspending a program that helps children in order to score political points with the anti-immigration law—an utterly abominable position to hold. Beyond that, the law probably isn’t on the governor’s side. Interfering with the program, which takes in kids the United Nations has deemed to be political refugees, would be tantamount to Bryant setting foreign policy.
To be clear, a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision affirms that only the president can establish foreign policy. The case was the result of a Massachusetts law that sought to impose economic sanctions against Burma for alleged human-rights abuses. Later, courts also ruled that several states could not divest from Sudan during the genocide in Darfur.
So, short of getting himself elected commander-in-chief or asking President Obama very nicely, Bryant is likely fighting a losing battle against these immigrant children.
