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McVeytown Lions held their 6th Golf Tournament on Saturday, July 8th at
The American Legion Golf Course in Mt. Union. We would like to thank them for their kindness and support. Also to all our sponsors, businesses and individuals who helped with their donations and gifts, and a special thanks to the teams that took part in the tournament. You are a blessing for everything.
To each one, may God richly bless you throughout the coming year. These gifts will support many activities in the McVeytown area. And we look forward to seeing each one next year. With God's blessings always,
McVeytown Lions
To the Editor:
An article was published in the Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer of July 16 that should be of interest to all who are concerned about the supposed "open border" policy of the Biden administration. I would like to share some points on the current status of the southern border as covered in this article.
The article, titled "'Eerily quiet' at southern border", states that on a recent day, asylum seekers lined up for appointments for processing through a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) mobile app. This app allows tens of thousands of migrants per month to be processed legally. Meanwhile, illegal migrants face ramped-up deportation and tougher penalties, being sent, for example, to a temporary holding facility in Texas for those facing deportation. The previous title 42 pandemic policy allowed quick expulsion of illegal migrants, but provided no penalty for those who tried to enter the US again and again. The immediate result of these new policies is a 70% drop in illegal entries since early May, according to CBP data, giving the Biden administration better control over the border than at any point since early 2021.
A comment from Imelda Maynard, legal director of Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services in El Paso, calls the last few weeks in the city "eerily quiet….where are all the people?"
Critics of the Biden administration will not be pleased to know that 43,000 migrants are being allowed in monthly through the CBP app, while another 30,000 are being admitted through a process called "parole". However, US agents made 100,000 arrests along the border in June, down from 204,561 in May. It was the largest one-month decline since Biden's taking office. Since employing National Guard and other contractors to do data entry, medical screening and child care, the administration has freed up more border agents to return to patrol duties.
Biden administration critics often criticize the president for not "finishing the wall". In Feb. of 2022 the conservative Cato Institute published an article stating that the Biden administration was "plugging" some holes in the newly built border wall, and was adding other portions. Here is the Cato Institute's opinion on those efforts: "He (Biden) shouldn't bother. A few miles won't fix what hundreds of miles already failed to. It's time to just admit: Trump's wall did not work." Here is another quote from the article: "Even before Biden assumed office, the Border Patrol was making more arrests and witnessing far more successful crossings after the wall went up than most months before the Trump wall." Despite the Trump wall reaching about 700 miles, with about 70 miles of double-layered fencing (two fences running parallel to each other with space for Border Patrol vehicles in the middle) and including lighting, cameras, sensors, and new roads, border crossers were able to climb over the fence free-handed or with ladders, cut through it with power tools or saws, and dig tunnels under it.
Interested readers can find the Philadelphia Inquirer article at https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/07/12/us-mexico-border-migrant-crossings/ – however, there is a pay wall. The Cato Institute article can be accessed at https://www.cato.org/blog/border-wall-didnt-work.
Joan D. Loewen
Lewistown