News of poor conditions at a holding center in Arizona for undocumented, unaccompanied minors whipped Sarah Palin into a fury Friday — so much so that she said she was on the verge of renouncing her ties to the Republican Party.
“Finally, they have won me over. I actually agree with the liberals’ war whoop,” the former Republican vice presidential nominee wrote on her Facebook page. “I, too, demand that this issue of young illegal aliens flooding across our border into horrendous conditions be taken care of. Now!”
The Department of Homeland Security began flying some young migrants to Arizona after more than 48,000 unaccompanied children crossing the border into Texas overwhelmed U.S. Border Patrol. A warehouse in Nogales, Ariz. was housing 700 of them at the beginning of this week and that number was expected to double to around 1,400.
In her Facebook post, Palin cited heat, illness, unsanitary conditions and potential sexual exploitation at the holding facility as examples of “child abuse.” She then railed against the GOP’s unwillingness to engage in meaningful reform on issues like border security.
“As a Christian I find it unforgivable to ignore this issue of overrunning border security into these conditions in southern states, and this one issue is just about driving me to renounce my Republican ties because, see, even leaders on the RIGHT side of the aisle haven’t exerted all Constitutional power to stop the madness,” she wrote. “A few have tried, but until they’re sent reinforcements, then atrocities like the child abuse and exploitation you’re now getting wind of will only get worse.”
She then accused President Barack Obama of orchestrating the “crisis” in Arizona in order to advance his own immigration reform agenda.
“In this case, Obama’s refusal to enforce immigration laws and his blatant suggestion that his chosen illegal activity will be rewarded are proof of his tyrannical tactics,” Palin wrote. “The recent numerous manipulated ‘crises’ have the media pinging and ponging trying to keep up with what is the scandal of the day, which one overshadows another, and how will they distract next, and who’s on first?! Purposeful decisions causing these crises are meant to overload the system, justify abuse of executive power to ‘fix’ it all, and ultimately tighten control of the people.”
But lest anyone thought Palin was siding with Democrats who have called for giving legal status to undocumented children, she added in a post-script to her note that she would prefer to deport the children:
“The primary expenditure we need to supply in this humanitarian crisis is jet fuel to fly these children back home to their parents.”
