What is the true meaning of compassion? The left-wing media and their willing sycophants try to tell us it means not breaking up families yearning to come to America. That notion deserves exploring.

First of all, let’s understand the three reasons, by law, children are being taken from adults as they try to enter this country illegally. Reason One: when authorities believe the child is in danger. Reason Two: when they can’t determine that the child actually belongs to the adult. Reason Three: when the adults are being criminally prosecuted. Please tell me in which of those three instances you would like to see a child stay with an adult.

One of the many lies being told is that asylum-seeker families are being busted up. Take this first line from a vox.com article claiming to explain the situation at the border. “As a matter of policy, the US government is separating families who seek asylum in the US by crossing the border illegally.” See anything wrong with that statement? Asylum-seekers don’t cross the border illegally. They present themselves at a border crossing. Those who do are not being broken up. Saying that you’re seeking asylum after breaking into the country is like saying you’re applying for a loan after you get caught in the bank vault. It’s ridiculous.

I just returned from London. What if I decided to run past the customs agent at the airport instead of presenting my passport? You think I might be arrested? And if I were, would I get to take my children to jail with me? I think you know the answer to that.

Let’s make this simple. If you cross the border into the United States you are a criminal. It’s a misdemeanor for the first offense and a felony for second and subsequent offenses. Many of these people are processed and thrown out of the country in the same day. With their children. Those who choose to claim asylum after they’re caught breaking in understand that they will be separated from their children for weeks, if not longer. They make that choice. What kind of parent chooses asylum over their own kids?

Hundreds of people die every year attempting to cross the United States border. Crossing is extremely dangerous because of the heat and the criminal element that preys on the illegals. If parents inside the US were to subject their children to something like this, Children’s Services would take the kids away from them. Remember that Clinton invaded the Waco compound ostensibly for the children. Where’s the outrage at these illegal parents?

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has roundly criticized President Trump’s strong stand against the illegal invasion as “immoral.” What’s immoral is encouraging parents to bring their children across a brutal desert in order to break into another country. That’s the whole point, really. Trump is trying to discourage illegal immigration.

And, by the way, two-thirds of the people who come across the border from Mexico come legally. What’s up with that other third? Chances are, many of them can’t come legally because there’s something in their backgrounds that would prohibit that.

Make no mistake, illegal immigration is the biggest problem we face in the United States. It is a component of nearly every other problem we have. Getting this right is crucial. As the president said, we don’t want to turn America into a migrant camp. There’s a right way and a wrong way to come to America. Encouraging people to come the right way is compassionate. Encouraging anything else is just plain cruel.