Numbers don’t support enforcement claims

This bold headline and story in The Gazette's July 19 Nation/World page certainly got a chuckle from me: 'Deportation of child migrants stepped up.”

The one-sentence first paragraph reports that more than 40 (yes, count them ... 40!) Central American children had been expelled from the U.S. 'as the U.S. government stepped up its deportation of undocumented child migrants.” That was funny.

The real punch line, however, was in the one-sentence second paragraph. 'Tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors from the three violence-torn countries have been caught crossing the border this year......”

Let's see ... 40 divided by 40,000 = one-thousandth of one percent, assuming my math is right. I wonder where all the other 99.999 percent will go?

Sure glad the border problem is being solved by the U.S. government's 'stepping things up.” I feel much safer now.

Pete Larson

Cedar Rapids