Glenn Beck: Passing Out Teddy Bears Won't Encourage More Illegals to Come to US

On Monday, Glenn Beck said passing out teddy bears and soccer balls to illegal immigrant children at detention centers in Texas will not encourage more illegal immigrants to try to unlawfully enter the country.

In an appearance with Bill O’Reilly on Fox News, Beck emphasized that these “are children who are in need. Now they’re here. So what do we do?”

Beck said some people “believe that I’m just gonna make things worse.” When O’Reilly asked about “threats” that Beck was getting from the “far right,” Beck said that “there’s a lot of people that are very upset because they think that I am going to be encouraging people… to come here.”

“And that’s not true,” he declared.

Beck said he would go down to the border and bring shoes, food, soccer balls, and teddy bears and serve meals in the morning and the afternoon to illegal immigrant children in detention centers. Saying he would make sure that the food pantries are filled, Beck said he has a “responsibility to God,” and the country “must unite and come together at least on this.” 

There have been at least 57,000 illegal immigrant children who have unlawfully entered the country since October of last year. Federal officials expect at least 150,000 more to try in the next fiscal year. The number of illegal immigrants who have entered the country spiked after President Barack Obama enacted his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program by executive action in 2012. The per capita murder rate in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador has declined since fiscal year 2011.

“Let’s be decent people and take care of the kids while they are here,” Beck added.

Beck said he would also deliver a “monologue translated to Spanish” on Tuesday warning Central Americans about the dangers of sending their children on a journey where they can be raped, kidnapped, or become sex slaves. He said “it’s evil what’s happening to these children,” who are being “used for political purposes.”

O’Reilly said he would send a donation to Beck’s charity to support his efforts.