Rod Watson: Election-year schism on asylum-seekers will define who we are

There’s been no noticeable increase in reported rapes.

Armed robberies have not been on the rise.

In fact, the only thing spiking since the announcement that Erie County might get some of the asylum-seekers flooding New York City – and the subsequent arrival here of 50 of them early Friday – has been hateful rhetoric.

That was to be expected in an era in which xenophobia is not just a moral and mental defect but simultaneously a political selling point. In addition to spurring hate speech, it also prompted seven other Western New York counties to issue “state of emergency” declarations barring hotels from contracting to house the newcomers without government permission.

That makes Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz’s voice welcoming those desperate for a better life all the more noteworthy, especially in an election year. He stepped up to call such declarations not only illegal, but “morally repugnant.”

Predictably, that didn’t stop Erie County Republicans, including his November opponent, from calling for a state of emergency here. Nor did it stop the online vitriol about asylum-seekers who “will get arrested and we will have them to take care of in OUR jails.”

Another commenter remarked sarcastically, “Now tell us again that they don’t commit crimes, all have court dates and been vetted,” while still another complained about “All these New Democrats sucking from the liberal system.”

“Now their ‘asylum seekers’…. you mean ILLEGAL ALIENS right!!!!” wrote one, while another alleged – without evidence – that asylum-seekers had trashed hotels in New York City.

The comments, though targeting the newcomers with a broad brush, actually paint an ugly picture of Western New York.

Fortunately, none of them went unanswered, with more enlightened residents correcting everything from the xenophobes’ grammar – apparently being born…