Here are a few truths the Biden administration would rather you didn’t consider about the ongoing existential threat that is a Southern border they refuse to control.
No, the situation is not “under control” in any sense of the term at present. No, it wasn’t worse under Donald Trump – at least not after he addressed the chaos the Obama-Biden team left for him and began to build and strengthen barriers, both physical and legal. This, coupled with his hard-line rhetoric, cut illegal immigration in half by late 2017.
According to the Border patrol’s own figures, “encounters” with illegal entrants have skyrocketed in the past year. A March 2020-March 2021comparison show that overall, single-person apprehensions have grown over 200%, from 233 to over 410 thousand. “Family unit” encounters have risen 128%, from forty to ninety-two thousand. Unaccompanied minors crossing the border alone rose 163% from eighteen to forty-two thousand. Average monthly apprehensions now top 180 thousand. And that’s not all.
Comparing these figures with Border Patrol maps, a pattern emerges: border sectors seeing the largest numbers of crossings were, save for the “single adults” category of entrants, all in areas where there are gaps in President Trump’s border wall, or where barbed-wire fencing or bollards mark the line between the US and Mexico. Remember, that’s the wall Joe Biden stopped building on his first day in office, the day he also repeated his promise, first made in March 2020 during a campaign debate, not to deport anyone for his first 100 days in office, and thereafter to deport only felons. Little wonder our Southern border is being overrun.
But fear naught: the Biden White House has now unveiled a comprehensive “immigration plan” to address this crisis. Overseen by Kamala Harris, who knows little and cares less about anything not immediately convertible to political capital, it will “Build on what works and pivot away from what does not work,” in her words. As usual with this administration, it does exactly the opposite.
The Harris-Biden plan for dealing with illegal immigration emphasizes neither border enforcement and barriers nor internal removals, two things that have been proven to work. Instead, it concentrates on the “root causes” of immigration, creating a straw-man argument for funneling millions of US taxpayer dollars to the corrupt regimes of Central America in a futile effort to “improve” them. Guatemalans recently filled the streets with protests against their government’s dismissal of an anti-corruption special prosecutor. I wonder how much money Ms. Harris thinks should be sent to that government to “combat corruption?” The very concept is lunacy.
As to “setting up temporary protections in neighboring countries” for people needing to leave their own countries, that was called “remain in Mexico” under the Trump administration. Good to see this is a point on which the Biden-Harris administration agrees with its predecessor. Too bad they threw the policy out in blind allegiance to open borders early on and now have to work to recreate it; these things take awhile to negotiate. They’re tricky.
Stumbling, retracing steps and sheer incompetence aside, the current administration will do nothing to protect our southern border not only because a great many Democrat leaders are intellectually opposed to the very idea of a sovereign United States, but because it suits their immediate political purposes. Democrats need a permanent underclass of ignorant, jobless, alienated and desperate people who can be whipped into fury by the easy demagoguery of the Left and mobbed-up for their ends. Two million or so new illegal residents a year is a good beginning for them. They also lust after new voters totally dependent on the patronage of the party; hence, efforts to legalize and naturalize this wave of illegal entrants will be a major focus of every Democrat legislative effort from now until it occurs. Deleterious effects on the rest of the nation’s citizens be damned.
One indication of the Administration’s intent is the recent statement by DHS Secretary Mayorkas about Cubans intending to flee to the US to escape the chaos and violent crackdowns in Communist Cuba. “…if you take to the sea,” he warned. “you will not come to the United States.” He probably means it: Cuban immigrants, having had personal experience with the wonders of Socialism, have a nasty habit of voting for the most conservative candidate running for office. Mayorkas knows that, being a Cuban refugee himself. So those immigrants must be opposed by all means necessary. They just don’t fit the plan.
Another test of the strength of the desire for a malleable constituency is the Administration’s disinterest in the health status of illegal entrants. According to recent reports a good percentage of illegal entrants carry COVID – the administration will not say how many, but ICE has recorded 20,000 cases with 9 deaths this year through mid-July. As many as 30% simply refuse to be inoculated. No matter. The Administration is now doing its best to move these multitudes away from the border, dispersing them throughout the US using both private carriers and US military logistics. Typically, no officials in the communities receiving these gifts from the Biden administration are previously consulted regarding the new arrivals. And since many destinations are in regions mostly populated by irredeemable bitter clingers, it’s a double gift: gratitude from the illegal entrants who survive, and nasty problems for the communities whose residents are probably still acolytes of the Bad Orange Man.
The entire illegal immigration business is a contemptable farce. It resulted in a president foreswearing his oath of office – remember that business about “…to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States?” Check Article II, Section 3 of that document. Has Joe Biden taken “…care that the Laws be faithfully executed” when it comes to immigration? Here’s a hint: triple nope.
Illegal immigration has seen the Democrat party’s lust for a permanent majority cripple any concern it might continue to have for the nation’s welfare or its future. Democrat leaders are so intent on an ephemeral victory they don’t see the abyss yawning at their feet.
It has increased the public sense that the political class and its paymasters will do as they wish with impunity and will get what they want regardless of public sentiment or law. Such sentiment is poisonous to a self-governing republic, but few on the Left seem to care.
This is an ugly business and it will not end well. Not for anyone.
