Illegal Immigration Cannot Be Ignored

Americans still welcome newcomers but the border crisis is intolerable-and killing the Democrats

(Over my time in the military, I have flown mission on or for the southern and northern border. My concerns for the humanitarian impact of human and drug trafficking come from that experience)

Senate Republicans are blocking legislation that would provide $110 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine and Israel and everyone should be outraged. I know I am. Israel needs our backing in its effort to destroy the Hamas terrorist militia and Ukraine needs our help to continue defending itself from invading Russians. This is not the time to abandon our friends and allies.

The problem is that GOP senators are demanding tougher immigration policies and funding for additional border control before they will approve the aid package. In holding the legislation hostage they are playing a game that will cost Ukrainian lives and hinder Israel’s operations against an organization that raided its territory and killed more than 1200 of its citizens on October 7. Much worse, the house really has no official demand except to adopt HR2, a bill so terrible that in the House a few Republicans voted against it in the entirely otherwise party-line vote. Some in the house don’t want Ukraine aid so badly, they hope this demand will tank the process entirely.

I abhor what the Republican senators and house members are doing, and think there is no way to justify it. However, I also think that the problem of immigration, which has festered for decades, deserves our attention.

There is a crisis at the US/Mexico border. In 2023 the Customs and Border Patrol recorded 2.2 million “encounters” with illegal immigrants on this border, which is up from 2 million the previous year. Compare with a 2020-2018 average of less than 500,000, and the data tells you just how bad things are.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/10/29/us/illegal-border-crossings-data.html

Behind the numbers you see men, women, and families who dream of a life in the United States but find themselves apprehended, detained, and returned to their home countries. (In tragic cases people die attempting to cross the desert or the Rio Grande.)

As a quick aside, many of these people are not technically “illegal” as US Asylum laws and treaties allow these asylum claims. However, 2/3rds of these are eventually found to be illegitimate claims, but only after a many years-long wait while they legally reside in the US. These laws were not intended for this situation, this was more for the tens of thousands fleeing places like the old Soviet Union, etc.

Immigrants with permission to stay longer, as their asylum claims are processed, are overwhelming shelters and other services in big cities across the country where local officials say they have reached the limits of their resources.  Whether it’s at the border or in communities a thousand miles away, the humanitarian crisis is only growing worse.  

(Taken on a mission from my plane. Each white dot is a person who intends to cross)

Experts in demography, migration, and economics have long warned of the kind of crisis seen here and similar problems in Western Europe. In both cases crushing poverty, human rights abuses, and armed conflicts have driven millions to the point where they choose to make extremely dangerous journeys seeking a better life. Often, they encounter hostility from the local population, arrest, deportation, or a life of isolation, joblessness, and dependency.   

America has long needed new immigration policies but for decades, despite bi-partisan support, Congress has failed to act. In part this was due to pressure from businesses that need migrants, and hire many who are undocumented, to work in low-wage jobs in agriculture and food processing.

In 2015 Donald Trump used slurs and lies to gin-up public outrage over immigration. He promised a massive crackdown on border crossings and, infamously, pledged to construct a border wall which, somehow or other, Mexico would fund.

In four years the Trump administration built just 49 miles of new wall. Experts are divided on the question of whether it was effective. (What we do know for certain is that Mexico didn’t pay for any of the construction.) But though his policies didn’t move the numbers much, Trump made the issue a central concern for his followers, who now control the GOP.

With the problem far worse today, Trump and the Republican Party are sure to focus intently on President Biden’s failure at the border.  I’m certain that the number of people who think illegal immigration is a problem is higher than ever. However, public opinion suggests a way out for Biden and the Democrats. As the Gallup Poll reported last summer, 68 percent of us see immigration as a “good thing” for “this country today. Sympathy for illegal immigrants runs at 64 percent.

Over the years immigrants have contributed more to our country than they have taken. Rather than displace American workers they take low-wage jobs that go begging. Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes, pay more in taxes than they consume in public services, and are 80 percent more likely to create small businesses than native-born citizens

Unfortunately, an anti-immigrant stand is far easier to promote than policies that discourage and reduce illegal immigration while also allowing for a robust flow of legal ones. But given that it’s far easier to sell a slogan – “Build the Wall!” shout Trump’s people – action on the border crisis must come first. If you want people to trust you on the big-picture policy, you must first show you can bring order to the chaos. Let’s pray they get this right. America can’t tolerate another Trump term.

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