Pundits commonly depict the ongoing calamity at our border as the result of Biden administration incompetence. As with inflation, urban crime, and the deficit, their near-complete lack of insight and management skills is leading us over a cliff.
But this analysis itself is a major error. They know exactly what they are doing, and they are doing it well. They are executing a long-range plan that is achieving great success.
The Biden administration is doing everything it can to bring as many illegal immigrants across the border as possible, braving considerable political blow-back to achieve their goals. They believe the mostly unskilled, uneducated migrants will gravitate to the party that promises more government benefits and thus ensure Democratic dominance indefinitely.
So, they alternately claim the border is actually “closed” and admit they are concerned but don’t know what to do about it. Now, admittedly some of the Washington Dems aren’t that bright, but it’s not possible to be so stupid as to not be able to see what is happening here.
Immediately after his inauguration, Biden announced the border was open and reversed the Trump policies, “Remain in Mexico” and “Title 42,” that had limited illegal border crossings. Now, illegal immigrants face no consequences if they defy the border police and make it across the line.
Instead, they are treated humanely, fed, housed and released into America, usually with a deferred asylum hearing which most don’t attend, since few have legitimate asylum claims. Yet our VP border czar pretends not to understand why five million illegal immigrants have crossed the border on her watch or what to do about it.
But open borders advocates gave away the real game. Czar Kamala, and others, said a plan to control the border might be worked out if Republicans would only “come to the table.” However, the only way to control the border would be through “comprehensive immigration reform,” which is their euphemism for amnesty.
So, there you have it. Democrats are okay with cranking up a situation so intolerable that Republicans will be forced to grant citizenship to the millions who entered America illegally.
Not long ago, Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama called for strict border enforcement to protect the wages of low-income workers. Democratic opinion changed when the offspring of 20 million or so illegal aliens began to vote as anchor babies.
California has become a one-party state, and several other western states seem poised to follow suit (although the Democrats’ grip on Latino voters may be fading as they become Americanized).
Playing-dumb Democrats aren’t the only group that benefits from open borders. Foreign governments benefit from billions of dollars of remittances, money that immigrants send back home saved from their earnings and, often, government subsidies they receive here.
The political champions of racial grievance benefit from a large community of immigrants whose relative poverty purportedly is proof that America is nativist or racist. Thus, Latino welfare organizations, academic departments, lawyers, and political organizations are required to remedy this lack of social justice.
Employers clearly benefit from a pool of young compliant workers who work for wages and conditions unacceptable to growing numbers of Americans. Caring progressives not only get a cause to pontificate for, but nannies, gardeners, and housekeepers to make their lives easier.
Of course, illegal immigrants benefit too, although they successfully competed against a legal applicant who waited and played by the rules. But unlike legal immigrants, illegals don’t come because they love America and want to become loyal Americans.
Their illegal entrance shows their disdain for the Rule of Law. Many cheered wildly when socialists like Hugo Chavez of Venezuela promised to confiscate land and assets from “the rich” and give it to “the people,” ultimately resulting in the economic devastation they are now fleeing.
Americans are bound together as a nation not by blood or soil, but by the values and ideals which brought us freedom and prosperity. Our future depends on an immigration policy which selects for immigrants, of any color or ethnicity, who understand this and want to share with us not only the privileges, but also the responsibilities, of being an American.
Dr. Thomas Patterson, former Chairman of the Goldwater Institute, is a retired emergency physician. He served as an Arizona State senator for 10 years in the 1990s, and as Majority Leader from 93-96. He is the author of Arizona’s original charter schools bill.
Hours before a scheduled appearance on Monday with former Vice President Mike Pence, Governor Doug Ducey’s office announced that he’d tested positive for COVID-19. Ducey’s communications director, C.J. Karamargin, toldKTAR News that the governor was asymptomatic and “feeling well.”
From Day One, Vice President @Mike_Pence has worked closely with states to secure the border. Grateful to have him at Arizona’s southern border today to get an update on the ground. https://t.co/3uaEyLk0BN
Originally, Ducey was to accompany Pence on a tour of the southern border, followed by attendance at a border security speech by the former vice president at the Arizona Commerce Authority in Phoenix.
During his speech, Pence argued that the Biden administration was exacerbating the border crisis.
“[This border crisis] can be ended almost overnight, if President Biden will just put back the policies the Trump-Pence administration put into effect that reduced illegal immigration by 90 percent,” said Pence.
Pence also lauded Ducey for his leadership and wished him a speedy recovery from COVID-19. In April, the governor coordinated with half of the country’s governors to launch a strike force modeled after his 2015 state-level initiative to address the border crisis.
“Let me say: how fortunate the people of Arizona are to have a leader so principled and devoted to securing the border and keeping our families and our neighborhoods safe,” said Pence.
Among those that met with Pence on Monday were Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels and his department, along with Arizona Department of Homeland Security Director Tim Roemer.
We are here today to say with one voice: President Joe Biden must do his duty and Secure Our Southern Border NOW! pic.twitter.com/mnz9ALUZyK
According to the latest Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) data, there have been nearly 1.3 million border encounters since last October.
The Biden administration’s attempt to rescind Title 42, policy under former President Donald Trump to expedite expulsion of illegal immigrants, failed last month. The program was slated to end on May 23, but a federal court in Louisiana issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Biden administration from ending the policy.
HUGE. The Court keeps Title 42 in place. We're going to keep fighting – and winning – because Arizonans' lives are on the line. https://t.co/wXqGHegTGC
Ducey credited the senior advisor on the pandemic and lead for statewide vaccination efforts, Dr. Richard Carmona, for ensuring that the vaccine was the best tool to fight COVID-19. As AZ Free News reported, Carmona serves on the board of directors for a major distributor of the COVID-19 vaccine, McKesson.
Dr. Carmona is an incredible source of information in Arizona's response to the pandemic. Received a briefing from him today and we agree: the vaccine is the best tool we have to fight the pandemic. 2/ pic.twitter.com/LhwLCOaRD0
Favorability polls conducted last week through YouGov, Politico, and Harris indicated that voters largely had an unfavorable view of the former vice president. The latestpolling for 2024 presidential picks reflected that Pence falls behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with or without former President Donald Trump in the running.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Secretary of State and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs declared it was “ridiculous” that the border crisis was a core issue for the governor’s race. Hobbs made the remarks during an interview with the Arizona Republic.
Hobbs asserted that it wouldn’t matter how she talked about the border because Republicans would only twist her words. It is unclear whether her observation came from recent controversy over her apparent reversal on the Biden administration’s plan to rescind Title 42.
“It’s ridiculous that we are talking about this as a core issue in the governor’s race,” said Hobbs. “I could stand here and say ‘Build the wall,’ and they’re gonna call me open borders. It doesn’t really matter what I say for the Republicans, they’re going to just misconstrue everything.”
Hobbs’ latest statement appears to be a pivot from her remarks issued last October, when she insisted that alleviating border crisis pressures would be one of her primary focuses as governor.
“The situation at our border puts pressure on all our communities. We have to reduce illegal border crossings in a way that promotes security and safety for everyone and most efficiently uses taxpayers’ dollars,” said Hobbs. “Arizonans need a leader who is learning from the officials who are on the front lines and understand this important issue best. I’m committed to listening, learning, and working on the ground to ensure our borders are secure.”
The situation at our border puts pressure on all our communities. We have to reduce illegal border crossings in a way that promotes security and safety for everyone and most efficiently uses taxpayers’ dollars.
Hobbs also changed her perspective on the revocation of Title 42 recently. Within one month, Hobbs shifted her public message from supporting Title 42’s immediate end because it “isn’t working” to declaring that doing so would be a “rash decision” that would result in a “disaster.”
Hobbs hasn’t been the only Democratic candidate for a state-level office to dismiss border concerns this week. Democratic congressional candidate and former state senator Kirsten Engel went one step further, arguing that the current state of the border doesn’t constitute a crisis.
Engel issued that assessment during a Wednesday night debate hosted on “Arizona Horizon” by PBS. Engel’s Democratic opponent, State Representative Daniel Hernández Jr. (D-Tucson), contended with her denial of the border crisis.
Hobbs and Engel represent a greater division within their party on the significance and reality of the border crisis. Hobbs’ opponents, Aaron Lieberman and Marco Lopez, have each offered their own takes. Lieberman has said he will defer to federal actors to work out the border crisis.
Arizona Governor Candidate Lieberman Talks Higher Education, Paying Teachers, Ag and Border in Yuma https://t.co/9CSKzi9EcB
Lopez has insisted that rhetoric painting the border situation as dangerous was misleading.
“There is no invasion,” said Lopez.
Don't be fooled by the GOP rhetoric and scare tactics…this is what the day to day at the border actually looks like: hardworking people looking for opportunity, not to mention contributing $16 billion and 200,000 jobs to our trade economy. pic.twitter.com/JaqL29vp0N
The invasion crisis on our southern border is baffling. How could this outrage be happening?
The White House wants you to believe that they’re powerless to stop it. They’re willing to appear negligent and/or stupid to keep the wheels turning.
But there’s only one possible explanation that holds water: it’s a plan. And it’s working, as the border zone is flooded with millions of illegal immigrants, almost all of whom will stay permanently and lay the groundwork for an invincible voting bloc in the future.
If they sincerely wanted to do something about it, officials wouldn’t have to do any complicated thinking. Just stop egging on illegal immigrants to come and reinstate the Trump-era policies that were at least somewhat helpful.
You have to almost admire the masterminds of this catastrophe for persevering in the face of growing bipartisan revulsion at this inhumane tragedy. They are playing the long game—even at the price of taking short-term political hits.
In contrast to the helpless-to-resist image they’re trying to peddle, they’re contemplating the revocation of Title 42, a Trump era rule allowing migrant crossings to be turned away for public health reasons. Homeland Security projects ending Title 42 would result in an inconceivable 18,000 migrant crossings daily, up from our already unmanageable 7,000. At that rate, by the end of Biden’s term, one in five American residents would be here illegally.
Americans don’t need to be told the results of massive illegal immigration. We live it daily. Illegal immigrants by law have access to our emergency rooms. Over half of the newborns at LA County Hospital are newly minted American citizens born to illegal immigrant parents at taxpayer expense.
Illegal immigrants crowd our schools, forcing our already stressed educational system to divert focus to ESL instruction. Moreover, they undercut unskilled American workers and drive down their wages.
They also contribute to our burgeoning crime problem. The number of criminals who have evaded Border Patrol is obviously unknown, but over 40 migrants on the terror watchlist have been apprehended in addition to those who have slipped through. Enough fentanyl has been imported for every single American to have taken a fatal overdose.
But America’s greatest threat from massive illegal immigration isn’t the effect on our safety, our education, nor our healthcare. It’s not the welfare and correctional services illegal immigrants consume. The greatest danger is losing our nationhood.
America is uniquely a nation based not on geography nor blood but on its values and ideals. We have amply demonstrated our ability to absorb large numbers of immigrants who love America, who come because they want to be Americans and share our values and ideals, established in our Declaration and Constitution.
Illegal immigrants, by contrast, begin their relationship by defying a foundational principle that has made the U.S. a magnet for immigrants since its creation: the Rule of Law. This is the belief that we are ruled by laws, not men (people), and that each of us stand as a free and equal individual before the law.
Unfortunately, this tsunami of immigration from socialist autocracies where corruption is the norm is occurring at a time where in America is struggling with growing levels of tribalism. E pluribus unum is fading as many Americans now identify primarily as members of a political, racial, or other group that competes for favors from government.
Assimilation is now scorned as a micro-aggression. America is regarded by its own citizens as oppressive and bigoted.
Tens of millions of illegal immigrants who neither know nor care about America’s defining values don’t bode well for our future. In a decade or two, we’ll undoubtedly begin to hear about how they “deserve” citizenship, they’ve been here a long time, don’t have any other home, and so on. Our unity as Americans will become more fractured.
Americans are historically compassionate and resilient. But it is past time for Americans to reinforce the crucial distinction between illegal and legal immigrants.
It’s not racist or xenophobic to protect our borders from those who ignore our principles but want to enjoy the fruits of our success. It is crucial to the survival of America as we know it.
Mere hours after the missing body of Texas Guardsman Bishop Evans was found along the Rio Grande River, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero expressed support of the Biden administration’s decision to end Title 42, a policy allowing expedited deportations. Romero hasn’t commented on Evans at all.
Romero also lambasted Americans for not being benevolent enough to the relentless torrent of illegal immigrants. News of Romero’s press release was covered in the country’s largest independent political news site of 2020 and one of the largest this year, The Hill.
“Tucson stands ready to support those seeking asylum,” tweeted Romero. “America should take a lesson from our European allies who are taking in millions of Ukrainian refugees. Democracies don’t get to pick and choose when to support human rights.”
Tucson stands ready to support those seeking asylum.
America should take a lesson from our European allies who are taking in millions of Ukrainian refugees. Democracies don't get to pick and choose when to support human rights. https://t.co/CDzl2JE7u1
Evans, a field artilleryman and critical support for multiple Special Operations Forces missions overseas, died while attempting to rescue two illegal immigrants who were crossing the Rio Grande River around Eagle Pass, Texas. The Texas Rangers later revealed that the pair were drug traffickers.
AZ Free News asked Romero for comment on Evans’ sacrifice. She didn’t respond.
Romero issued the statement alongside Brownsville, Texas Mayor Trey Mendez.
The Biden administration pledged to end Title 42 on May 23, but reports retrieved from several attorney generals in court filings revealed that they were rescinding the policy immediately. On Monday, a federal judge ordered the Biden administration to keep Title 42 in place.
BREAKING: I am so proud of the lawyers from our office who just got a Temporary Restraining Order to keep Title 42 in place. We will continue to fight the Biden administration's open border policies.
