We do not have a ‘border crisis’
Every pundit and citizen from the conservative right to the progressive left is maintaining that we have a “crisis” at the border. I am going to go full-on contrarian and state:
We do NOT have a crisis at the border!
Yes, you read that correctly. We do not have a crisis at the border.
Some people assert that the flow of migrants into the USA, whether legal or otherwise, is a crisis. It isn’t. Despite some of the negative aspects of current US conditions, people are still coming here for safety and opportunity.
We never really had a “border” issue prior to 9–11.[1] Migrant workers would cross back and forth regularly depending on the farming season. People living in adjacent border towns would cross back and forth, shopping and dining.
Then 9–11 happened and suddenly the border needs to be “secured” in case terrorists tried to cross. With regards to Mexico, drug cartels also became more dangerous.
But nations other than Mexico are the primary source of migrants now. More recently from Venezuala as their economy collapsed and their government becomes more authoritarian. Prior to that we had Haitans. And before that we were seeing many people fleeing Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
As an aside, don’t get me started on the special privilege granted to Cubans!
All those nations listed above have been the object and subject of US imperialism for decades. In the early 20th century we sent in troops to quell uprisings which might affect the operations of US corporations.[2] General Smedley Butler, decorated Marine once wrote: “I served in all commissioned ranks from second lieutenant to Major General. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism. I suspected I was just part of the racket all the time. Now I am sure of it.”
Not even considering the interventions in South America, our list of interventions in coups and installing dictators is long and disturbing. [3]
From being a bully for corporate interests, we moved on to fight the commies. Better to have a right wing dictator on our side than a communist government. So we disrupted national elections, undermined economies, and installed dictators.
With disrupted economies, drug addiction in the USA, and a slew of available weapons, drug cartels and mobs have begun to dominate these countries. People are fleeing murder, rape, kidnapping and other forms of violence. The USA is in large part responsible for the state of these countries (including Haiti) and needs to step up.
The childish rant of “build a wall” is NOT a solution. Closing the door on immigration is NOT a solution. Under US law and international law, people have a human right to seek asylum, which is what most of the current immigrants are doing.
So we need to amp up our asylum procedures, not lock the door on desparate people. We also need to re-visit actual immigration reform. The last real push for any kind of immigration reform was 2077 under then-President George W Bush. However, a large part of the Bush proposal dealt not with actual immigration issues, but rather with “border security.” [4] The proposal also called for getting tougher on employers who hired illegal workers, which of course hardly ever happened anyway. The best part of the proposal was the createin of a solid temporary worker identification process and ID Card!
Unfortunately, this best opportunity for any kind of immigration reform died on the vine due to efforts mostly of Republicans who have been using immigration as a political issue now for fifteen years.[5]
While there are a few bills now in proposed state dealing with immigration, most deal with student immigrants, dreamers and employment based immigration. Nobody is really talking about addressing the root cause of the migration of desperate people!
Biden proposed a to central America [6], but it sadly mostly is focused on us, the USA, dealing with supply chain issues and countering China. Really? How about robust funding and support for political reform and combatting violence in these nations? And “after Biden excluded Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, prompting Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and several other leaders to stay away in protest.” Why exclude them? We do business all the time with nations whose governments we disapprove of.
Sadly, immigration will likely continue to be a political football with despicable people like DeSantis and Abbot playing with people’s lives, rather than actually propose a comprehensive solution. If it really is a crisis, then address the crisis. And addressing it is not merely closing the curtain so you don’t have to look at it.
[2] https://americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/major-general-smedley-butler/
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change_in_Latin_America
[4] https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/stateoftheunion/2007/initiatives/immigration.html
