Border Security

Building Central America: Lessons from Afghanistan

The dramatic initial success of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, by any measure one of history’s most effective military offensives, gave way to 20 years of increasingly bureaucratic, decreasingly effective nation-building efforts, culminating in this month’s surrender to the Taliban and calamitous evacuation of Kabul. As the Biden administration planned what would become the August...

September 9, 2021

Border Security

Afghanistan, Southern U.S. Border Show Biden Uninterested in Defending America

The debacle in Afghanistan is still unfolding, but it is already one of the signal disasters of American history. It’s usually premature to assess contemporary events in history’s light, so it’s a sign of just how bad things are in Kabul that I — a historian — am ready to put it alongside the Bay...

August 30, 2021

Border Security

Death on our doorsteps: Human trafficking and the illegal migrant crisis

Weeks ago, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin unwittingly drew attention to the real crisis at the U.S. border — human trafficking carried out by ruthless criminal organizations. “We need to also recognize a significant percentage of people selling drugs in San Francisco, perhaps as many as half, are here from Honduras,” he said. “And...

August 12, 2021

Border Security

Biden Extends Public Health Order that can Slow Illegal Immigration

Backed into a corner by circumstances at the border and growing pressure from Congress, the White House on Monday renewed a public health order—Title 42—that allows the Border Patrol to turn migrants back at the border over COVID-19 concerns. That pressure from Congress came in the form of a discharge petition on a bill that...

August 3, 2021

Border Security

The True Enemy at the Border

Alma Barragan was a 61-year-old mayoral candidate in the small central Mexican town of Moroleon. On May 25, twelve days before the June 6 election, she stood at a campaign event, microphone in hand, speaking of a time in the idyllic past when the people of Moroleon could safely walk its streets. She urged an...

July 12, 2021

Border Security

Texas tackling Biden’s border crisis to save lives

Numbers matter. Illegal immigration into the U.S.—particularly across the Texas border—is at levels we haven’t seen for two decades. But the heartbreaking video that emerged earlier this month of human smugglers abandoning a 5-year-old child at the border sums up the crisis better than any statistic can. As the child screams for help, one of...

July 6, 2021

Border Security

House Democrats Attempt to Defund Law Enforcement at the Southern Border during Trump Visit

As the crisis at the southern border rages on, House Democrats this week proposed a new appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that would severely cut funding to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), while rescinding over $2 billion in border wall funding from last year. Ironically,...

June 30, 2021

Border Security

E-Verify: An Essential Part of a Sensible Immigration System

The hope of employment is one of the main reasons unauthorized migrants continue to enter the United States. In Texas, undocumented workers make up 8.5% of the state’s total labor force. In addition to violating the law, employers who knowingly hire unauthorized migrants often take advantage of them by paying extremely low wages, refusing to...

June 16, 2021

Border Security

My Story: El Paso is Overwhelmed

What do you think of when you hear about El Paso, Texas? I was born and raised there, so when I think of El Paso, I think of home. I think of the early mornings when my family and I would cross the border to go to church with my abuelitos at La Primera Bautista...

June 15, 2021

Border Security

Part 2: The Border Crisis is Real: Here are the Stories

On the high north bank of the Rio Grande River, an uninhabited home overlooks the river. Our small group — members of the Border Security Coalition who traveled to Val Verde County to see the border crisis for ourselves — stood on a pleasant green landing near the property, but we weren’t allowed to enter....

June 10, 2021

Border Security

Is Mass Illegal Migration an Invasion?

We think of an invasion as an armed assault on a nation. In our history classes, we were taught about instances like the Nazi invasions of neighboring European countries, the ancient Roman Empire’s onslaught of surrounding nations, or maybe North Korea’s attempt to impose on her southern counterpart. But recently, several notable Republicans and conservatives...

June 9, 2021

Border Security

Biden’s border crisis – Texas may have to defend itself. Here’s why

The world wants to come to America and many in America – at least in the Biden administration and the Chamber of Commerce – want the world to come. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the Texas-Mexico border, where the surge of would-be immigrants has completely overwhelmed the Border Patrol and local law enforcement. If current trends continue,...

June 9, 2021