Last week, several House Democrats finally visited the U.S. Southern border. But it was not to witness the ongoing crisis; rather, it was to see the buoy barrier that was put in place by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to deter illegal crossings from Mexico into the U.S. via the Rio Grande River. They were quick to chastise the barrier as inhumane while labeling Operation Lone Star as a failure that is exacerbating the illegal immigration problem.
If you take these comments at face value, which we should, then several conclusions can be drawn. One, according to some members of Congress, deterring illegal immigration is bad. Two, Texas taking action to make the border respected when the federal government refuses to do so is inhumane. Three, President Joe Biden’s plan is the correct way forward. By their comments and legislative records, this is what the left in America supports. But a deeper dive reveals the inhumanity and cruelty of President Biden’s border and immigration policy.
To the left, losing 85,000 children who were in federal custody is humane, because that’s what the Biden administration did, and that was as of February 2023. Truthfully, they don’t know how many are missing. When this news broke and the United States Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on oversight of the Department of Homeland Security just a month later, not a single Democrat raised this issue. Instead, a few thought it was more relevant to revert to 2018 talking points of “kids in cages.” This policy was actually a policy implemented by the Obama administration and is still in use today by the Biden administration. A few senators thought this was more worthy of their time than the approximately 85,000 children who are missing.
Another consequence of the left’s ‘humane’ border policy is the flood of illegal drugs that have come into the country, most notably fentanyl. There were over 70,000 reported deaths from fentanyl in 2021 alone. These drugs are able to come across the border more easily now thanks to the flood of illegal migrant border crossings. Migrant groups that arrive at the border are directed to their crossing destinations by cartels. These criminal organizations purposefully use the migrants to divert U.S. Border Patrol resources to certain areas to create gaps in security that the cartels can take advantage of to move drugs and other contraband, including aliens who wish to avoid apprehension, into the U.S. In many cases, the migrants know they are being used as a distraction, which means they are committing a felony by providing material support to the cartels. The border crisis is jet fuel to the drug crisis in the U.S. But to the left, this is humane.
Migrants who cross the border unlawfully do so through organized crime. They pay fees, and if they don’t have the fees, then they’re in debt to cartels. The collateral is their lives, and the lives of their families back home.
That’s a detail Texas Sen. Ted Cruz explained to an evidently ignorant Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Migrants are literally tagged, and those who can’t pay are forced to sell drugs, prostitute themselves, or do whatever the cartels order them to do in order to repay their debt. Loose open border policies invariably encourage migrants to illegally come to the U.S, where they are then put in shadow slavery by cartels. But according to the left, this is humane.
It is obvious that none of these consequences of President Biden’s and Secretary Mayorkas’ border policies are humane. But this is the left’s ideal version of our southern border, so they will defend it to the end.
The only truly humane border is a secure border, with the firm knowledge of who is coming in and out of our country, their intentions, and what they are bringing with them. Legislation like the House-passed H.R. 2 will go a long way toward getting us there.
Still, if the Biden administration wished to, it could end the suffering tomorrow by fully reimplementing the Migrant Protection Protocols put in place by President Donald Trump. This would stymie the flow of migrants entering the U.S. with invalid asylum claims. However, President Biden won’t take action to secure the border. That is why Texas has been forced to take steps to safeguard her citizens and, by extension, the entire country.
Deterring illegal entry into the U.S. is the only humane solution.