President Biden – who has not visited the border – effectively invited the world to descend on America in his March 25 press conference. His statement punctuated his “open borders,” pro-sanctuary city posture. His stumbling performance suggests capacity problems, but mass illegal migration is an urgent issue. Whatever the motivation – future voters, the new constituency of dependents, or misplaced compassion – the policy is sheer lunacy. Here is why.
Lunacy is a strong word. At best, it means extreme folly, at worst unthinking behavior, bordering on insanity. But what else can this policy be? Biden has – overnight – transformed the US Southern border into a funnel, a mad dash – with more than 100,000 crossers a month coming for goodies, a magnet for anyone willing to break laws, storm the gates, throw children forward – see what they can get.
Truth is, data is breaking records everywhere, record Central American crossers (as Biden swung open the door via Mexico), unaccompanied minors (promised accommodations), a crush of emergency housing, mass apprehensions, raft upon raft both sides of the river, drug trafficking (record fentanyl, heroin inflow) child trafficking and rape, illegal immigrant COVID cases, transfers from CBP (after three days) to HHS, overwhelming existing options, FEMA shelters, military bases, and regional civic centers.
Worse, just under the radar, other things are happening. The press is mum, but churches are being pushed – nationwide – to “show mercy,” accept illegal immigrant children into Heartland communities, place them with families, no credible endgame, distant or nonexistent asylum hearing dates, minimal tracking, no centralized vetting, no assurance against child abuse, in short, a free pass to residency.
Compounding the error, in a world with 689 million in poverty, Biden and complicit Democrats are triggering a wider diversion of humanity to our border – from all over the world. Within the larger group, individuals from the Middle East, including those on the “terror watch list” are showing up. What better way to get in, than jump turn styles with the mob? Potential terrorists from Yemen and Serbia have been apprehended. See, e.g., https://www.worldvision.org/sponsorship-news-stories/global-poverty-facts; https://www.axios.com/four-people-matching-terror-watchlist-arrested-at-border-86b44533-4aae-4b73-b509-0501c90c370a.html; https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/03/a-man-made-disaster-at-the-border/; https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/border-security/perspective-americas-covert-border-war-and-special-interest-aliens/.
Then the COVID-19 spread – a reignition nationally, by the placement of infected minors nationwide – is in prospect. This is not conjecture. ICE was blocked from testing, time, accommodation, and legal requirement are impairing anything like diagnosis, isolation, or contact tracing. Up to 50 percent of illegal border crossers in some sectors have COVID. The whole spectacle is a nightmare. See, e.g., https://www.judicialwatch.org/corruption-chronicles/homeless-shelter-cleared-to-house-illegal-aliens-dozens-infected-with-covid-19/; https://plague.info/2021-03-30-biden-importing-covid-illegal-immigrants-infected-crossing-border.html.
Illegal aliens – a word now illegal in federal documents – are being put on Greyhound busses and shipped inland. Even Greyhound – first quietly, now publicly – is complaining about shipping COVID-positive aliens around the country. See, e.g., https://defconnews.com/2021/03/08/greyhound-ceo-pleads-for-biden-to-keep-covid-infected-illegal-aliens-off-buses/; https://www.theepochtimes.com/greyhound-ceo-tells-dhs-head-migrants-must-test-negative-for-covid-19-prior-to-boarding-buses_3722632.html.
Nor are the numbers of COVID-infected aliens being distributed around the country small. According to one subject matter expert, “thousands of migrants in family units are being issued ‘catch-and-release’ notices and then being directed straight to Greyhound bus stations for trips to American cities large and small, without any COVID testing.” See, https://u-s-news.com/politics-border-crisis-complicates-coronavirus-fight-homan-says-the-president-is-putting-america-at-risk/.
Even Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas admits this is the largest illegal immigration surge “in two decades,” while ordering FEMA – never-before enlisted for the role – to house, hold, and help disburse a never-ending flow of minors.
All this would be a shock to the system if we had it under control – if the inflow had been staunched, and we were just seeking to manage the damage done in the last two months to our legal immigration system, rule of law, public health and safety, national security, and traditional asylum and refugee processes, as well as perceived border control ability and international relationships. But the situation is not under control.
Seasoned law enforcement, border protection, counter-narcotics, and legal experts warn that the process of turning off what Biden has begun is going to be hard if the will exists to do so. Yes, foreign aid is nice, a long-term fix for people disincentivized to stay put and make a living in their (poor) country of origin, but that is not the urgent problem.
The instant problem is protecting American citizens, lives, health, safety, schools, hospitals, and social infrastructure – and stopping the awful trade in human beings to our border, as they are being abused, criminally taken advantage of, lied to, and trafficked by the same groups that traffic fentanyl, heroin, and other contraband.
A non-partisan, bipartisan, all-citizen effort must emerge that says – enough! The inhumanity of this crisis is not about beds for children, fake asylum claims (which are founded on a provable, well-founded fear of individual persecution), but the impact on both Americans and those being trafficked north by criminal organizations. The goal must be to assess this as a massively failed policy and to bring it to a fast halt.
Can it be done? Yes. Will it be done? That depends heavily on five factors: (1) whether average Americans grasp the stakes understand equities tip hard against what Biden is doing, that a signal must be sent that we are not open to mass illegal migration, (2) political leaders are held to account for promoting this lunacy – and for not speaking up to stop it, (3) law enforcement is immediately supported, funded properly, legal empowered to use necessary means for interdicting and swiftly returning illegal border crossers, (4) international agreements, like Trump’s with Mexico, are reactivated, preventing runaway entry, (5) and the lunacy of so-called “catch and release” for later adjudication – which seldom happens – is again stopped.
If we do not turn into the wind, understand the stakes, see the cone opening on a social, cultural, legal, security, health, and safety crisis – we will wish we had. Whatever the perceived political gain to Democrats, it pales by comparison to protecting the country. Can anything be more obvious? Is this not lunacy? This mass illegal migration must be stopped.