The crisis unfolding again at the country’s southern border isn’t the result of the latest failed legislative efforts to address immigration, it’s the consequence of ignoring it.
Starting this week, the nation ends so-called Title 42, a vapid ploy to turn back immigrants using the pandemic as a ruse.
The federal executive order instructed customs officials to oust undocumented immigrants, including those seeking asylum, from the United States. The excuse was that immigrant holding facilities were ill-equipped to handle anti-COVID protocols.
Even after Trump was removed from office by voters in 2020, the Biden administration continued the scheme.
The Biden White House has had more than two years to prepare for Title 42 ending and has done little to deal with the expected onslaught of immigrants desperate to get into the United States.
Immigration policy stands out as one of the nation’s most catastrophic and humiliating failures by Republicans and Democrats alike.
Already useless immigration policy fermented by the Obama Administration was weaponized during the Trump presidential campaign and his dismal term in office.
Vastly expensive and wasteful remnants of Trump’s notorious “great wall” along segments of the southern border stand as testament to Trump’s insidious exploitation of some Americans’ fear or disdain for immigrants, and especially immigrants who are people of color.
Republicans and Democrats must end the cruelty, the inhumanity and the vast lost opportunities for immigrants and the nation alike. They must work together to finally solve this problem, of which illegal immigration is but a symptom: jobs.
Endless U.S. industries and businesses depend on the cheap labor that illegal immigrants provide. Until that issue is addressed, nothing will change.
For decades, the problem of illegal immigration has been primarily about jobs, and Trump presidential hopeful Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and their acolytes have worked hard to distract from that. Despite all the heated rhetoric and emotional arguments targeting both sides of this thorny issue, there is a growing cadre of inconvenient facts we’ve highlighted repeatedly:
• There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, and their stories and circumstances are astoundingly varied. Officials estimate greater Aurora is home to about 130,000 illegal immigrants.
• Many of these immigrants are settled and integrated into our communities. They have jobs. They own cars and homes. They make more than $60 billion a year from U.S. businesses. They have children in schools. They spend vast sums of money in the community.
• They are our friends, neighbors and a daily part of our lives, distinguishable from the 40 million Americans not born in the United States only by their lack of documentation.
• Business groups and more than a few industries haven’t been shy in making it clear that these immigrants are critical to their operations. Many metro businesses can’t currently find adequate numbers of employees, even with illegal immigrants backfilling the workforce. Removing these people from the workforce would be disastrous to the U.S. economy.
• Deporting illegal immigrants is far from a simple matter. Many families consist of citizens and non-citizens, many with varying degrees of legality. Tearing apart families will only lead to tragedy and increased government expense.
• The cost of rounding up, collecting from holding cells, housing, processing and deporting millions of immigrants would be astronomical. Even proponents admit that.
The answer isn’t knee-jerk racism, disinformation or a wall, it’s employment.
The nation needs a vastly changed immigration system that offers worker permits. It must include heavy penalties for businesses that employee undocumented workers. It must be a system that allows immigrants to work here legally without having to be citizens. It must be a program that allows for accomplishing citizenship for those who play by rules.
The only answer is comprehensive immigration reform that continues America’s lauded policy of open arms, transparency and accountability.
We need good government to take the place of abhorrent politicians.
The answer truly is comprehensive and fair immigration policy. Both of our childlike political parties are to blame for the lack of action. However, the liberals who have pushed sanctuary cities and denial of a need for a wall, can now watch the consequences of those thoughts. Even with good immigration law, we need to be able to control our border. A wall is just a small part of that. Now we will see the real price to be paid by an idealistic approach to immigration. Letting everyone come in has dire consequences. Sure, there are many good, hard working people coming in who will contribute to our society. There are also thousands of criminals and gang members. There are also thousands of people who will not find jobs due to many different reasons. Those people will be scamming all of our assistance programs and hospitals. It has been happening for a long time. A friend who works for ICE, told me that they found that there were twenty thousands homes purchased in the Denver area with fraudulent social security numbers. He explained that some hispanics had set up their own system with realtors and lawyers in order to defraud the system. It was well organized. His bosses told him to forget about it. As a police officer, I dealt with people utilizing our hospitals with fraudulent information. They will set up their own underground systems to survive.
As I watch TV today, CNN had an interview with a Venezuelan man who had been removed from the US in the past. He was coming to enter again. He said that he was going to do it legally or illegally. That is how he will live here. Legally or illegally. So, all of you liberals who want everyone to enter, please take a family home with you. Our systems can’t support your idealism. It will be your services and your family’s lifestyle that will suffer. Time to face reality. Can you do that?
A very Christian view, Don. Are you sure the real problem isn’t the flawed approach to creating police accountability – your hobby hors?. Are you willing to pay for building 1700 miles of impenetrable border wall, or pay for the eminent domain payouts that must be implemented to encroach on thousands of acres of private land? Or pay to construct enough bridges and related infrastructure to deal with the many streams and rivers that will be affected by this ‘beautiful’ wall?
Oh, wait, your hero told us that he’d get Mexico to pay for the wall. Problem fixed!
Your ICE friend, with his in-depth, conspiracy-free intelligence should be a special consultant to Congress. We need more clear headed thinking.
“A very Christian view, Don.”
It sure is. Jesus isn’t Santa Claus, and pathological altruism is hardly a Christian principle. And all those people coming up are going to need housing, water, food, and services, which are in increasing scarcity and cost these days.
Growth doesn’t pay for itself. At one time, your side actually believed that.
So, would you be a likely choice to decide who would get housing, water, food, and services? And I notice you’re still casting arguments based on ‘sides’. When does something become a humanitarian issue for you? And what would be your response? It has nothing to do with ‘sides’.
These things don’t appear out of thin air, Gene. You always cast arguments based on sides, so don’t act like I’m doing anything unusual here. “Humanitarian issue” is just an emotional thought-stopper that isn’t going to produce actual goods, resources, and services. Clap your hands, click your heels, and enjoy your jacked-up cost of living.
“Only Worker permits” – yada-yada-yada
No it’s a sad time for this country to have let the boarder crisis now turn into an awaiting catastrophic history lesson for US citizens. These politicians both local and Federal have with their policy making twisted the country into a most well run illegal immigrant magnet. From the locals city hall types Denver, Aurora sanctuary city notorious for the look the other way policy, avoid any helpful ICE interaction. Most of these politicians, have been unwilling to take a firm stance to protect their own citizens in their cities. Well now, you see mayors like Mayor Hancock with his idiotic just leave the illegals alone, they will be okay. But, now it’s we need Federal money and help we are being overrun. Yea, the fraud in the local housing markets, the real estate owned by illegals with phonyed-up applications with CHAPA loans https://www.chapa.org/ a state run lender, they check nothing, just take everyone’s statements as truthful. These bureaucrats in that agency are either dolts, or complicit to not flag questionable paperwork on the applications. Don you are so right, it is an organized fraud on the taxpayer. Your ICE friend hopefully will read this. He and other ICE that want to stop the fraud should come forward as whistle blowers. It’s going to take people in the trenches to stop the take over we are seeing, not depend on politicians.
CHAPA is a program in Massachusetts, are you writing from there? As I read through their website I see no mention of catering to immigrants – legal or not. Instead it looks like the organization is working to help folk get to home ownership so that they can start building equity and creating net worth and be able to move out of poverty.
Why don’t you and Don and his immigration expert ICE friend get together at the end of the bar so you can scream at the tv?
The real issue is both the Democrats and Republicans want to have their cake and eat it. And since they can’t do both they “kick the cake down the road”, and hope at least temporarily that the cake lands on their respective sides and appease their bases, without addressing the real issues.
Democrats look to be the “goody do gooders”, to be appreciated for the humanitarian and compassionate approach” and hopefully and eventually increase their voting base from within and eventually from the immigrants themselves.
Republicans love to talk a great game of strong border security just like the “twice impeached, disgraced pathological lier, and convicted former President said at the lay down town hall last night.
But really they love immigrants for the cheap labor their fat cat corporate supporters want,to increase their profits.
Make no mistake about it. We need secured borders on both the Northern and Southern borders. We need to enforce the laws we already have (title 8), and stop stalling. We need to budget more $$ for more immigration judges, customs and border patrol agents. We need processing centers in countries from where these folks come from. And stop playing the DAMN politics for your political advantage. DEAL with the issues.