We hear our leaders refer to “the border” and yet I wonder, do we really understand what it means? We hear that Trump is going to “the border.” Biden is going to “the border.” What are they talking about? And when the debate is about securing “the border”, what exactly do they mean? Is there really an invasion at “the border?”
As usual, the average citizen is left to wonder what these folks are talking about. So if you do not mind, please allow me to share with you a few thoughts about an issue that is, sadly, being so horribly politicized by the one political party in America that was created in 2015, out of the ashes of the America First party of the 1930’s, out of the ashes of Huey Long, Charles Lindburgh, Father Coughlin and others; the people who seek power by demonizing “the other,” making up horror stories about the people “coming to get you,” and about a federal government that, if you don’t watch out, will come into your bedroom and steal your rubber duckie. I am referring of course to the MAGA Party, the party that took over the former Republican Party, one of the two major American political parties that now barely exists in its prior form.
I tell you that the so called “border crisis” is only a crisis because the MAGA folks are dominated by Christian Nationalists and White Supremicists who do not want to solve the issue of immigration in the humane way that our leaders previously addressed the issue. Are there a lot of folks from Central and South America who are trying to get into America through places of entry along America’s southern border into the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas? Yes. But “invasion?” Please.
As the journalist Nicole Narea explains it in plain English:
“Invasion” rhetoric…serves to otherize migrants, many of whom are fleeing difficult and dangerous circumstances in their home countries in search of safety or economic opportunity. It echoes the way that Trump’s immigration policies often not so subtly play[ed] into white fear about the increasing diversification of the US population. Their chief architect, Stephen Miller, has promoted white nationalist writings, and Trump himself has a long history of enabling white supremacy. Republicans may be incendiary in the way that they describe what’s happening on the border. But there’s no question that the situation is dire: The number of times US immigration agents intercepted migrants attempting to cross the border exceeded 300,000 in December, up from about 250,000 in the same month last year. That’s more than has been recorded in a given month in over two decades.”
Ms. Narea goes on to point out that instead of fixing our system of evaluating and processing asylum claims, integrating deserving asylum seekers who want to work pending resolution of their claims, and addressing the root cause of why so many of these people feel the need to leave their countries in the first place, the Stephen Miller’s of our nation seek instead to play on people’s fears by demonizing those who seek entry into America.
So now that you know where I stand regarding “the border”, allow me to also point out its complexity.
No one disputes that our current border debate is about the United States “southern border.” The border we share with Canada is not the subject of any dispute about the comings and goings of people, goods and services. We appear to get along just fine with the Canadians. A number of their hockey players play key roles on our US-based teams.
Likewise, we do not appear to have major problems with our western and eastern borders. You probably know that to the west and east are oceans, the Pacific and Atlantic. You may also know that we control the 12 nautical miles out from these borders. Beyond those points are “international waters.” The last great crisis in international waters close to the United States was the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Everyone agrees that we have a complex southern border. The following states of our nation have borders to the south with another nation (Mexico): California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas. Our other southern states of course border a large body of water, the Gulf of Mexico.
Our border with Mexico is not a straight line along a large expanse of flat land. It cover 1,954 miles, From the Gulf of Mexico, it follows the course of the Rio Grande, to the town of Juarez, then Chihuahua and into El Paso. It continues westward through vast deserts to the Colorado River Delta and to San Diego and the Pacific Ocean.
In other words, our border with Mexico covers rivers and streams, deserts and mountains, hills and valleys, thick brush and flat land. Can anyone doubt that it is virtually impossible to police with 100% success?
The Trumpian idea of a wall was always ludicrous. It was silly in 2015 and remains ridiculous today.
The fact that more people from Central and South America seek to leave terrible conditions in their countries to come here, knowing the challenges they will face once they get here, speaks to what America still means when its name is spoken in distant lands. The fact that this vast border is so difficult to manage allows those who want to exploit it to do so, with photographs and characterizations of a system run amuck, when in fact the rules for managing border access and crossing are exclusively the province of lawmakers who refuse to modernize and adapt those rules to the changing times. It is obvious that one perspective is grounded in politics and the other in humanism. Wouldn’t it be nice if the different perspectives were grounded in humanity, with the diffferences in opinion focused on the numbers to be admitted, the tests for granting of asylum, the required path for citizenship, the policy for those born in the USA to those here illegally and other issues.
More than ever, I find myself longing for the days when we had two political parties with different visions but a common goal and common values. Right now, we lack such a nation on so many issues, with immigration right now front and center. I hope it is not too late to return to the values of yesterday.