Border Battle: When Will They Learn?

 

Lankford's Bill on Border Security is DOA: No New Legislation

This recent bill from James Lankford was a dud. 

Officially touted as an “Immigration Bill” it’s barely out of committee and everyone is dumping on it. The game is up on border security as an issue for most Americans. They won’t sneak a bill through that involves any aspect of immigration, worker visas or border security without a fight. We've learned to say Hell No! My memory on border security goes back to George W Bush. That was less than 20 years ago. Bush was largely popular with the base, but he tried to sign a bill into law that provided green cards, visas and work permits to illegal aliens. Those already in the country, in other words, were to be given a free pass. There may have been a provision requiring an English language test or something. If memory serves, that was John McCain’s contribution to the agreement.

For all the fussing around on the margins, the legislation was a giveaway to the corporate class. We call them the donor class now, same group. These are the industries that benefit from cheap labor (hospitality, agriculture, construction) and need a porous border. It’s basically their idea. But they understand the outcry over illegal immigration from regular Americans. They want an open border but have to pretend to be interested in security.

 It’s all theater though and we all know it.

I think we started to figure it out in the early 00s. The details of the bills don’t matter. We get caught up on the dizzying numbers and statistics the legislators trot out on cable news shows. It all sounds very important and serious. “The Congressional Budget Office scored it favorably doncha know”. The theater is in the horse trading. How many green cards, which illegals can apply for citizenship and how long after the work permit. The asylum process is a joke too. It’s meant to be for people escaping persecution, not looking for work.

Even the focus on migrants from Central and South America seems a little dated. Know we have Chinese men coming in organized packs from the Mexico side. What? Yup the details are fuzzy. Why are they walking in from the South with the tide of South Americans? No one knows. No one cares. The border isn’t just about people looking for work. It’s human trafficking, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and who knows what else.

It doesn’t matter what’s agreed to in the eventual bill. The ones responsible for closing the border didn’t follow the law before, why should they now? As if a new bill with just the right amount of extra security agents or quotas on illegals (puh lease!) will consist of the perfect combination of items to make a difference. We (Americans) usually fall for this. Not this time. If you think about what’s being asked here, it should upset you that we need a bill at all. What if the number of drunk driving accidents suddenly jumped. I don’t mean 10 percent either. What about one hundred percent? Not only that, but it had been climbing every year for the past 30 years. In the last 4 years It shot up 200 percent. Keep in mind, it’s illegal to drink and drive. But the police were overwhelmed. Citizens were being killed in record numbers.

The problem increases because the authorities aren’t enforcing the laws. Suddenly it’s out of control. The crime is so bad it might cause instability. I guess you could say liquor stores and bars benefit when drinking is up, but everyone else gets short changed. The alcohol companies would have every interest to get a bill on the books that appeared to fix the problem, but really just encourages everyone to look the other way. In other words, the bill would have no real accountability. They’d trot out their paid representatives to tell us how amazing and bipartisan it is. After it passed we’d quit talking about it for a decade or so. What looked like a fix is nothing more than a show.

This is the game on immigration. The United States doesn’t need a new law to close the border. Build a wall, put up concertina wire, hire more border patrol. Start deporting again. It’s a privilege to live in a country as a citizen. Most importantly, stop drawing up new legislation. It’s a recipe for additional pork spending that has nothing do with the border.

There should be room for an organized method that doesn’t abuse the asylum process. The border is open right now because powerful groups want to keep it that way. Immigration gets talked about as if it’s an automatic right for individuals. Every country has a duty to its citizens to regulate the border. We’ve had periods in this country where immigration was high and times when it was low. The Immigration Act of 1924 put quotas in place. This followed a massive wave of immigration from the early 1900s. We used to believe in assimilation; today it’s a bad word. But any country should argue for preserving its culture. Without it you don’t have a country. It’s the same for a border.

I didn’t vote for Lankford in this last election because I thought he was naive. I don’t know if he’ll recover from this last embarrassment. We would like a border, enforcement of laws and minimal legislation.