Fear and Loathing Over the Border 'Crisis'

At this moment the only intervention that matters is seeing to the basic necessities of life among those corralled along the border.

Republicans appeared to have settled on a crisis of migration at the southern border as a primary campaign issue for 2024. Ye olde tropes connecting border crossers to crime, drug smuggling, and terrorism have been summoned from the right’s deep well of dehumanizing falsehoods. 

In their “border security” rhetoric Republicans envision only one kind of person: brown, uneducated, and inclined toward violence. 

The “solutions” these types offer  –other than saying we all need to be afraid– almost all involve state-sanctioned violence: underwater barbed wire in Texas, some variation on concentration camps, and reparation of captured migrants to countries with oppressive/repressive environments.

The removal of Rep. Kevin McCarthy from the Speaker of the House position adds another dimension to border fear-mongering. Ending aid to Ukraine is being justified by Rep. Jim Jordan (a leading candidate for the position), who says opposing a Russian invasion somehow detracts from the government’s ability to “defend” the southern border.

Locally, County Supervisor Jim Desmond is saying the recent numbers of border crossers are taking away from services provided to the homeless. The operative word here is “taking” a phrase at the heart of many fear-mongering schemes.   

Make no mistake about it, there are masses of migrants looking to enter the United States, more than our present law enforcement, judicial, and social systems can handle. And there is no proposal on anybody’s drawing board that will ease that pressure in the short term.

At this moment the only intervention that matters is seeing to the basic necessities of life among those corralled along the border. On the right, intervention is limited to photo ops at the border.

Dollar-wise, we’re talking about a small portion of what would be available if a natural disaster devastated San Diego. Instead a small number of nonprofits are overwhelmed in providing such things as drinking water and food.

Local right wing politicians are trumpeting the numbers of migrants, hoping to create the impression that Democrats are to blame. 

(PS– If you’re serious about immigration, the first thing you need to do is to stop referring to border crossers as “illegals”. As far as I’m concerned, my mental image of those using that word automatically includes a Klan robe.)

There ARE humane solutions to managing immigration; they’ve been around for years. In addition to (some) Republican politicians, some of the law enforcement officers we trust to protect our borders belong to extremist organizations that rely on hate to justify their existence. 

So much misinformation exists about migrants coming over the border that an education as to the facts of the matter is required before discussions about any type of solution. However, the far right doesn’t want a solution; immigration’s worthiness as a fear-inducing measure is the only outcome they desire.

Saying the border is “open” or “uncontrolled” will come as a surprise to the tens of thousands of migrants in ICE detention and is one of the dumbest, most dishonest statements that’s regularly made by both politicians and pundits.

You can see this truth in all the times bi-partisan policies have advanced in Congress only to be blocked by die-hards threatening disruption of the political process. Legislators who are less angry who might support a compromise are threatened with intra-party election challenges. 

NBC News published a timeline of immigration reform legislation that’s failed to make it to the finish line. This includes bills that could actually be voted on, many others never got a hearing.

• 2005 — Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., drafted the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act, better known as the McCain-Kennedy bill.

• 2007 — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pushed a compromise bill that included a path to citizenship, visas for high-skilled workers and funding for more border barriers, border enforcement technology and agents.

• 2013 — With President Barack Obama in the White House, a bipartisan group of senators, nicknamed the Gang of 8, negotiated an immigration reform bill that was approved in the Senate.

Underneath all this opposition to reform are wealthy donors convinced that “watering down” the gene pool is a threat to… national security, domestic tranquility, or (most likely) dominance of the white race.

Things are bad in the countries of origin for those seeking entry into the US. People are moving with their feet to escape economic deprivation, starvation, political oppression, crime, and chaos, along with climate change. 

Predictions for catastrophic weather events in mid century are coming to fruition in 2023; drought, flooding, and heat beyond what humans can tolerate are already evident. Models show that for every degree of temperature rise, a billion people will be displaced in the coming decades. 

Unfortunately, those yearning for a better life are being cast as an enemy to be vanquished. Republican presidential candidates are openly advocating an invasion of Mexico, a country that has surpassed China as the largest trading partner of the US. This notion is beyond foolish, but makes the advocate sound like a manly man.

Undocumented residents are being treated as less-than-human-pawns by right wing officials who are shipping them off to destinations expected to resent their arrival. It’s about unchristian behavior engaged in by people who would use their religiosity to oppress any humans designated as the Other.

Here’s GOP Presidential candidate Trump, paraphrasing Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf ( Chapter 11–"All great cultures of the past perished only because the originally creative race died out from blood poisoning.")  in a recent interview with National Pulse:

• "Nobody has any idea where these people are coming from, and we know they come from prisons. We know they come from mental institutions and insane asylums. We know they're terrorists. Nobody has ever seen anything like we're witnessing right now. It is a very sad thing for our country. It's poisoning the blood of our country. It's so bad, and people coming in with disease. People are coming in with every possible thing that you could have."

Let’s face the fact: whether they believe in mass murder or not, there are public figures who are deliberately inciting constituents to engage in violent behavior. As of late the “other” includes: those suspected of being illegal while brown or black, everything LGBTQ+, Chinese, Jews, Marxists (as a catch-all phrase for not being in sync with MAGA). This cloud of violence gets its energy from the (as yet) unelected leader of the Republican party.

Attempts at immigration are only going to increase; the things motivating people to leave their homes are increasingly threatening. The very notion of “borders” as we currently know them is eroding; economic and cultural ties make the lines to cross the border in San Ysidro increasingly irrelevant.

Putting security as more of a concern than smart management is ultimately not in anybody’s best interest.

While Republicans boast of walls and guns, let Democrats sell the public on peace and prosperity. Separate the facts from the falsehoods. And figure out how to turn this “crisis” into an opportunity that doesn’t involve ridding the country of the founders’ ideals.

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I’m TAKING TOMORROW OFF. A weekend trip for rest, relaxation and family. Will be back Monday.

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Meanwhile, In Other News…

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Target says it's closing 9 stores due to theft. The crime data tells a different story. Via Popular Information.

• One thing that is missing from all the stories is data that would substantiate Target's contention that these stores closed due to theft. Target did not include any specifics on the level of theft at the closing stores or how that compares to stores that will remain open. Popular Information contacted Target for that information but did not receive a response. 

• Popular Information analyzed publicly available crime data for the stores Target is closing in New York and San Francisco. This data reveals that stores that are being closed have lower levels of theft than nearby stores that have remained open. An analysis of the stores Target is shuttering in the Seattle area follows a similar pattern. This data suggests that factors other than crime are driving Target's decisions. 

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Gun Deaths Rising Sharply Among Children, Study Finds Via The New York Times

• …the rate of firearm fatalities among children under 18 increased by 87 percent from 2011 through 2021 in the United States. The death rate attributable to car accidents fell by almost half, leaving firearm injuries the top cause of accidental death in children.

• The finding underscores additional data showing that firearm injuries are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 20, after excluding deaths of infants born prematurely or with congenital abnormalities.

• Some 2,590 children and teenagers under the age of 18 died of firearm injuries in 2021, up from 1,311 in 2011, according to the study, which was published in the journal Pediatrics. In other industrialized countries, guns are not even among the top three causes of death for children.

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Americans demand big Supreme Court changes Via Progress Report

• The most fair and immediately effective reform, expanding the number of seats on the court, has the support of 44% of registered voters surveyed in the Politico/Morning Consult poll, while 35% were against the idea.

• That’s the reform with the softest level of support, though it has a lot of room to grow; only 61% of Democratic voters backed the idea, likely because President Biden and other party leaders have shot it down. You’d expect the approval number to rise rapidly if leadership got behind expansion.

• Other reforms have overwhelming bipartisan support. Placing term limits on justices garners support from 69% of registered voters, including 56% of Republicans.

• Even more popular is the suggestion of imposing a binding code of ethics on the justices, which has the support of 75% of registered voters. Somewhat surprisingly, 84% of voters 65+ are in favor of a binding ethics code. Dick Durbin recently asked the Supreme Court to impose one on itself, a request that was once again met with utter indifference.