Supervisor Jim Desmond Could Build a Border Wall With All the Lies He’s Telling
Have you heard the news? Are you terrified yet? The border-crossers are coming! San Diegans are in danger! etc. ,etc.
Recently County Supervisor Jim Desmond has done his best at ginning up fears via spreading misinformation layered in between attempts at sounding reasonable.
In days running up to the ending of Title 42 (barring entry for fear migrants might have COVID cooties) he made the rounds of local media warning that local governments weren't capable of handling the legions of migrants just waiting to cross the border.
However, many waiting to seek asylum are vulnerable and often human trafficked by coyotes who know the system. It's vital for the safety of our community and those seeking asylum that we have rules and regulations. We must balance providing safe and orderly entry for those seeking asylum while maintaining our security and preventing the entry of those who threaten our communities.
For clarification, let me reference the meanings of the above words in bold typeface.
Coyotes offer transit over the desert or other non-legal ports of entry. They are bad people, but the migrants waiting at the border are waiting to cross a legal means of entry.
Rules and regulations– Now that the COVID health crisis is deemed over, border crossings and requests for asylum are governed by Title 8, a tougher system.
Maintaining our security– “ In 2018, the illegal immigrant criminal conviction rate was 782 per 100,000 illegal immigrants, 535 per 100,000 legal immigrants, and 1,422 per 100,000 native‐born Americans. – Via the right’s CATO institute, hence the ‘illegal’ word.
Threaten our communities– If there’s no threat of crime, what could this possibly mean? Oh wait! These are code words anchored in racist tropes about border crossers.
Pssst! – Historically, there is no conclusive evidence that more aggressive enforcement and more punitive sanctions deter mass migration.
It turns out the “surge” was migrants wanting in before Title 42 ended.
Uh, wait. So that post Title 42 surge didn’t happen, did it? Not only did the number of people crossing the border not overwhelm authorities, the numbers actually decreased. A lot.
From the Union-Tribune (and dozens of other publications with the same story):
Contentious immigration policy Title 42 expired late Thursday night at the southern border with Mexico, but by Friday morning, U.S. officials reported that they had not seen the massive increase in migrant crossings that some were predicting and anxiously awaiting.
From Reuters
Migrant crossings at the US-Mexico border have unexpectedly fallen, not risen, since Title 42 curbs expired, and the Biden administration said reinstating criminal penalties for illegal entry is likely the biggest reason.
Wait a minute. Now that Title 42 is no longer in effect, it appears as though the new (old) rules are even tougher.
So while Title 42 is no longer in effect, other, new restrictions are. Migrants are barred from requesting asylum at the border unless they prove that a country they transited through denied them protection. Exceptions will be made only under extraordinary circumstances, such as medical conditions, or for asylum seekers who used a mobile app to secure an appointment at an official port of entry. So far, the number of appointments has been extremely limited.
The Biden administration has announced it will open regional centers, starting in Colombia and Guatemala, where migrants can apply for refugee status and undergo initial eligibility screening for legal entry into the United States. Canada and Spain have agreed to accept some of these asylum seekers.
Have you heard about the suspected Afghan terrorist caught at the border?
Supervisor Jim Desmond wants to make sure you have. He’s tweeted, He’s been on TV. He issued a press release.
"As a nation, we must remain steadfast in our commitment to protect the safety and security of our citizens. A strong and orderly border process is crucial in preventing individuals with nefarious intentions from entering our country. The open border policy has allowed fentanyl to pour into our country, asylum seekers to be human trafficked, and terrorists to attempt entry into our country," Supervisor Jim Desmond said.
Yo, Jim, you’re missing the point. The bad guy (whom we know nothing about) was CAUGHT. That means the system must be working somewhere. Right? The best you can do is imply that there must be more bad guys sneaking in.
Pssst!– Top law enforcement officials say the biggest domestic terror threat comes from white supremacists. There is no evidence these domestic types are sneaking over the border. They’re already here; some of them could be living in your district.
There is no open border; Title 8 didn’t change from Trump’s time in office, only what you and yours were saying. Again,--read-this-slowly– there.is.no.open.border. Nobody is even considering that option.
From USA TODAY:
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas also laid out a six-pillar plan in April 2022 to manage an increase in encounters at the border ahead of Title 42. The plan, which was updated in December, includes surging resources to facilitate border operations, increasing border patrol processing efficiency and collaborating with partners to deter irregular migration south of the border.
As far as fentanyl is concerned, most fentanyl is brought into the U.S. through commercial ports of entry. And here’s the killer news: the people smuggling it are mostly U.S. citizens.
Why do you tell these lies? Do you know who the people wanting to enter the U.S. are? Did you know most of them are lucky to have the clothes on their back and couldn’t be considered a reliable smuggler by the cartels?
Did you visit the border as a backdrop for a media opportunity? It sure looks like you did.
Did you know it was possible to speak to people on the other side of that fence?
Do you know there are thousands of political refugees? They’re from Kurdistan, Eritrea, Turkey, Colombian, Ecuador, Peru, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Belize and Jamaica. Some of them are running from organized crime. Some are fleeing famine. Some are running from religious persecution. Many are fleeing totalitarian governments of the sort you and your fellow MAGAts wish to impose on America.
You know what else, Mr. Supervisor? There are hundreds of individuals, churches, and organizations stepping up to aid migrants in any way they can right here in San Diego county. They’re not afraid. They see human beings in need, and don’t consider helping them an inconvenience.
Now I’m gonna say some things that might lead an educated reader to believe your rhetoric is really about enabling racists. No, Mr. Desmond, I’m not calling you a racist. I’m calling you a dupe.
You do realize that your notion of no immigration (yes, that’s really what it is) across the border would actually hurt this country, don’t you?
We’re running low on domestically born Americans. The impact of falling birth rates in the U.S. without migrants could be significant and negative. Here are some “free market” examples of what we’re facing:
A smaller workforce could lead to higher wages and inflation.
A larger elderly population could put a strain on the healthcare system.
A smaller population could make the U.S. less competitive in the global economy.
Are your kids willing and able to pick fruit? In 2018–20, 30% of farm workers were U.S. born, 6% were immigrants who had obtained U.S. citizenship, 23% were other authorized immigrants (primarily permanent residents or green-card holders), and the remaining 41% percent held no work authorization.
Do you know what’s going to make the border “crisis” worse? It’s all those lawsuits filed by Republican Attorney Generals seeking to tie up the judicial system. They think the country should continue on at the border as if there was a pandemic in progress.
Some of these guys thought COVID was a fraud of some sort created to give the government more powers. Now they want to use COVID to give more power to border authorities. Think about that for a moment. What could possibly justify such an attitude?
Mr. Desmond, do you buy into the lies told by former Trump advisor Stephen Miller? His organization filed a lawsuit “to shut down Biden’s plan to flood America with illegal aliens by the millions?” He said right now was a “dire, dire hour for the United States of America.”
Would you like to take any bets in six months about the damage done in Miller’s “dire” hour?
Do you remember the press conference on July 5, 2022 where Texas officials decried immigrant hordes and invasions with nary a shred of evidence? How did we survive being “under attack like Pearl Harbor?”
In case you haven’t heard, Miller is an adherent of the “great replacement theory,” a white nationalist belief that nonwhite immigration threatens the traditional culture of the nation.
Both the environment and overpopulation movements of the latter 20th century developed offshoots that evolved into today’s anti-immigration extremists. Population control activist John Tanton is considered the godfather of groups like the Federation of American Immigration Reform (FAIR), and the group Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).
From Brook Binkowski’s extensive reporting on this topic:
John Tanton’s letters often detailed a plan that he came to call “passive eugenics,” which consists of ideas such as coerced sterilization, restricting childbearing ages, and anti-immigrant disinformation campaigns. He even published an essay in 1975 called “The Case for Passive Eugenics.” In this way, Tanton apparently discovered that he shared many ideals with the richest people in the country— his first and primary funder, Cordelia Scaife May, believed that immigration should be sharply limited in the United States.
There’s a whole network of groups working in concert to ensure a more “white” future for the United States. (I know the above chart is hard to read, but it can be done on a pc. Image via Unicorn Riot.)
In a letter Tanton asserted, “I've come to the point of view that for European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a clear one at that."
The White House claims the GOP’s current budget proposal, aka the “Default on America Act” (DOA) would:
Terminate over 2,000 border patrol agents
Slash the Drug Enforcement Agency Budget
Allow an additional 150,000 pounds of cocaine, nearly 900 pounds of fentanyl, nearly 2,000 pounds of heroin, and more than 17,000 pounds of methamphetamine into our country.
Terminate over 500 ATF agents
This estimation assumes that the cuts to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy would be applied evenly. Since we haven’t been told who gets cut where, that’s the best we can do.
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Since the enactment of the Immigration and Control Act of 1986, literally dozens of attempts have been made at reforming immigration policy. Most have died in committee. Many died because the “time wasn’t right” (election season was drawing near).
No matter what the compromises baked into prospective legislation were, nearly all have not made it for a floor vote because politicians are afraid of the vile venom spewed by what we now call white nationalist groups. (Attempts at gun safety laws have also suffered the same fate)
I’m fairly certain County Supervisor Jim Desmond is not parading around in far right garb at night, but he certainly seems to be toeing the line when it comes to rhetoric in tune with these groups.
Until we have an honest accounting about the racism at the root of these ideologies, you can forget about immigration reform. Let’s face it, it means people admitting they’re wrong, not an easy task.
And that’s what white nationalists are counting on.
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Lead image by Anologicus at Pixabay
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