He starts by acknowledging that there was a dip in numbers a few years ago, but says that's all over now:
Then he points up the willful denial on the part of the anti-national sovereignty party:It should surprise no one that the numbers headed up again, to 396,579 in 2018. Now, crossings have gone through the roof, with 76,103 apprehensions in February of 2019 and 100,000-plus in March, numbers that could have come from the early- and mid-2000s.And the numbers do not tell the whole story. In the Clinton-Bush years, the overwhelming number of illegal crossers were single, adult men trying to avoid detection as they sneaked across the border. When caught, they were quickly returned. So when 1.2 million were caught crossing, that did not mean that 1.2 million stayed in the United States.Now, however, the nature of the flow has changed. Today, the large majority of those caught crossing are families and unaccompanied children. They are not trying to sneak in, they are crossing for the purpose of giving themselves over to the Border Patrol. They do that knowing U.S. law forbids them being returned, or separated, or even held for more than a few days. In short order, they are released into the United States.It seems safe to say that more illegal crossers are staying in the U.S. than in the days of Clinton and Bush.
Yet Democrats steadfastly refuse to recognize that the situation constitutes an emergency. Instead, they accuse Trump of making the whole thing up. They call it a "fake emergency" and a "manufactured crisis" and every possible variant of those terms. And they reject the idea that adding barriers on the border will decrease the number of illegal crossings.There is indeed a debate to be had about the role of a border wall, what it should be made of, how tall and thick it should be and so on. Other measures surely have to be part of the mix. But it would be helpful if current office-holding Dems would acknowledge that there is indeed a crisis.
Might now be a crisis but a brick and mortar wall is a mere symbol and not productive of peace and understanding, if not love too, but, ahh, what's that? Probably means zero that the current Pope just issued a statement saying same. Rage on...
ReplyDeleteAll polls until now have shown a majority opposed. Do you have any figures that are hot off the tabulation?
ReplyDeleteSee what I said in the post about it: "There is indeed a debate to be had about the role of a border wall, what it should be made of, how tall and thick it should be and so on. Other measures surely have to be part of the mix. But it would be helpful if current office-holding Dems would acknowledge that there is indeed a crisis."
ReplyDeleteThe main point is not whether or not to have a wall. The main point is to stop illegal immigration.
But the big hubbub now is over the wall.
ReplyDeleteLITD deals in what ought to be.
ReplyDeleteSo does the NYT today in an article entitled "The Self-Fulfilling Crisis of the Policy at the Mexican Border" caused by the Trump administration policy of treating the immigration as an invasion, thus swamping it's current processing resources.
ReplyDeleteAhh, but you did behoove me to not listen to any other voices. You followed this post with one complaining about Trump absolutism. I know, I know, hypocrisy is nothing and principles are all. How could any of us really know unless we're there and living it?
ReplyDeleteI'm not able to unpack that last comment. Too esoteric for me.
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ReplyDeleteNo problem. Carry on as best you can.
ReplyDelete"Despite the administration’s attempts to shift blame for the chaos, make no mistake: It is Donald Trump himself who is responsible. Through misguided policies, political stunts and a failure of leadership, the president has created the conditions that allowed the asylum problem at the border to explode into a crisis. The solution to our current border troubles lies in reforming the U.S. asylum system and immigration courts and helping Central America address its challenges—not in a “big beautiful” wall or shutting down the border. Yet effective action on these issues has been missing. And the president has now so poisoned the political well with his approach that there is little hope of meaningful congressional action until after the next election. Unless the administration changes course, the immigration crisis will only continue to worsen."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/04/05/border-crisis-donald-trump-226573?fbclid=IwAR2jiV8-eXYbNz53Te1xmpOHP4ykeUndNQG7Mu62fSJ0FaWWyBPwaqq_W18
"Look at the numbers, and something of a mystery emerges regarding the Trump administration’s claims of a surge of uncontrolled arrivals. Net migration across the southern border is at historic lows. Border apprehensions of unauthorized arrivals were at the lowest in modern record in 2017 and 2018. Apprehensions are up this spring, but still far below the highs of the 1980s, 1990s or early 2000s. Yet processing centers and detention centers are filling, some to near-capacity, straining to meet even basic medical needs of migrant families. Images from the border show women and children huddling in overcrowded facilities.
ReplyDeleteThe answer, immigration experts say, is that the crisis isn’t primarily caused by the number of arrivals, but by Trump administration policies that disperse them to a handful of centers and that treat families who voluntarily surrender as invaders — creating the appearance of an invasion."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/02/world/americas/us-immigration-crackdown.amp.html#referrer=https://www.google.com
I realize you have warned your readers in your heading to not "let anyone tell you otherwise," but I just don't know, though you apparently do. Guess we'll have to go there to find out. Is that too esoteric for you?
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