Monday, January 07, 2019

Do Democrats Want Open Borders?



Our government is divided over border control and so is our country. At least a thousand people a day are apprehended at the Mexican border. Some days it’s more than three thousand. More than twenty million people live here illegally. Some claim it’s double that. Most Democrats and not a few Republicans would make them all legal if they could. Conservatives accuse them of wanting open borders. They vehemently deny that but then advocated allowing the recent caravan of “asylum seekers” from Central America (and elsewhere) to enter and await court hearings on individual cases which take years to process.


Citing a Gallup poll, The Washington Examiner claimed last month that 158 million people worldwide want to come to the United States. Democrats criticize President Trump for being too restrictive of illegal immigration, asylum seekers, refugees, and the rest but when asked how many of the millions who want to enter America should be allowed in, they dodge the question. Meanwhile, they continue to advocate for whatever migrant group is dominating the news cycle and call anyone who would seal the border “racist” and “xenophobic.”

Ellison is Vice Chairman of the Democrat Party
So, what can we conclude? That they’re against any limits? It would seem so, but for Democrats to state that openly would be political suicide. While claiming to support border security, they defend sanctuary cities and sanctuary states that harbor illegal immigrants including criminals. They want to abolish ICE — Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls a proposed border wall “immoral.” Many Americans consider support for these contradictory positions incongruous, disingenuous, and deceptive.


Portland, Maine homeless shelters are full of African “asylum seekers” who came over the Mexican border and made a beeline for Maine. The Portland Press Herald blames President Trump in a Sunday editorial last week, but should perhaps blame itself. In story after story, the paper has been extolling the “benefits” of people coming to Portland from all over the world, legally and illegally, for years. Benefits for migrants of all kinds are obvious: cash, food, housing, medical care, education, and so on.



Why are they coming to Maine? A previous PPH article states: “because the city and state are among the few that offer shelter and financial assistance to the immigrants while their asylum cases are being processed.” Mainers who pay for this chafe while the Press Herald lectures them about the wonders of diversity and multiculturalism. In the paper’s online edition, comments are disabled for most of the stories because whenever they’re enabled, hundreds of Mainers voice their frustration.



Open-borders activists calling themselves “advocates” have spread the word around the world: You don’t have to cross a desert and hop a fence or wade the Rio Grande to sneak into the United States anymore, although many still do that. If you can make it to the US/Mexican border, just say the magic words: “I need asylum” and border guards will let you in, then send you anywhere in the country you want to go, including Maine. “About three or four families from African countries such as Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo arrive at Portland’s Family Shelter each week after crossing the southern U.S. border, according to David MacLean, the city’s social services director,” in the Press Herald two weeks ago. MacLean is evidently in touch with “advocates” in Texas who send them north.


Much of liberal media portray legal and illegal migrants as oppressed, impoverished, desperate, starving, or otherwise deserving of taxpayer assistance. Many conservative outlets point out criminal and terrorist elements masquerading as refugees and playing on America’s heartstrings. A similar media duality exists across Europe and the result is political turmoil on both continents.


Ordinary Europeans and Americans watch reports of healthy-looking, fairly well-dressed crowds of people who don’t look desperate at all. They’re not starving; many are overweight and carry cell phones. Are the millions coming northward on both sides of the Atlantic really “refugees” and “asylum seekers?” Some probably are. Most probably aren’t. They’re simply seeking better jobs and welfare benefits.


Ordinary Europeans and Americans have been watching all this for years. In 2010, I flew down to our Mexican border to see for myself. After observing the chaos on our side of the fence for five days and talking to border patrol guards, I came away convinced that we need much stronger border security than the flimsy bits of wall that any reasonably fit person could easily scale. I wrote about all that here and here.


More recently I’ve watched video of Africans in overloaded boats heading to Italy and Spain and wasn’t surprised when Italians elected a government promising to turn those boats back. Last spring I spent a few days in Barcelona and visited ports in Italy and France. At every port, I saw hundreds of African men aggressively hawking cheap trinkets to tourists all day long. The same was true at the inland city of Florence, Italy. They were everywhere.


Immigration will likely remain the most divisive issue in the western world through 2019.

10 comments:

Brian said...

Let's start right off by saying the whole idea of "open borders" is a Republican fear tactic, based on nothing. I am not a Democrat but it is obvious to anybody paying attention that they do not want "open borders". Which of the hundreds of Democrat Congress or Senate members have voiced support for this? End of story. So much for the dopey title of the column.

You claim that more than 20 million illegals are living here and say that some claim it is double. You fail to also state the fact that other more reliable sources, like the Pew Research Center, say that it is HALF that. (10.7 million). And of those, the vast majority has been living here for over a decade. So way to be fair and balanced. Also, no mention of this fact:

In 2016, as President Barack Obama left office, the number of undocumented immigrants living in the United States was at its lowest level in a decade.

You ask about the benefits for Mainers when it comes to illegal immigrants. The nonpartisan, New-York-based Fiscal Policy Institute reports that rather than being a drag on Maine's economy, immigrants actually help grow it and by remarkably large amounts. They have businesses, they pay taxes, etc.

http://blog.mecep.org/2012/07/immigrants-fueling-maines-economy/

Then you get completely delusional, stating: "If you can make it to the US/Mexican border, just say the magic words: “I need asylum” and border guards will let you in, then send you anywhere to anywhere in the country you want to go"

Really....how can you be so ignorant? Asylum-seekers must prove persecution and need to pass an initial "credible fear" interview, proving they are reasonably afraid of returning to their home country. Asylum-seekers are then kept in detention until their asylum cases are resolved — which often takes months if not years, according to the American Immigration Council.

You seem to be falling for "the sky is falling" routine from the far right. Like the outright lie Trump and Sanders are trying to get away with claiming the southern border is being swarmed by terrorists. There is ZERO evidence of terrorists coming across that border. So where is the emergency that this wall would fix? The facts are that illegals trying to cross the southern border have declined considerably over the last decades.

But what do facts matter with shrill, hysterical members of the far right screaming their made-up nonsense?

It is hard to try and discuss this with someone so out of touch with reality.

Nick Peace said...

It's amazing how this issue has become so politicized in the Trump era. Illegal immigration has always been a major political issue, one that Democrats used to take seriously. See evidence below. In the Trump era, Democrats do appear to be for open borders or close to it. I'm going to suggest that this is due to 1) Trump's clumsy and racist language on the issue going back to his speech entering the 2016 campaign 2) the Resistance's efforts to oppose Trump at every turn.

All countries have a right to control their borders.

Hillary Voted Numerous Times to Build A Barrier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlFi0QUboxs

Obama deports more immigrants than any other President
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obamas-deportation-policy-numbers/story?id=41715661

Bill Clinton on Illegal Immigration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3yesvvYEvs

and a more intellectual piece:
The Left Case Against Open Borders
https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2018/11/the-left-case-against-open-borders/

Jay said...

It’s all just obstructionism. Democrats can’t stand it when they are not in power. They will do anything to get the power back.
When September 11 happened, democrats were pounding their podiums screaming that we needed to go to war and get rid of those weapons of mass destruction. Just a few years later they were telling the main stream media that Bush lied and people died.
Democrats have been paying lip service to border security for years but now that Donald Trump wants to actually DO something about it, they are now against the very thing they have hyped over the years. The democrats just plain CAN NOT let Trump succeed where they failed. It will be an indelible mark on their party and prove once again that they have no real interest in actually serving their country.
All B/S aside, the illegal immigrant problem is a real problem that is getting worse and must be solved very soon. First step is a wall.
It’s very easy to quote main stream media articles that echo your own views but to the people who actually live on or near the border, it is a very real and pressing problem.
Again, if you’re against building the wall, take your doors down and allow whomever wants access to your home a seat, a bed, a meal, money, use of your car, etc etc. if you don’t do these things you are a hypocrite. Plain and simple. That is an indisputable fact.

Brian said...

Thanks to Nick for pointing out that Democrats have indeed shown themselves to take immigration seriously, and did pretty damn good at at it as evidence show with the low levels of immigrants during Obama. Yes, he deported many, many people. That's good, right? They DID something about it, they didn't just pay it lip service by fantasizing about some magical wall or something.

And they didn't just lie about it, like with the talk of 4,000 terrorists swarming in. How awesomely funny it was listening to Sanders repeatedly puke out her "by land, air and sea" mantra! I guess we better not stop the wall on the southern border, but continue it all around the coastline of Florida, and up the east coast. Wall off our vulnerable shores!

Again, if your for building the wall, build up a huge wall around your property. if you don’t do this you are a hypocrite. Plain and simple. That is an indisputable fact. (Actually it is an opinion, but at least it is a relevant opinion about WALLS, not doors or tube socks or windows, or sandwiches or some other unrelated matter).

Unknown said...

I am not a Democrat, and don't really know what they want. However, as a legal immigrant myself who spent some time, effort and money to reside here legally, I would like to affirm that I support legal immigration. I became a citizen so that I would be able to vote for concerns I have in local and national elections.

Shane said...

This is a farce. Chuck Schumer, Israeli Firster serving in OUR congress, says not one thing about the Israeli border walls being "immoral". In fact, having dual citizens in OUR congress is immoral, not to mention outrageous.

We need borders. We need a wall. "Good fences make good neighbors". The fact that we didn't build a wall on our southern border right after 9/11 makes me think the whole thing is a dog and pony show and they ALL want open borders and are feigning this argument. After all, they make money (the oligarchs pretending to be politicians).

The wall needs built and we simply need follow our current laws and stop the non sense and hyperbole. Think about it folks, we need a real, non-corporate, media. CNN, Fox, NYTimes, etc. etc. are no longer legitimate sources of information. They have agendas. It IS propaganda, make no mistake. Think about ALL that has transpired since Trump took office that hasn't been reported--the media is conveniently Trump obsessed. Same with the Obama obsession. News? Please...

Can you please address this insane bill just introduced that makes it illegal to boycott Israel. This is beyond ridiculous and truly shameful and aggressively un-American. That congress even considers this is treason. To try and enact it? They should all be jailed. Israel? Who cares? We have a country to fix and cannot afford to help an apartheid state that bullies. Imagine what Washington, Madison, et al would say!!

Tom said...

It seems that every day those in the federal government on both sides of the aisle find some new boondoggle to foist on the American people. The so-called 'wall' is just the latest. If the voters see the pretend in-fighting in Washington taking sides on an issue and being steadfast in their stubbornness then that same stubbornness trickles down into divisiveness in the populace. Immigration is just the current issue but it doesn't need to be that way and it shouldn't. The borders can be protected and should be protected but the 'wall' is just taking more money from the taxpayers. If you really want to stop illegal immigration then put the onus squarely where it belongs--on those who hire undocumented workers. Fines, heavy fines, should be levied on those businesses and farmers who use undocumented workers to pad their bottom lines by giving less than living wages to workers that they know are not here legally. Undocumented people who cannot get work, who cannot get government monies to live because they are undocumented will have no resources to live here. The migrations will slow if not cease. But the folks in Washington as well as many Americans do not want to see immigration slowed if it means that the ever expanding corporate agenda slows. It all comes down to money and any disingenuous screeching about 'illegals' is just hot air being blown up America's rear end. And further, the taxpayer is once again being lied to by our leaders as the 5 billion dollar boondoggle is a falsehood that is just the starting point of what the 'wall' would cost as some estimates run as high as 25 billion dollars. So when does the next plea for more money come? We can't stop with it only partially finished. And what about those land owners who stand to lose their property through eminent domain so that Washington can say 'we did something'?

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure what planet Brian is living on, but I WOULD like to know how many families of illegal immigrants he has living in his home currently, and how much he is providing them in personal money and resources?
I'm also guessing he has never been to the border nor spent a night there. I have. It IS a national emergency. Our country is being literally flooded.
While I feel badly for those trying to escape bad situations in their home countries, it is simply not America's problem. We cannot take care of them and must draw the line...
Shall we take all 6 billion people on the planet? Half of that? 1 billion? Are you insane?
The life boat is beyond full and the water is up to the gunwales.


Tom McLaughlin said...

Anonymous above seems like a new poster here. I'll let the comment stand, but I normally Anonymous posts. Put your name on any future comments or make up a name and then use it consistently, please.

Mr Ed said...

Trump serves up a big nothing burger at State of the Union, so much for 3-d chess, he's just Mr Tweeter