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The pandemic border restrictions known as Title 42 were lifted on May 11, ending a public health policy that allowed authorities to turn away illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. border seeking asylum. Title 42 was put in place under former President Trump to prevent the spread of COVID-19 across the border from Mexico. Many experts — and many Republicans — predicted the U.S. would see a huge influx of immigrants when Title 42 ended, but so far, that surge hasn’t happened. Instead, crossings have hit new lows.
Straight Arrow News contributor Ruben Navarrette explains why he thinks the GOP has been wrong about almost everything related to immigration all along.
Republicans can’t seem to grasp the reality that the U.S.-Mexico border is the most fortified it has ever been, a result of our spending more than $60 billion annually on the Department of Homeland Security.
On his podcast, classic scholar turned conservative pundit, Victor Davis Hanson, heaped contempt and condescension on the migrants at the border, a border that he declared open. Incredibly, Hanson then went on to explain that, “10,000 people were arrested per day.” Look, you don’t need a PhD in Greek mythology to see the contradiction. What kind of lame excuse for a so-called open border snares 10,000 people per day? Don’t look now but the open border is broken.
There are other things that Republicans don’t understand or won’t accept, like the fact that the immigration phenomena is largely demand-driven and fueled by employers, many of whom give campaign contributions to the GOP. Or the fact that much of the immigration debate is driven by racism and nativism and always has been. Or the fact that newcomers bring with them a new blood and a strong work ethic. And that for those reasons and others, America doesn’t need fewer migrants and refugees. It needs more.
