A group of Republican senators expressed “grave concerns” to President Biden over his recent executive order that would provide a path to citizenship to approximately 500,000 people who have been in the country for a decade or more and are also married to United States citizens. The GOP lawmakers argued that Biden’s immigration relief “directly contravenes the laws Congress has passed” and “will exacerbate the ongoing border crisis.”
Watch the above video as Straight Arrow News contributor Ruben Navarrette argues that when Republicans talk about border security, they almost always lie.
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You see, Republicans don’t really care about securing the U.S.-Mexico border any more than Democrats care about the welfare and safety of migrants. In both cases, that’s just political rhetoric, served up to drum up votes from the base. In the case of Republicans, calls to close the border quickly descend into fear-mongering with a dash of racism. It’s familiar and grotesque, but the nativist wing of the GOP eats that slop up.
Still, let’s not forget, there’s another wing in the Republican Party, the business wing, and it also has considerable sway because it controls most of the political contributions. That’s why the GOP is never, never going to try too hard to shut down the border. It would rather just wave people in, secretly and discreetly. As an aside, the White House doesn’t have the power to seal the border anyway. That’s a fantasy advanced by Republicans, and also now more recently, Democratic President Joe Biden, who recently signed an executive order promising to do just that.
But the real reason that Americans can’t shut down the border and the real reason that Republicans have no desire to see that happen, no matter what they tell the pitchfork-carrying mob, is that our country cannot survive without a steady flow of cheap and dependable labor.
Interested in opposing perspectives? Have a look at how our other contributors view this issue from across the political spectrum:
Star Parker: Biden’s immigration policies all for show.
Newt Gingrich: On immigration, Trump will have a mountain to climb.
