Boundaries Make Sense
– By Tom Garrison –
Ever heard someone criticize another person because they “don’t respect my boundaries.” Sure you have; it’s likely you have said it yourself. Boundaries are everywhere: interpersonal relationships, the physical world, and nature. Did you know boundaries are crucial to many animal species? Take, for example, wolves. According to Wikipedia, “Wolves are territorial, and fights over territory are among the principal causes of mortality.” They mark their territory and spend much of their day patrolling its borders. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with having boundaries, it is extremely common in the animal and human world.
Unfortunately, a small but very vocal and influential percentage of Americans have a problem with the United States having defined borders that actually mean something. I’m talking about, of course, the decades-long debate over illegal immigration.
Before jumping into the maelstrom of illegal immigration, let’s consider the nomenclature of this debate and how the Left uses words to confuse minds and alter emotions.
People who illegally cross international borders or legally cross but overstay their visa and are not citizens of the country they enter are, by definition, illegal aliens. The law should be specific and accurate. Illegal aliens are both, unlike the plethora of politically correct euphemisms leftists use to conceal the actual situation.
In the last few decades, leftists have tried, with much success, to convince the media and shallow thinkers that many euphemisms such as “undocumented workers” (who knows if any particular illegal alien is a worker); immigrants (grouping legal immigrants with illegal aliens to confuse the statistics); many other permutations avoiding the word “illegal”; and, more recently, “newcomers” (sounds nice and soft for someone who broke the law entering the country) should replace the perfectly accurate illegal alien.
In 2018, Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, noted that “…an internal email at the Justice Department has reminded its lawyers that the legally correct term they should be using in their briefs is ‘illegal alien,’ not the euphemism ‘undocumented immigrant.’ ”
The term “illegal alien” is neither dehumanizing nor demeaning. It is the precise legal term for those whose status in this country is unlawful. Words have meanings. If we garble that meaning, words become just another form of propaganda—all too common from the Left in this Orwellian era of wokeness.
What happens to a country that adopts an open border policy as has the Biden administration? Let’s see.
First, the numbers. According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), there are an estimated 16.8 million illegal aliens residing in the United States as of June 2023. The US population is currently about 340 million. If we round up the illegal alien population to seventeen million (it is certainly more than that) for July 2024, then approximately 5% of the US population is in the country illegally. Think about it: statistically, one in every 20 people in this country is here illegally.
How many of this horde is the responsibility of President Biden’s “open door” border policy? As of the end of March 2024, US Customs and Border Protection reported more than 7.6 million illegal border crossings since Joe Biden took office. Biden has set a new all-time high for most illegal border crossings each year he has been in office.
How about suspected terrorists illegally entering the country? According to the US Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol agents apprehended 367 individuals at the border between fiscal years 2021 and 2024, the Biden years, whose names appeared on the terror watch list. That number marks more than a 2,500% increase from the 14 suspected terrorists caught in the fiscal years 2017 to 2020, the Trump administration years. That’s not a coincidence, it is cause and effect. As everyone knows, you can’t have too many suspected terrorists trying to enter the country.
Think for a moment about every person robbed, raped, or murdered by an illegal alien. It is clear those crimes would not have happened if illegal aliens were properly vetted and not flooding the country. It doesn’t matter what the crime rate is for illegals. Some studies say they have a higher crime rate while others say it is lower than that of American citizens. If we had a secure border, the thousands of people killed, raped, and robbed by illegals would not have been killed, raped, or robbed. Maybe that doesn’t sound too bad. What about if it happened to you? It’s really that simple.
Well, you say Democrats/the Left aren’t in favor of law-breaking by illegals. It just happens. Nope, wrong again. The Laken Riley Act, named for an American nursing student who was killed by an illegal alien on February 22, 2024, while out jogging, requires the detention and deportation of illegal aliens caught committing crimes (crimes in addition to their being a criminal for entering the country illegally). Jose Ibarra, charged with killing Laken Riley, was released into the US under Biden administration policies and arrested twice before the murder and both times released into American communities.
On March 7, 2024, all 214 Republican congressional representatives, along with 37 Democrats, voted for the proposed bill. Who could be against such a bill? The bill received 170 “no” votes, all Democrats. Thus, 170 Democrat representatives, representing tens of millions of people, don’t believe that criminal illegal aliens should be detained and deported? Wow!
How about the costs of supporting millions of illegal aliens? In March 2023, FAIR published a report that found the net cost of illegal immigration at federal, state, and local levels to be at least $150.7 billion annually for food, housing, medical care, and education. This is no laughing matter, but I do find one aspect of it rather funny.
New York City and Chicago, among many others, are sanctuary cities sheltering illegal aliens, proudly virtue-signaling their righteousness. Unfortunately for them, reality intruded upon their posturing. It is easy to be a sanctuary city when there are only a couple of hundred illegal aliens in your metropolis. What happens when tens of thousands of illegal aliens are blessing your city with their presence?
New York City is budgeting $12 billion between February 2024 and the end of fiscal year 2025 to provide for the 173,000 (the number increases each day) illegal aliens in the city. And due to New York City’s right to shelter law, around 16,000 hotel rooms across the city have been turned over to illegal aliens resulting in a loss of hotel taxes of almost $580,000 per day, or more than $210 million in a year.
And how do the sanctuary city leaders respond? In September 2023, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in regard to the “migrant” crisis, “Let me tell you something New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to—I don’t see an ending to this…. This issue will destroy New York.” Gosh, the leaders of sanctuary cities are now complaining about being used as sanctuary cities.
How about Chicago? The people of Chicago aren’t too happy with the policies of their leftist mayor. In January 2024, polling of Chicago voters showed 69% disapproved of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s handling of the illegal alien crisis, with only 23% approving and 8% unsure.” Maybe shoveling money to non-citizens isn’t such a great idea.
Nothing like giving sanctuary city supporters a taste of what southern border states have dealt with for decades.
Not only is this invasion avoidable, it also violates the fundamental purpose of government, to protect its citizens against external invaders. Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution states, “The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government and shall protect each of them against invasion (italics added)…” Pretty clear and this responsibility has been buttressed by scores of court cases and legislation by Congress.
Was this open-door policy some sort of crazy mistake? Nope. Even before he became president, Biden promised to ignore the Constitution and open the borders. This action erodes our faith in the rule of law. In addition, the Left has pushed for open borders for decades, and it is pretty obvious that President Biden takes his marching orders from leftist elites.
In January 2024, former director of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Thomas Homan testified before the House of Representatives that, “President Biden is the first president to ever un-secure a border on purpose. … For three years, this administration has directed and overseen the implementation of an open borders agenda that has resulted in a national security, humanitarian, public health, and public safety catastrophe unlike any we have ever witnessed at America’s borders.”
I’ve not even touched upon several important issues: birthright citizenship (out of 195 countries only 33 countries, including the US, have this policy) counting illegal aliens in the census; sex and drug traffickers across the open southern border; voting by illegal aliens (the very definition of foreign interference in our elections); and the tens of millions of dollars the Biden administration has sent to other countries in foreign aid to, get this, enhance their border security. About the only border leftists don’t accept is the national boundary of the United States.
Why do you and your family enjoy a day at the zoo and aren’t attacked by a lion or gorilla? Because walls and fences—borders—work. Can anyone camp out on your property without your permission? No. It’s your property and you decide who can enter.
Is an enforceable border really that hard to understand? No. What is a country without enforceable borders? A mess which is exactly what the Left wants.
References
Congress.gov website. “H.R. 7511—Laken Riley Act.” https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7511
Constitution of the United States of America. Ratified in 1789.
Federal Newswire. “Former ICE Director Thomas Homan: ‘President Biden is the First President to Ever Un-Secure a Border on Purpose.’ “ January 23, 2024. https://thefederalnewswire.com/stories/653844462-former-ice-director-thomas-homan-president-biden-is-the-first-president-to-ever-un-secure-a-border-on-purpose
Federation for American Immigration Reform. “How Many Illegal Aliens are in the United States? 2023 Update.” June 22, 2023. https://www.fairus.org/issue/how-many-illegal-aliens-are-united-states-2023-update
Federation for American Immigration Reform. “The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers—2023 Cost Study.” March 8, 2023. https://www.fairus.org/issue/publications-resources/fiscal-burden-illegal-immigration-united-states-taxpayers-2023
Fitzsimmons, Emma G. “In Escalation, Adams Says Migrant Crisis ‘Will Destroy New York City’ “ The New York Times. September 7, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/07/nyregion/adams-migrants-destroy-nyc.html
Harris, Shane. “The Border Invasion Election.” Association of Mature American Citizens Magazine. June 2024. Page 27. https://publication.amac.us/view/799219561/26/
Hopkins, Jason. “Suspected Terrorists Illegally Entering US Up Over 2,500% Under Biden from Trump Era.” Daily Caller. May 16, 2024. https://dailycaller.com/2024/05/16/suspected-terrorists-entering-biden-trump/
House Committee on Homeland Security. “Factsheet: Final Fiscal Year Numbers Show Worst Year at America’s Borders—Ever.” October 26, 2023. https://homeland.house.gov/2023/10/26/factsheet-final-fy23-numbers-show-worst-year-at-americas-borders-ever/
Mehlman, Ira. “Illegal Immigration Costs to New York Far More That is Reported.” Federation for American Immigration Reform. February 5, 2024. https://www.fairus.org/legislation/state-and-local/illegal-immigration-costs-new-york-city-far-more-reported
Pope, Nick. “Biden Admin Fishes for Domestic Extremists While Illegal Immigrants on Terror Watchlist Stream Across US Border.” Daily Caller. June 27, 2024. https://dailycaller.com/2024/06/27/biden-admin-border-terror-watchlist/?pnespid=tKR2FS1Wa.4VxPLJuyuoCoCNrxGjDYl5Lemy0bBitEFmKRGWJOTgMRssDTap.ANY32nqf8hWcg
Schmad, Robert. “Biden admin Spending Millions to Protect Foreign Borders as America’s is in Crisis.” Daily Caller. April 27, 2024. https://dailycaller.com/2024/04/27/biden-admin-foreign-borders-crisis/
Sharkey, Dylan. “Nearly 70% of Chicago Voters Unhappy with Mayor’s Job on Migrant Crisis.” Illinois Policy Institute. February 1, 2024. https://www.illinoispolicy.org/nearly-70-of-chicago-voters-unhappy-with-mayors-job-on-migrant-crisis/
Von Spakovsky, Hans. “ ‘Undocumented Immigrant’ is a Made-Up Term That Ignores the Law.” The Daily Signal. July 30, 2018. https://www.dailysignal.com/2018/07/30/undocumented-immigrant-is-a-made-up-term-that-ignores-the-law/
Wikipedia. “Wolf” Last modified May 31, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf#:~:text=Wolves%20are%20also%20territorial%2C%20and%20fights%20over,a%20carnivore%20and%20feeds%20on%20large%20wild
