Democrats Don't Want to Talk About the Border, So I'll Start
With the economy humming heading into 2024, and powerful social issues such as reproductive rights clearly favoring Democrats, the central issue for Donald Trump and Republican candidates around the country will be the border and virtually uncontrolled mass migration. Everything they will highlight in this election - crime, drug overdoses, strains on social services - will all be wrapped up in racial overtones directed squarely at swing voters who decide close elections.
I have been very sympathetic to migrants for decades because I have worked with them every day in my practice as an attorney. I believe in very liberal immigration. I believe that migrants work harder for less money than native born Americans and take jobs in farming and construction that many Americans are simply unwilling to do. I believe that if we deported every migrant tomorrow our economy would crash. I have seen how devoted to their families they are and know that they commit crimes at lower rates than people born in America. But none of those things makes me believe that we should allow every person who shows up at our border to be allowed into the country largely unvetted.
The border and migration are subjects Democrats seem to never want to talk about, while Republicans can't stop talking about it. As a consumer of a massive amount of traditional and non-mainstream media, I can tell you the contrast is stark. On right-wing media, there are endless loops in news cycles of thousands of migrants crossing into the country every day. Crimes committed by migrants are spotlighted. They suddenly care about drug overdoses since fentanyl can be tied to the border. Meanwhile, mainstream and left-leaning media has had almost a complete blackout of any of the reality and scope of what is taking place.
People on both sides have retreated into their information echo systems on this issue - with Republicans using fear, racism and paranoia to exaggerate the problem, and Democrats either arguing that the problem doesn't exist or that the solution is more government funding. Many Republicans would rather have the issue for elections than provide any real solutions. Many Democrats propose solutions that fail to address the central underlying motivations for mass migration and may only make the problem worse with unintended consequences.
On Morning Joe this morning, Alejandro Mayorkas, who faces impeachment from the House next week, was asked several important questions and provided some answers. However, when he was asked the central relevant question by Willie Geist - whether processing every person from every country who shows up at the border, giving them a plane/bus ticket to their US city of choice, providing them with housing and social services, and giving them a court date in a few years where their "asylum" case will be heard in a few years if they actually show up for court, means that we have an open border for all practical purposes. He never answered the question.
Mayorkas began by noting that he speaks with his counterparts in European countries who note that global mass migration is an issue that has spiked in recent years. He blames the issue on poverty and repressive regimes. That is undeniably true. Many who live in poverty, or lack quality medical care, social services, legal rights, civil liberties, or live under autocratic regimes would love to live in a prosperous country that provides all of these things to their citizens. When countries define the criteria for "asylum" as broadly as many have in recent years, the reality is that 4-5 billion people now qualify for it, and that is simply not sustainable if a significant percentage of those people decide they want to live elsewhere.
The political problem for Democrats should be obvious and alarming. Donald Trump and his MAGA movement is the most serious threat to the survival of our constitutional Republic since the Civil War. Both he, and his movement, are going to use mass migration into the US as the central issue in this campaign. With a healthy economy, it may be their only issue that really strikes a chord with swing voters. Given that fact, it has been exasperating to me that the Administration has failed to make this issue a priority.
I have worked in the court system and my wife has worked in the public school system. Just in those two areas we have seen the strains on services caused by a large influx of migrants from around the globe. The court system struggles with finding translators for dozens of languages. Children with serious learning disabilities who speak no English are showing up to overcrowded classrooms from around the world. The issue isn't whether we have compassion for migrants, the issue is whether that compassion is hurting everyone else by stretching services in some areas to their breaking point.
Trump likes to demagogue the issue by claiming that most migrants are coming from mental institutions and prisons from around the globe. He claims that migrants are all drug dealers, rapists and gang members. While this is far from true, the fact is that millions of people are coming into our country who we know almost nothing about. What are their criminal histories in the countries they come from? Do they suffer from mental illnesses or serious medical ailments that we will have to pay to treat? Do they have communicable diseases and have they had vaccinations to prevent their spread to our population? Since there is virtually no serious, reliable screening, we simply don't know.
If there is a mass shooting or terrorist attack in this country committed in 2024 by a migrant or group of migrants who crossed the border in the last three years, will that bring us a President Trump in 2025? It certainly might. Republicans have been warning that will happen over and over, so if it does, they can point the finger squarely at the Administration. Democrats don't even want to talk about that being a possibility. If it happens, what will be the electoral consequences? How will the Administration defend itself on the charges that lax border policy led to the problem?
Mayorkas's proposed solution is more money. The problem is that the Administration's proposals include some funding that addresses one problem - drug interdiction - but the rest of the funding is largely focused on how we can process migrants into the country more efficiently and provide them with more services. That is not really the solution most Americans are looking for and may actually make the problem even worse by continuing to incentivize more people to come here.
The Administration, and the Democratic Party more broadly, must clearly articulate a sane and rational border policy that makes sense to most Americans. The only way to do that is to address two fundamental questions: 1. Will we grant asylum to every person for economic or social justice reasons? 2. Will we allow every person who shows up at our border into the country while that issue is being adjudicated for several years?
Until Democrats start to talk about those two issues in a serious, meaningful way, this critical issue will be entirely ceded to Republicans in every election. But it doesn't have to be that way. Democrats have three choices. They can:
1. Embrace a liberal and generous immigration policy that makes sense for everyone and clearly communicate that policy; or
2. Embrace a policy that is tantamount to an open border; or
3. Continue to ignore the problem and not talk about it.
The second and third choices will ultimately result in an electoral reckoning for Democratic candidates, yet that seems to have been the preferred option up to this point. It is time for Democrats and the Administration to take a different path on the border before it's too late. There are many voters who dislike Trump but will vote for him anyway if they think he is the only one willing to solve this problem. We simply cannot let that happen.
The survival of our democratic Republic may depend on how this Administration handles the migrant issue. I wish that wasn't the case, but fear it is. It is time to get in the game in a meaningful way, and that means clear and effective communication as well. If Mayorkas isn't the right person for the task, then he should be replaced. If he is but his hands have been tied, it is time to untie them.
I don't pretend to have all the answers on this issue, but I do know that what we have been doing isn't working, and Donald Trump is exploiting that to maximum effect. It has given him an electoral lifeline in this election. It is past time for the Administration to take that away with better border policy.
