Yes, we can avoid this by funding the wall. Democratic opposition to the wall is unprincipled and demagogic.
12 years ago, Congress, with bipartisan support, passed the Security Fence Act of 2006. The bill was signed into law by George Bush to overwhelming public applause. The stopgap legislation led to some 650 miles of steel fence, while leaving the rest of 1,950-mile border unfenced.
In those days there were not, as now, nearly 50 million foreign-born immigrants living in the United States, perhaps nearly 15 million of them illegally. Sheer numbers have radically changed electoral politics.
Take California. One out of four residents in California is foreign-born. Not since 2006 has any California Republican been elected to statewide office.
The solidly blue states of Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, voted red as recently as 2004 for George W. Bush.
The solidly blue states of Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, voted red as recently as 2004 for George W. Bush.
Once upon a time, Democrats such as Hillary and Bill Clinton and Barack Obama talked tough about illegal immigration. They even ruled out amnesty while talking up a new border wall.
In those days, progressives saw illegal immigration as illiberal -- or at least not as a winning proposition among union households and the working poor. Democratic constituencies opposed importing inexpensive foreign labor for corporate bosses.
So, what happened? Again, numbers. Salad-bowl multiculturalism, growing tribalism and large numbers of unassimilated immigrants added up to politically advantageous demography for Democrats. Progressives conclude that de facto open borders are good long-term politics.
In contrast, a wall would likely reduce illegal immigration dramatically and with it future Democratic constituents. Legal, meritocratic, measured and diverse immigration in its place would likely end up being politically neutral.
And without fresh waves of undocumented immigrants from south of the border, identity politics would wane. All prior efforts to ensure border security -- sanctions against employers, threats to cut off foreign aid to Mexico, and talk of tamper-proof identity cards -- have failed.
Instead, amnesties, expanded entitlements and hundreds of sanctuary jurisdictions offer incentives for waves of undocumented immigrants.
"The reason a secure border wall has not been built is not apprehension that it would not work, but rather real fear that it would work only too well."
Credit: Above thread based on an article by Victor Davis Hanson.
The End.
Credit: Above thread based on an article by Victor Davis Hanson.
The End.
