Both Democrats and Republicans are responsible for the border fiasco

Both Democrats and Republicans are responsible for the border fiasco

By: Rachel Marsden

PARIS -- Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats hold the moral high ground when it comes to matters of immigration. What’s desperately needed is rational policy that tackles the problem at its roots: ending any and all U.S. foreign intervention in Latin America.

Both Democrats and Republicans would have Americans believe that the fiasco unfolding on America’s border with Mexico is the fault of the other party. The truth is, it is as much Joe Biden’s fault as it is Donald Trump’s. Both parties have played a role in exacerbating the problem and neither should be exempt from responsibility and criticism.

First, let’s start with the Democrats. Why is it that every time a Democrat takes office there’s a clarion call for mass migration that attracts chancers? Democrats are perceived worldwide as being so soft on border security that regardless of the actual number of apprehensions at the border, the mere presence of a Democrat in the Oval Office seems to incite so many people to cross into the U.S. illegally that border patrol is apparently having trouble keeping up with the enforcement.

The situation is apparently so overwhelming that it has even sparked talk among Department of Homeland Security officials of potentially flying migrants to states near the border with Canada, according to the Washington Post.

From there, it’s only a hop, skip, and a jump across one of the many unofficial crossing points, particularly in Western Canada, from where migrants would legally be entitled to Canadian asylum consideration under a longstanding U.S.-Canada agreement – even as the Canada-U.S. border remains closed at official border crossings due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The move would risk dragging Canada into Biden’s immigration fiasco. All because the Democrats have created a problem for themselves through their perpetual inability to just shut up and stop constantly preaching about expanding immigration and diversity when they’re clearly writing checks their mouths can’t cash.

The other side of the aisle is hardly any better, frankly. When Republican Congressman John Katko, ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said during a recent press conference that terrorists, including those on the watch list, were exploiting access to the U.S. via the southern border, at least give us a concrete example. Even a historical one would do. Because even the terrorists responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. soil entered the country legitimately and with proper paperwork. Nor, being primarily Saudis, were they nationals on any Republican list of countries whose citizens are banned under security pretexts. Still, this hasn’t stopped Republican officials like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy from claiming that these so-called dangerous migrants attempting to cross into the U.S. from Mexico are from “Yemen, Iran, and Turkey” – none of which are countries that have perpetrated terrorist attacks on the U.S. homeland.

Republicans are just exploiting some people’s ignorance about the true nature of the terrorist threat to scare people into clinging to the Republican position for their own purported personal safety.

What neither party is telling you is that the only real solution to stemming the migrant tide is something that the Washington establishment has long been loathe to do: cease any and all U.S. meddling in Latin American affairs. And since McCarthy and his colleagues seem so worried about potential Middle Eastern terrorists, how about dialing down the military adventurism in that region, too. From sanctions on Venezuela, Syria, Iran, and even America’s NATO ally, Turkey; U.S.-supported coup attempts in countries like Libya, Bolivia, Venezuela; and bombings of Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and elsewhere, both former President Donald Trump and Biden (first as senator, then as Obama’s vice-president) have deliberately contributed to a perpetual destabilization of these countries that has directly led to mass exodus.

The bottom line is that if U.S. officials don’t like being overwhelmed with people fleeing foreign nations, or the specter of angry people from these places potentially seeking retribution for U.S. “freedom spreading” abroad, then how about just leaving them alone to sort out their own problems? You break it, you buy it. Except that it’s never the Washington establishment that causes these problems that pay the price. Instead, both sides are always seeking ways to frame and exploit the migratory crisis for which they’re both responsible.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans are being honest with Americans about the realities of the current immigration challenges. Each party is just spinning the issue to its respective advantage. What the country desperately needs – and so badly lacks – is a pragmatic, centrist perspective based on objective reality rather than torqued hysterics aimed at manipulating public opinion or catering to partisan ideology.