Border disorder

Immigration has been one of America’s long running problems.  Historically, climate irregularities have induced famine, civil conflict, and migration.  If scientists are correct about the climate change in our future, the world will again experience those disruptions of life including large scale migration attempts.  We need to solve our immigration issues. 

Immigration is a responsibility of the federal government. Our national government has abdicated a significant measure of that role to border states. The individual states should not be taxed with immigration problems, and citizens who live on the border should not be burdened with waves of immigrants in their midst.

According to NBC News, 2.76 million people attempting to immigrate were intercepted at the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2022. Immigration has always been a political football, and, in election years, it gets kicked completely out of bounds. In the current election cycle, Florida’s Governor DeSantis has said that, in his administration, anyone bringing illegal drugs across the border would be “stone cold dead.” He has also said that on “day one” of his administration, he would send U.S. military forces to Mexico to combat drug cartels — an act of war, unless approved by the government of Mexico. That may win some votes, but it will not stop the flow of illegal drugs. Consider the following.

Reuters reported on Aug. 10, 2023, that “Most fentanyl trafficked by the Sinaloa Cartel crosses at U.S. border ports of entry.” Merchandise flows across the U.S.-Mexican border in large containers, the type that are stacked high on container ships. They are transported across the border on 18-wheel tractor-trailer trucks and on rail cars. Last year, 7 million of those containers crossed the border from Mexico to the U.S. That is more than 19,000 per day. Inspecting the content of all of those containers would not be feasible. Additionally, each year 90 million cars and 300 million people legally cross the border between Mexico and the U.S. The value of two-way trade between Mexico and the U.S. was 855 billion dollars in 2022.

The immigration issue is not about illegal drug smuggling. It is about maintaining control of a country. We lock doors. We regulate entry to businesses and military bases. Seventy-seven countries have some kind of border barriers.

There are valid reasons that people seek refuge: grinding poverty, violence, persecution because of minority status, and failed governance. About 30 million people are living in refugee camps. The U.S. is not anti-immigrant. In a recent year, slightly more than a million immigrants were granted U.S. citizenship. The planet has 8 billion people. There is a limit to the number of immigrants or refugees that any country can adopt. Overloaded lifeboats sink. 

Forty-two percent of United States freshwater usage is for crop irrigation. A lot of that water comes from underground aquifers, and they are rapidly being depleted. The prices for housing and food and many other things are soaring. Some resources are finite. We need to think about the future — our future — and do what we can to improve conditions for less fortunate people in other countries so their desire to leave their country will not be so urgent.

We need to control our border humanely. Our self-respect and our reputation are as important as our wealth and military capability. The fact that so many people want to immigrate to the United States sends a message — a message that American democracy is worth preserving.

Jack Stevenson is a retired infantry officer, civil service and private corporation employee who now reads history, follows issues important to Americans, and writes commentary from his home in Pensacola, Florida.