(ThyBlackMan.com) Anyone responsible for addressing illegal immigration flow across our border, even if only to determine root causes, has to visit it to fully comprehend the situation.
On the one hand, we are told by governors of states closest to the border a major surge crisis is ongoing, while we are told by President Joe Biden’s administration these reports are greatly exaggerated by the media. As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., claims President Biden’s border czar, Vice President Kamala Harris, is addressing the crisis well, the Arizona attorney general calls for her to be fired for her “abysmal” performance in ignoring it. Where lies the truth?
The crisis claim gains merit based on the following: a plea by overwhelmed U.S. border agents they “don’t have resources” needed to deal with the problem; Biden ordering a Title 42 border closure based on migrants possibly posing a COVID-19 health risk despite there being “no scientific basis as a public health measure”; criticisms of Biden by fellow Democrats Rep. Henry Cuellar, Texas, and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Ariz. – the latter acknowledging the reality “we all know it” is a crisis; and Biden’s decision to continue some border wall construction.
It would be irresponsible for Harris simply to accept one side’s version over the other’s. She must tour the border personally to see for herself if we are in a crisis mode. After all, what is the need for exploring root causes if there is no surge? At this point, should she decide to visit the border. Every camera crew in the country would be there to memorialize it.
To understand Harris’ reluctance, we need to go back to August, 2020 and a live report by CNN’s Omar Jiminez from Kenosha, Wisconsin. Police had seriously wounded black suspect Jacob Blake, who had failed to comply with arresting orders. Jiminez, reporting on nighttime crowd activity in the city streets, described it as “fiery but mostly peaceful protests,” ironically doing so with a building engulfed in flames in the background behind him!
While “protest” has a peaceful connotation and “riot” does not, Jiminez tried to split the difference. Doing so is comparable to describing a woman as “somewhat pregnant.” Neither condition exists, and CNN was mocked for such reporting.
Harris wants to avoid putting herself in a similar situation. She does not want to visit the border, mouthing the party line no crisis exists, as a totally different picture is being filmed behind her. She undoubtedly has nightmares of such a clip being run in an opponent’s campaign ad when she runs for president.
In the meantime, Harris passes the buck to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, stating he will “address what is going on” there as “he has been working very hard on that and is showing some progress because of his hard work.”
But even as fellow Democrats have joined Republicans in pressing Harris to go to the border, her staff continues to toe the line her root-cause focus requires no border visit. As irrational as this assertion is, even to other Democrats, one of the reasons for the illegal immigration surge recently cited by Harris in a Conference of the Americas speech is even more irrational.
Harris informed attendees, allegedly after almost two months of research, that a major cause is climate change. It is doubtful leaders of those countries south of our border with whom Harris is supposed to be meeting to identify root causes were able to keep a straight face upon hearing this. Her claim seems to be more of an effort to pave the way for Green New Deal spending initiatives detailed in the misnamed “Infrastructure” bill – a Green New Deal that, even if fully implemented, would barely change the Earth’s temperature.
An independent authority identifying root causes would be unlikely to list climate change. Humans occupy the harshest environments on planet Earth today, yet the only mass migrations we see seem to involve those seeking a better life – whether it is Middle Easterners escaping Islamic violence or Latin Americans seeking social benefits in the U.S.
A more rational motivator for the border surge is a new U.S. president, announcing he would open our borders, promising immigrants reparations, stimulus bill money, health care, education for their children, etc. This is as much, if not more, of a motivator triggering an immigrant flood as the 1849 California gold rush was – especially if one considers the latter required hard work to enjoy benefits while the former does not.
Harris did mention other factors as root causes including corruption, violence and poverty, lack of economic opportunity and the absence of good governance – all factors evolving from socialism, which Harris embraces. And, all these factors share a common trait with climate change – very little can be done do to address them short term, if at all, while the border surge problem requires immediate attention. Meanwhile, Biden intends to send $310 million in aid to Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, reallocating money from our own budgets to do so while, at the same time, taking money from health care to pay to illegal border crossers.
There was another dubious point Harris made in her speech. While citing immigrant families seek to escape the influence of drug cartels in their countries, she ignores the fact that those cartels now fill the security vacuum created by a reduced U.S. presence at our border. As a direct result of this, gangs like MS-13 bring in their “troops,” setting up a presence in other American cities while Mexican law enforcement refuses to even cooperate with U.S. law enforcement against the cartels.
Harris is in a “no win” situation, although Biden may provide her with a “miracle.” Just like God parted the Red Sea to allow Moses and his followers to cross, Biden may time his Title 42 border closure to coincide with a Harris visit so she can tout the party line of crisis, without risking the sight of hordes of illegal immigrants being seen in the background. There really is no other motivation for Biden to close it.
Written by Lt. Col. James Zumwalt
