Cal Thomas: Down to the wire

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, January 25th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. On Monday, the Supreme Court weighed in on an emergency injunction involving razor wire at the southern border, but WORLD commentator Cal Thomas explains why that battle is far from over.

CAL THOMAS: The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that federal agents can cut razor wire installed along the Texas-Mexico border while a lawsuit over the wire continues. The vote was 5-4, with two conservative justices joining the three liberals in the majority opinion. The State of Texas had installed the wire as a deterrent to illegal immigration, and the head of the Border Patrol union spoke to reporters in favor of the installation, but that apparently doesn’t matter to the court.

The emergency appeal of a lower court ruling didn’t require the justices to give an explanation for their votes. But it’s likely the majority voted against Texas because they felt the Constitution grants power to the federal government over individual states when it comes to border control. The obvious question, which the court did not address: why is the federal government not enforcing immigration laws which migrants are breaking to enter the country?

Suppose a Mexican army–no, forget an army–suppose a ragtag bunch of drug dealers decided to invade Texas, and the governor acted to stop them including installing more razor wire. Then suppose the Biden administration did nothing to stop them? Would the court be OK with that? The effect is the same as if an army of any kind was crossing the border.

A statement from White House spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez is laughable: “Texas’ political stunts, like placing razor wire near the border, simply makes it harder and more dangerous for frontline personnel to do their jobs.” Except, as anyone can plainly see in pictures of thousands of migrants streaming across the border, frontline personnel are not doing their jobs because the Biden administration won’t let them.

After months of denial, President Biden recently stated the obvious when he said that the border is not secure. If his previous statements weren’t lies, we need a new definition of that word.

Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott said in response to the court ruling that the razor wire is an “effective deterrent” to the illegal crossings and “I will continue to defend Texas’ constitutional authority to secure the border.” Local police and Texas Department of Public Safety officers have been arresting migrants on trespassing charges, but many migrants will be handled by Immigration and Customs Enforcement which is likely to continue releasing them into the country.

That this already is a major issue in this year’s presidential race is clear. According to a new Harvard CAPS-Harris poll “More voters pointed to immigration than to inflation as a top policy concern. The survey found that 35 percent of respondents listed immigration as their paramount concern among an array of issues, with inflation in a close second, named by 32 percent of respondents.”

Beware Democrats. You are on the wrong side of this issue.

I’m Cal Thomas.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.