Cal Thomas: Keeping the border on the ballot

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, February 8th. 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. Up next: the border bill. WORLD commentator Cal Thomas brings us a post-mortem report.

CAL THOMAS: The satirical news site Babylon Bee mocked the current Senate immigration bill with this headline: “New Senate Anti-Murder Bill Caps Murders At 5,000 Per Day.”

The border bill may be dead now, but the Babylon Bee article points out that even if the bill passes both chambers and is signed by the president, it would still allow some migrants to enter the country against the law. It also begs this question: Since President Biden has not enforced immigration laws that have been on the books for years, why would he enforce a new law when he could flood the country with potentially new Democrat voters and citizens?

Serious arguments are made for and against the Senate bill. A Wall Street Journal editorial effectively said something is better than nothing: “Do Republicans want to better secure the U.S. border, or do they want to keep what has become an open sore festering for another year as an election issue? That’s the choice.”

Against the bill is the conservative Heritage Foundation. In a piece published in The Hill, the writers say: “The reported deal does not stop the border crisis that Biden has created, and which he could end tomorrow with a stroke of his pen. In fact, this deal would make matters worse. tying the hands of future administrations to stop it.” They also claim it would permit “up to 150,000 illegal crossings per month … before a new ‘shutdown’ authority could be invoked.”

Heritage further argues: “If passed, the bill would allow the Biden administration to again fund ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions and NGOs that have been facilitating mass illegal immigration, using federal grants provided by the Departments of Homeland Security, State, Justice, and Health and Human Services. The bill funds and facilitates more mass illegal immigration. It is a disaster for border security.”

Democrats say Republicans want the border open to use as a political weapon against Biden in the November election. The opposite may also be true, that Democrats want the bill to take immigration off the table in November.

60 Minutes reported Sunday that Chinese migrants are the fastest growing group crossing from Mexico into the U.S., “through a 4-foot gap at the end of a border fence 60 miles east of San Diego.” In 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that 37,000 Chinese citizens were apprehended crossing illegally from Mexico into the U.S. Many of the migrants said they were escaping China’s repressive political climate and sluggish economy, but who knows if that is true? Could a spy or two be among them?

Solving the border problem is not complicated, though politicians have made it so, as is usually the case when government is involved. President Biden already has the authority to finish the border wall and restore the Remain in Mexico policy of the Trump administration. But like many politicians, he’s far more interested in political theater than actually solving problems.

I’m Cal Thomas.

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