Cal Thomas - Semantics matter

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, August 5th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. Good morning to you! I’m Mary Reichard.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: And I’m Paul Butler. Commentator Cal Thomas on the dereliction of duty by the federal government.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: Semantics are important for how we communicate and define issues. The one who controls words controls the narrative.

Take the words migrant and invader. Is there a difference? It’s all in how they are perceived, and the effect their illegal border crossings have on the United States.

Here’s one definition of invasion: “The entrance or advent of anything troublesome or harmful…”

Does anyone want to argue that the tsunami of humanity coming across our southern border is not troublesome or harmful? Two motels in La Joya, Texas, are housing migrants who have tested positive for COVID-19. Others are getting bus tickets to fan out across the country. How many of them are carrying the virus?

Instead of securing the border, the Biden administration’s Justice Department sued Texas and its governor, Greg Abbott, “seeking to block an executive order that restricts the transport of migrants through the state and authorizes state troopers to pull over vehicles suspected of doing so.” On Tuesday, a federal judge temporarily blocked Abbott’s order. Is the administration trying to encourage more lawbreakers to come? And coming they are by the tens of thousands. Is there to be no end?

What about the rights of American citizens and their property along the border? Texas rancher Brent Smith, who is also an attorney for Kinney County, told Fox News he sustained thousands of dollars in damage to his property from trespassing migrants. The administration has money to help the migrants. Who will help Smith and other property owners?

Gov. Abbott has ordered state police to arrest migrants as trespassers, but they are likely to have only minimal success due to the overwhelming numbers. He also ordered chain-link fence installed along some of the most porous sections of the border. But experience shows that won’t help much.

The problem as well as the solution begins at the top, with the Biden administration. Despite Biden’s claims that entire families who seek to cross the border illegally are being turned back, most are not.

It’s no accident. By now it can only be called administration policy. The Biden administration appears to want to flood America with people from other countries—Central America, Mexico, even Africa.

How much more—how many more—can we take?

A rose by any other name is still a rose. And an invasion by any other name is still an invasion. We cannot sustain a country with what amounts to an open border no matter what it is called.

I’m Cal Thomas.

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