Cal Thomas: A bad move at the border

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, October 20th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Immigration at the United States’ Southern border has been a problem for a while now. Commentator Cal Thomas says President Biden’s recent decision to deport Venezuelans isn’t likely to help.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: After refusing to do anything substantive about stopping the flood of migrants entering the country illegally, President Biden has acted, sort of. Only a cynic would say his order to deport certain Venezuelans, but not those from 40 other nations, is timed to influence the November election.

Call me a cynic.

The administration plans to invoke Title 42, a rule created during the Trump Administration and one Biden denounced for inflicting “cruelty and exclusion” on those fleeing the government of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. The new/old policy is intended to block single adult male Venezuelans from entering when they claim asylum.

That won’t stop them or anyone else from crossing the Rio Grande River and other points. Suppose the “single adult male” claims to be married? What if he is carrying a baby he claims is his? Most immigrants lack documentation so how will any of their statements be validated?

Customs and Border Protection says it encountered nearly 204 thousand people at the border last month and more than two million in all of fiscal 2022. This doesn’t count the “gotaways,” estimated by Border Patrol to be nearly 600 thousand.

George Rodriguez is an American of Mexican decent who lives in San Antonio and regularly visits local migrant centers. He also worked in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations on community relations and immigration outreach.

Rodriguez, who vehemently opposes the “open border” policy of the Biden Administration, thinks his fellow Americans should look beyond the crisis to the future impact of massive migration. These include, he says, a continuing disrespect for the law; the burden on the public school system, students and taxpayers; the need for special education and Spanish speaking teachers for immigrant children; welfare, disability payments and health and medical services.

Rodriguez worries that many of those who have entered the country illegally will not be fully assimilated. He fears that should Republicans regain power in Congress and the presidency they may not finish the border wall and deport those who broke the law to get here for fear of the media calling them “racists” and “inhumane.”

He also is critical of two major Spanish speaking television networks--Telemundo and Univision--which, he says, defend those coming across the border and influence migrants already here.

Rodriguez has questions he thinks must be addressed. These include whether law enforcement will be allowed to track alien criminals? Will the cartels be designated terrorist organizations because of the Fentanyl drug pouring into the country that is killing especially younger Americans? Will some district attorneys continue to put “social justice” ahead of public safety? Will unskilled, unemployed aliens turn to crime like the Salvadoran gangs of the 1980s?

All of these–and more–are good questions. Will Republicans answer them in ways that in the words of the Constitution “provide for the common defense [and] promote the general welfare”?

President Biden’s cynical response to the border crisis by ordering out single male Venezuelans will not stop migrants coming from 40 other countries.

I’m Cal Thomas.

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