Back To The Border
They’re at it again. April, May and June were a few months of relative quietude on the topic of border security. When the caravans began to get violent and “asylum seekers” began to clash with police along Mexico’s southern border, and then, even in Tijuana and other cities on Mexico’s northern border, media coverage surreptitiously dried up. The video footage of “peaceful” migrants throwing rocks and stones, breaking down fences and clashing with police just didn’t mesh with the media’s preferred narrative that the migrants are downtrodden but saintly hopefuls ready to embrace the American Dream, work hard, save money, buy a house and send their children to Harvard. But, after a few months out of the spotlight, border issues have resurfaced. Renewed calls for “investigations” of migrant holding facilities reappeared in the nightly news. Claims that those facilities were “concentration camps” were, incredulously, bandied about. Misleading photographs of a stylishly attired Alexandria Ocasio Cortez “crying” over “caged migrants” made the rounds. (Additional photos, however, showed that what she really was crying over was a PARKING LOT!
For a full discussion of this skullduggery please see my essay: A Modern Day Evita Peron, posted 6/29/19).
So, dear readers, in the wake of resurgent border crisis narratives, there is much to discuss.
The first thing we need to do is to debunk the claim that our migrant facilities are “concentration camps.” Although I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the migrant facilities are substandard by contemporary American norms, it’s important to keep in mind that those facilities were, after all, designed and built for migrants of yesteryear who were almost exclusively itinerant laborers, overwhelmingly male, and not accustomed to the luxuries available at, say, the Holiday Inn. As spartan as our detention facilities may be, I think they would compare quite favorably to what the migrants had for “housing” during their month long trek across Mexico. And, remember, US policy is such that ANY time a migrant requests repatriation, it is granted IMMEDIATELY. Continued stays in our facilities occur ONLY on a voluntary basis for those that insist upon seeking asylum status. And if one reflects on the fact that true concentration camp prisoners are, invariably, brought to those camps AGAINST THEIR WILL (by the SS, the KGB and other nefarious henchmen), and that those prisoners could, at NO point in time, request release or repatriation, it should be quite clear that comparisons to “concentration camps” are, simply, ABSURD.
Next, we hear again and again about how migrant children are “ripped” from the arms of their loving parents by cruel and uncaring border agents. Although familial separation is, indeed, tragic, not everything here is what it seems. Suspicions of falsely claimed familial relationships arose when border agents found that a significant number of migrant children didn’t know the correct name of their “parents” when asked. Although this might seem hard to believe, I would refer the skeptical reader to a report by Richard Lowry published in the National Review on May 28, 2018, and accessed by the following link:
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/05/illegal-immigration-enforcement-separating-kids-at-border/
There are also a number of relevant reports from the Center for Immigration Studies (cis.org) and even one from the New York Times in April (www.nytimes.com). These reports document and confirm what many of the border agents already know: human trafficking, especially of children, is a HUGE problem at the border. Apparently, extremely poor parents, mainly from Guatemala and Honduras, NOT Mexico, turn their children over, often to strangers, to make the arduous journey along the axis of Mexico. This is sometimes motivated by a desire to free their children from poverty, but often is done simply for profit. The children are told they will be brought to “a better life” in America and that there are many wonders that await them here. But, why is this distressing phenomenon so common? The simple answer is that the children are VALUABLE. How so? It turns out that migrant children became valuable because of a US Supreme Court Decision, referred to as the Flores Decision, that was handed down in 1993 (Reno v. Flores, U.S. 292, 1993): The decision stipulated that migrant families with children can be detained for no longer than 20 days, and must then be released. To qualify for this early release under the Flores verdict, however, the trick is that you HAVE TO HAVE A CHILD that is either a son or daughter or that can pose as one. Accordingly, both migrants and traffickers use children as a means by which they can invoke Flores protections. While it is true that, after release, some children go on to a safe and secure interval in the United States while their father/mother’s case is adjudicated, a large number, however, are “lost” to the system. And, some of the detained children termed “lost” by our media are NOT truly lost; once the children have triggered the early release of their “parents”, those “parents” do not pick up the child and are never seen or heard from again! And, those children are the LUCKY ones. Some of the less fortunate children, especially older girls, ARE picked up by traffickers posing as parents and end up in prostitution or sexual slavery. A firm separation policy at our border would prevent such horrific abuse because the trafficker would invariably loose their “booty”, thereby eliminating the possibility of profit. Of course, none of these sad facts ever reaches the consciousness of our genuinely concerned and sympathetic populace due to dereliction of duty by an extremely partisan, and, apparently, rather dim media.
The next point worth considering has to do with the sheer magnitude of the problem. The media tries to portray the substandard migrant detention conditions as America’s fault, or even more to the point, President Trump’s fault directly. But what isn’t mentioned is that our capacity to humanely handle the huge volume of humanity pouring across our border is being stretched to the limits. In May, 2019 alone, there were one hundred and thirty THOUSAND migrants! Our laws, and our facilities, were never designed to handle this type of volume.
Now, there are those that view the the border crisis in moral or religious terms. The argument is made that it’s a moral duty of Christians to be “good Samaritan’s” and care for all those in need. This, of course, is commendable, but to what extent is it feasible? The Department Of Economic and Social Affairs of the Secretary Of the United Nations (www.un.org) has determined that, last year alone, there were two hundred and forty three MILLION migrants world wide! The preferred destination for almost all of these, when asked, is the US, which already takes the largest share of migrants as it is. Were we to take ALL of those in need, the result would be ruination. The Pew Research Foundation, in 2018, estimated that there were 51 million Catholic adults living in the US (www.pewresearch.org). So, doing the math, if, we were to take all 243,000,000 migrants (243 x 10 to the sixth power, divided by 51 x 10 to the sixth power = 243/51 = 4.8), that would mean that every Catholic American adult would have to care for nearly FIVE migrants EACH. Even if you expand the inclusion parameters beyond Catholicism and consider all Christians in the formula (that number, in 2018, being 173 million adults in the US, again according to Pew Research) the result (243/173 = 1.4) is that EVERY TWO CHRISTIANS would have to care for THREE migrants. And, although it is seldom mentioned, migrants are often illiterate, nearly always uneducated or undereducated, usually don’t speak English, and, as a consequence of all of the above factors, are unlikely to assimilate into our society. As a consequence, they are very likely to require financial support from the government for years if not indefinitely. While it is true that Christianity praises the Good Samaritan, Jesus DIDN’T direct the Samaritan to take care of the injured man, AND four others, for LIFE.
And, while we are on the subject of the religious and moral aspects of our border crisis, it is worthwhile noting that one of the most vociferous opponents of the border wall, Pope Francis, lives, in fact, in the Vatican, behind a wall that is 60 feet high is some places. This hypocrisy, apparently, is lost on him. And, Francis’ engagement with the problem has been especially disappointing. A year or so ago, an ambassador from the Vatican addressed a meeting of Catholic lay intellectuals in New York City that had been organized by the First Things journal. The Ambassador, who was something of an apologist, explained to a rather restive audience (Catholic lay intellectuals are not particularly enamored of the current Pontiff) that Pope Francis’ main priority was to end human trafficking. I find this contention to be highly ironic, however. If stopping human trafficking is your goal, you NEED borders, walls, checkpoints, data banks, investigatory prerogatives and strict enforcement of immigration laws, all of which Francis rejects!
Another important issue to consider is the question of what is driving the whole caravan phenomenon. Dear reader, have you ever wondered how thousands of migrants who purportedly have no financial means what-so-ever and little in the way of provisions, are able to travel a thousand miles to reach our border? The answer, of course, is that they are supported the entire way. By whom, you might ask? “Charitable organizations”, it is said. Which “charitable organizations?” you may further inquire. Well, it’s difficult to know exactly, because, although Mexico has, under pressure from President Trump, recently agreed to freeze the bank accounts of the “charitable organizations” involved, the Mexican government has demurred when it comes to identifying who’s accounts they’ve frozen. Suspicions run high that George Soros and his ilk are involved. And, don’t assume that Soros is some great humanitarian; he made his billions by manipulating the exchange rates of foriegn currency, using market share to “corner the market” on vulnerable currencies to essentially rip off poor countries that can least afford it.
Another little known fact is that, at the beginning of the Trump Presidency, migration rates were actually very low, simply because potential migrants had very low expectations of success. However, since late 2016, ex president Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and others, speaking in a number of high visibility venues, proclaimed to the world that our borders were essentially “open.” At the same time, activists in Honduras and Guatemala got the ball rolling again with tantalizing promises of success, support and, sometimes, even money. Migrant border crossings soared once again. As mentioned above, in May, 2019, alone, there were one hundred and thirty THOUSAND. (data from the US Customs And Border Protection). The whole phenomena has the stench of a “set up” whereby leftists victimized the destitute and played well meaning Americans and a frightfully uncritical media as patsies in hopes of changing the fabric of American society into the socialist state they so earnestly desire.
And, since the American media refuses to accurately portray the shocking reality of what is actually going on in the caravans and at the border, Americans are generally unaware of the sordid situation that exists there. Several “watchdog agencies” have confirmed that there has been terrible violence and frequent rape. Doctors Without Borders estimates that TWO OUT OF THREE migrants has been the victim of violence by the time they reach our border. Amnesty International estimates the frequency of migrant women rape to be EIGHTY PERCENT!…. EIGHTY PERCENT!… And, in case you might think that this might be an exaggeration, similar estimates were released by the United Nations University (unu.edu). Fact Check also looked into the claim. Their report by Editor David Sivak from 4/9/2018 was: “Are 80% of migrant women raped on their journey to the US? Verdict:TRUE.”
(checkyourfact.com). In addition to all of the above there are many other terrible consequences of our ill conceived border policies, many of which I have discussed in previous essays (See “The Compassionate Wall”, 4/27/18).
In conclusion, the ONE thing I think is clear about the crisis on our southern border is that there is SO MUCH more to it than meets the eye. And none of it good.