States step up as Biden ignores border crisis he created
President Biden’s recalcitrance on the border crisis has prompted leaders on the state level to tackle the border crisis themselves.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has pledged to continue construction of the border barrier begun under the Trump administration and has allocated $250 million in state funds as a down payment. This is in addition to a state of emergency declaration Abbott declared, mobilizing a wide variety of state law enforcement and emergency personnel to secure Texas’ border with Mexico.Nearby states are also pitching in, with Florida and Nebraska announcing that they will send law enforcement personnel to Texas and Arizona to help with enforcement in the face of the massive wave of illegal alien traffic.
America’s porous southern border leaves citizens vulnerable to a variety of threats ranging from the spread of Wuhan Coronavirus to the potential smuggling of weapons of mass destruction. At the same time, the border crisis is proving a boon for the outlaw cartels that traffic in illegal drugs and human beings.
Hopefully, additional states will provide more assistance to secure the border for the safety of all Americans. Although states, either singularly or operating on mutual aid agreements, lack the massive resources and personnel of the federal government, federal resources are meaningless absent a sane strategy at the federal level, which the Biden Administration refuses to implement.
What makes this all the more infuriating is the fact that none of this had to happen. Biden is personally responsible for the human misery and danger along the U.S. border with Mexico.
Almost immediately after assuming office, President Biden halted construction of the border wall, a clear signal of his intentions when it came to border security and immigration policy. He also terminated the Trump Administration’s successful “remain in Mexico” policy, which prevented illegal immigrants from abusing the country’s asylum system.
But his words shortly thereafter are what were most damaging in terms of spreading utter chaos. Biden issued a welcoming statement for illegals crossing the border and said that the U.S. would re-unite children with their parents.
The “coyotes” (as cartel human traffickers are called) immediately seized on that to convince parents in Latin America to allow them to take their children on the dangerous cross border trek, surmising that the children would be the parents’ free pass into the U.S. And thus the border crisis began.
Despite this, the Biden administration is on the cusp of doubling down on these policies by ending deportations of illegal alien families, a move that they admit might result in another increase in illegal alien traffic. The Biden Administration has even threatened to sue Texas for its efforts.
FBI Director Christopher Wray recently warned that the border situation has resulted in cartel activity spilling over into the U.S., something that is extremely troublesome, given the lawlessness and instability the well-financed and heavily-armed cartels have created in Mexico.
For months, the crisis has been allowed to fester. Biden put Vice President Kamala Harris in charge of the border, but she has clearly sought to steer clear of the issue as much as possible, becoming combative when asked why she has never bothered to even visit the border to see for herself what is happening.
There is more to the border vulnerability than meets the eye. An undefended border opens us up to threats that might otherwise not exist and increases the breadth and depth of existing threats.
Back in March, four Yemeni nationals on a terrorist watch list were apprehended at the border. Not everyone who comes across from Mexico is an unattended child or a migrant worker. U.S. Border Patrol admits that they are unable to estimate how large a percentage of illegal crossers go uncaught, but they know it’s a substantial percentage. If they caught 4, how many made it through?
While the media portrays a border crisis dominated by unaccompanied minors, they ignore the more sordid realities of the undefended border, which include crossings by sex offenders, the potential jihadist terrorists and members of bloody street gangs such as MS-13.
They always ignore what is smuggled across the border besides people, including dangerous Chinese lab-made opiates such as Fentanyl. Fentanyl, mixed into illegal drugs such as heroin, has resulted in hundreds of thousands of American deaths from overdoses in recent years. In 2020 there were 4 times as many Americans killed by drug overdoses (81,000) compared to gun homicides (19,379). Since the Biden border crisis began, the amount of fentanyl seized at the border has more than tripled. The fentanyl threat goes way beyond a conventional illegal drug threat or public health crisis. For years, U.S. defense and intelligence officials have expressed concerns about fentanyl’s potential use as a weapon of mass destruction.
It is true that some of these matters are national security issues more properly handled by federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies with the relevant skillsets. But these issues impact the lives of Americans in direct and harmful ways, from murders and sex offenses committed by illegal aliens to the increase in gang crimes, burglaries and overdoses, due in large part to the drug trade and subsequent drug abuse.
These are challenges state governments find themselves forced to address in part because of the federal government’s negligence. While governors and state legislatures stepping up to protect their citizens should be commended, let’s not forget whose fault it is they were put into this position in the first place.
