Response to The US/Mexico Border Situation on Leo's blog

[Hardkill]

I've always been for strong border security, even as a liberal/progressive myself. In fact, the entire border security of the US absolutely needs a serious upgrade. Unfortunately, ever since the 1990s, the unbelievable amount of growing partisan gridlock and right-wing extremism in Congress hasn't allowed the government to provide Homeland Security the funds and resources it desperately needs to update and fortify all of our country's borders to optimal levels.

In any case, it's true that they was an abnormal amount of illegal immigrants trying to cross over the southern border from early 2021 to early 2023. However, that has no longer been case since mid-May of this year.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/26/us/politics/immigration-illegal-border-crossings.html#:~:text=Illegal border crossings by migrants,said in a recent statement.

If the number of illegal crossings per day go up during the second half of this year, then it will probably increase by only a small amount. Title 42 from the Trump administration was a failed border policy, whereas Biden's newest border policies have been much more successful with securing our borders. Plus, at the same time, the Biden administration has been doing everything within its power to significantly open more legal pathways for more immigrants.

Also, given the US's historically low immigration rate since the 2010s, the country desperately needs Congress to pass some kind of immigration reform to allow the most amount of new legal pathways for many more immigrants who want to live and work in America. This isn't just about the idea that America is supposed to be a country that welcome all foreigners to work and live in our country or having compassion for foreign refugees. The US economy would be significantly larger and stronger and there wouldn't be a labor shortage if we greatly increased our immigration rate. 

https://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economic-letter/2023/february/role-of-immigration-in-us-labor-market-tightness/#:~:text=The flow of immigrants into,in the U.S. labor force.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/05/opinion/great-resignation-employment.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/13/opinion/how-immigrants-are-saving-the-economy.html

Edited August 8, 2023 by Hardkill

[Leo Gura]

Obviously serious reform and infrastructure is needed. I am in favor of locking down the boarder but having a generous legal miragtion policy. This is a good compromise. Frankly the boarder issue should be one of the easier issues to fix. We have much more difficult issues where compromise is much harder to achieve.

Edited August 8, 2023 by Leo Gura

[Hardkill]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

Obviously serious reform and infrastructure is needed. I am in favor of locking down the boarder but having a generous legal miragtion policy. This is a good compromise. Frankly the boarder issue should be one of the easier issues to fix. We have much more difficult issues where compromise is much harder to achieve.

Reagan and the Republicans in Congress passed a bipartisan immigration reform bill in 1986 and then passed another one during H.W. Bush's presidency in 1990. Each of those pieces of legislation consisted of provisions that both improved border security and opened more legal pathways for more immigrants.

It's maddening that ever since 1990, the Republicans have committed to killing every single immigration reform bill presented in Congress instead of making any reasonable compromise with the Democrats on this very very important issue like they used to.

Edited August 8, 2023 by Hardkill

[Leo Gura]

I think that Dems are very guilty in this situation. Dems refuse to take boarder security seriously. This is one of the few area where Dems are making big mistakes.

Edited August 8, 2023 by Leo Gura

[Hardkill]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

I think that Dems are very guilty in this situation. Dems refuse to take boarder security seriously. This is one of the few area where Dems are making big mistakes.

There have been plenty of moderate Democrats in America such as Obama, Biden, Schumer, Jeffries, Pelosi, Tester, Kelly, etc. who have been all for improving our border security. Besides, progressives such as Kyle Kulinski and Cenk have also said that they support border security for America.

How have the Republicans done a better job of actually fixing this situation themselves? As we all know, most of their policies or ideas are so unpopular and so archaic that they never worked. Plus, most of the Republicans in Congress either are simply too obstinate or have some kind of mental illness or are too dumb to serve in Congress. The GOP knows this deep down, but they just don't want to accept that and instead keep doubling down on blaming the Dems for every problem that happens in America.

Trump's border policies btw were actually a net negative for America and didn't even really significantly improve the border security. He just happened to be president during an era of relative peace and prosperity which he inherited from Obama until he fucked it all up by the end of his presidency.

 

Edited August 8, 2023 by Hardkill