The Border Is In Crisis Says ….. Vox?

Of course, Vox’s David Lind attempts at times to blame this on Other Things (and throw in some TDS), but, at the end of the day we have

The border is in crisis. Here’s how it got this bad.

Donald Trump’s constant temper tantrums about the US/Mexico border have become the background noise of his administration. Even as he reaches for more and more drastic threats to try to “stop” the flow of unauthorized migrants into the US — like the threat of a 5 percent tariff on all goods coming into the US from Mexico — it seems that the public (including fellow Republican politicians) have an ever harder time taking him seriously.

But as Trump has raged, something genuinely unprecedented has started happening at the border.

The past several months have seen a huge spike in unauthorized migration, especially of families, into the US.

The government’s capacity to handle an influx of large groups of children and families was already under serious strain at the end of 2018. By March, politicians of both parties were recognizing it as a humanitarian crisis. And the numbers of people coming just keep rising — with 132,887 migrants apprehended by Border Patrol after crossing the US/Mexico border (committing the misdemeanor of illegal entry) in May 2019.

This isn’t a manufactured crisis, or a politically engineered one, as some Democrats and progressives have argued. If it were, it would be easier to solve.

What’s happening at the border is the result of a regional crisis in which — if current rates continue — close to 1 percent of the entire population of Guatemala and Honduras will attempt to immigrate to the US this year. The Mexican government, meanwhile, is vacillating between humanitarian rhetoric and militarized crackdowns, US border officials are openly begging for help, and Trump himself is throwing the mother of all temper tantrums.

So, pretty much a crisis. Now, the article does point out that the number of illegals is actually lower than the average for the 20th Century, it is higher than anytime since 2007. But, here’s a big kicker: the number of people coming with their “families”

The US border enforcement system is built to apprehend people who are trying to sneak into the US, and return them to their home country as quickly as possible.

For most of US history, apprehended migrants were just informally returned to Mexico. In the mid-2000s, the US started formally deporting apprehended migrants instead — using “expedited removal,” which allowed people who got caught entering the US to get deported without going before an immigration judge. Typically, a migrant would be apprehended by Border Patrol officials, transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody within 72 hours, and deported once a deportation order could be signed.

But there are extra legal protections built into US law and policy for asylum seekers — who can’t simply be deported — and for vulnerable groups, including children and families, who can’t simply be detained.

We used to catch them and deport them back immediately. No fuss, no muss, just “goodbye”. Now, they all claim asylum, so the claims have to be processes, which often means letting them go on their own recognizance and hoping they’ll show up to the hearing.

One big difference between then an now: the border jumpers back then were mostly looking for work and/or to be part of the American experience. While some are certainly looking for work now, it seems that those coming illegally this century, and certainly over the past few years, are not looking to be a part of America, they’re looking for America to simply take care of them. You aren’t hearing or reading quotes about how much these people love America, what America stands for. They mostly aren’t learning English to be able to communicate. They expect the Government to take care of them. Feed, house, educate, give money, give healthcare, clothe, you name it. Dependents of the state. They want to take advantage of America’s generosity. They demand this.

If you don’t love America, and aren’t trying to be a part of America, if you’re demanding America change for you, don’t come, especially either illegally or showing up at the border demanding asylum. Go away.