Democrats and Republicans reveal their true intentions on the border

On Thursday we were yet again reminded that those in power could not care any less about actually solving anything for the sake of improving the country. Instead, they appear to be entirely motivated by what is in their best interest. A bipartisan bill on border security failed again to gain the required number of votes to advance with most Republicans voting against it.

The Democrats claim that this failure demonstrates that Republicans are not serious about fixing the border “crisis” and instead simply yielding to Trump’s campaign needs, while Republicans claim that the bill does not go far enough and that Democrats are simply unable to secure the border. 

Their true motives are a secret to no one and they are barely even trying to hide it. Democrats knew that Republicans would block the bill and therefore reveal to everyone that they are not serious about the issue. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and company know that it’s an election year and that blocking the bill would help them paint Biden and the rest of the Democrats as the perpetuators of the problem – a problem which polls show is among the most important issues to voters.

For years Democrats told us that there was no crisis at the border. It looks like they’ve suddenly changed their minds. The reason for the change is that voters now care about border security and Trump can hold this against Biden during their campaigns. 

This game has been going on for a long time. Back in 2013 during President Obama’s tenure, Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats voted for a bill that funded the construction of 700 miles of border fencing. In 2019 when President Donald Trump was attempting to secure funding for a border wall, Democrats responded with outrage. Nancy Pelosi called the proposed wall, “immoral”. Now the Democrats are attempting to pass a bill that includes funding for a wall. Is it immoral or not Nancy?

There’s nothing wrong with changing your position on a problem if you’ve acquired good reasons to do so – this is precisely what a rational person does. But this flip-flopping is obviously motivated by whatever happens to be politically beneficial to these people at different times. 

It’s safe to say that politicians will take whatever position they need to take in order to retain their influence. Republicans have demonstrated to us that this applies to them equally well.

In 2007 Republicans refused to pass an immigration overhaul package that would have implemented new border restrictions because it included a pathway to citizenship for millions that were already in the US. Later, during the Obama administration, a bill was proposed that would have included stricter immigration controls and protections for American jobs from illegal immigrants. Yet again it failed to gain Republican support, this time in the House. 

Now for the second time this year Republicans blocked a bill that contained much of what they had been calling for. For a party whose identity is tied to curbing illegal immigration and being tough on border security, they sure seem to oppose greater border security curiously often. 

When considering the decisions made by both Democrats and Republicans, this starts to look like a completely unnecessary and manufactured problem and it’s not the only topic of interest to the public where politicians have done this. 

The funniest part of it all? There isn’t even a real crisis at the border. It was manufactured by both sides of the political aisle for their own gain. According to a report by the CATO Institute, the number of immigrants successfully evading border patrol is down by 70% since the COVID-era Title 42 expired. In 2006 45% of illegal immigrants were able to avoid arrest compared to 13% so far in 2024.

There has been an increase in illegal immigration but the surge has been exaggerated. More of the immigrants that would have avoided arrest are now being caught or are surrendering to border agents, giving a deceptive impression of the extent of the spike.

Moreover, research has repeatedly demonstrated that immigrants, including undocumented immigrants are less likely to be incarcerated or convicted of a crime than US-born citizens. 

Providing undocumented immigrants with citizenship would increase our economy’s GDP by trillions. Our leaders meanwhile are too concerned with playing political games and preserving their own power to improve the lives of the people they claim to represent.