Commentary
-
Our commentary partners will help you reach your own conclusions on complex topics.
The immigration issue is like a puzzle. It’s at once everywhere you look, yet also nowhere to be found. It’s everywhere. And then it pops up in news stories, town halls and polls that measure voter concerns. Yet it’s also nowhere in the chatter leading up to the 2022 midterm elections. Despite the fact that as recently as last fall, political observers predicted that it would be a top issue. Senator what was going on back then, in September 2021 10s of 1000s of asylum seekers from Haiti crossed the US Mexico border into Texas. This was an early test of President Joe Biden’s campaign promise to deliver a kinder and gentler immigration policy than the one former President Donald Trump had conjured up. Biden failed the Haitian test with flying colors, border patrol agents on horseback use what investigators would later find was, quote, unnecessary force in rounding up would be refugees. Biden turned away these poor souls relocating many of them not to Haiti, but to Mexico, all without a hearing.
The Haitian spectacle came on the heels of similar border runs by Central American asylum seekers under Trump and 2019. And under former President Barack Obama in 2014. By 2021, Americans were getting weary with what conservative podcasters and radio hosts inaccurately described as a quote open border. It was said that in 2022, voters would make their voices heard by punishing the party in power, ie Democrats. But last September was 10 months ago, which is the equivalent of several lifetimes in the world of politics and media.
Since then, Americans have seen inflation, high gas prices, I returned a COVID-19 a spike in crime, a worsening of the homeless crisis, and congressional hearings into whether Trump tried to subvert democracy on January 6 2021.
Clearly, there’s a lot happening in America. But one thing that isn’t happening is high unemployment. Quite the contrary, millions of workers left their jobs in the so called Great resignation, the country is blanketed and help wanted signs. Any racist, opportunistic or fear mongering politician who gave a speech today about how foreigners are supposedly taking American jobs would be laughed off the stage. The United States could actually use a few million more immigrants and refugees right about now to take jobs that Americans left or just won’t do.
Now, that’s only half the story. And southwest, the South and the Midwest. Immigration remains a big concern. People complain about all the time. One member of Congress even declared that in 2022, quote, every state is a border state. Ironically, the states that you hear the loudest complaints. Ironically, the states where you hear the loudest complaints are the same ones, where businesses and individuals are most addicted to immigrant labor, places like Missouri, Georgia, Kansas, or Arkansas. Oddly enough, these days, the concerns about the border aren’t focused on illegal immigrants as much as they are on illicit drugs. More and more Americans are getting sucked into the fantastical narrative that evil Mexican drug traffickers are corrupting innocent American teenagers by forcing them to swallow opioids laced with fentanyl. That claim is just about as far fetched as the line that somehow immigrants are stealing American jobs. If your kid falls prey to drug abuse, there are a lot of people you can blame. Starting with yourself, but Mexico, no way Jose. People make choices, sometimes bad ones, and they suffer consequences, sometimes terrible ones. Whether we’re talking about American’s thirst for workers, or drugs, the principle driving the whole thing is still the same. It’s called supply and demand. As long as we have demand someone’s going to step up but the supply
is a too much to ask the politician in either party every once in a while has the guts to say that to an angry crowd and a town hall sitting there with their arms folded, apparently so
in this country, we don’t have an immigration problem. It’s worse than that. We have a can’t talk honestly about immigration problem.
-
Trump supporters want to be victims of anti-white racism
The racial anxieties of conservative white Americans are certainly nothing new to U.S. history, but in recent years observers have warned of a range of factors that may be radicalizing right-leaning Americans into political violence and extremism. Donald Trump, in particular, often receives credit for normalizing this extremism for a new generation of Americans. Straight…
-
Texas is Hispanic, and that’s not going to change
Hispanic people now make up the largest ethnic group in Texas, according to the latest U.S. census data, and almost half of all minors in the state are Hispanic or Latino. This data feeds the fears of some right-wing Americans who believe in the “great replacement” theory. The theory states that non-white populations are displacing…
-
Liberal Americans are abandoning DEI
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) have emerged as popular values for many left-leaning Americans. These Americans celebrate certain events, such as Barack Obama’s victory as the first Black U.S. president, as historical achievements and milestones of forward progress over time. Straight Arrow News contributor Ruben Navarrette worries that these values are eroding on the left,…
-
GOP hypocrites ‘tough on crime’ while supporting criminal Trump
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, conservative politicians won campaigns in part by positioning themselves as “tough on crime” and talking about “the rule of law.” Later, during the Trump administration, it was the Democrats who positioned themselves as the defenders of law and order. Now, despite fielding a presidential candidate who faces 91 felony criminal…
-
Democrats too soft on Biden’s poor treatment of immigrants
Republicans have attacked U.S. southern border security from every angle. What’s sometimes missing from the public view of this conversation are the criticisms of Biden’s own fellow Democrats, many of whom argue that the president is being far too tough with immigrants who dream of living in the United States. Straight Arrow News contributor Ruben…
Latest Opinions
-
Biden uses NFL draft ad to try to connect with young voters
-
Powering pot: Energy for US cannabis industry could electrify 13.5M homes
-
Allies plan for Trump to have more control over interest rates
-
FDA: Bird flu found in 1/5 commercial milk samples, suggests greater spread
-
China permanently deploys warships to second overseas base
Popular Opinions
-
In addition to the facts, we believe it’s vital to hear perspectives from all sides of the political spectrum.