Borders, Children & the Politics of Logic
How to restore civil discourse in an age of identity politics, government expansion and a pandemic is the question of the hour. Words carry small oceans on their backs, and in a country where Cardi B’s WAP is the song of 2021 (just look at TikTok), language is political. For those citizens befuddled by aggressive protests, civil liberties violations and crippled commerce- caution! Adolph Hitler said, “Demoralize the enemy from within by surprise, terror, sabotage, assassination. This is the war of the future.” Quite apropos.
A global pandemic expanded federal authority, eclipsed civil liberties, canceled culture, unschooled children and killed over half a million Americans. The legacy of this historic, unprecedented moment will be far more painful down the road than living through it. Today, the GDP to total debt ratio is at 146%- a point unseen in US history- while the greatest tax increase in sixty years awaits Congressional approval on the tail end of 2020, a year when work was stymied. Today is actually quite scary, especially as Russia builds troops at the border of Ukraine and China colonizes the third world with its one road, one belt model. Meanwhile, the US border overflows with migrants, Dr. Seuss is racist and people hoard hand sanitizer and wear not one but three masks. What is happening?
Adding insult to injury, American politicians gaslight anyone with a shred of logic while implementing misguided policies, capitalizing on identity politics and promoting utterly illogical ideas. The border debacle is the best example.
First, it is clear that what is happening at the border is bad… very, very bad. The first real problem: children- whether accompanied or not- sit unchaperoned in rooms waiting for whatever fate is dished out. They are victims in a large scheme and in some cases, pawns in a drug war. Not only are they detained, the two thrown over the wall this week remind Americans that someone took that 3 and 5 year old from Ecuador, passed them through Central America to Mexico and then tossed them over a wall assuming an American system on the other side would feed, change, hug and maybe assimilate them. Future Dreamers? How lucky that a border guard observed the act, otherwise who knows what might have happened.
This is not okay. US immigration policy seems to wait until after the fact to deal with problems. Poor border agents. Handling it in the way it appears to be handled is akin to stopping a sex trafficker after watching the victim get abused then paying for the therapy, medications and housing to help that victim. Why not destroy the trafficker? Why is the US NOT doing this?
The volume of children is the second real problem. Immigration is a process, but when migrants enter without going through the legal channels other immigrants observe, it creates a privileged system for those crossing illegally. With the current preoccupation with privilege in the US, this seems really dualistic and ironic. Moreover, the massive pressure this border surge (or crisis, debacle, problem)places on local social services cannot be underestimated. Medical, education, housing, police and other basic services are utilized by these immigrants, and the cost- especially for education and social services- is expensive. Migrants do not come here because there is no social net, otherwise, they would stay in their own countries. If a baby is born on US soil, the parent is entitled to all of the benefits of Medicaid, housing, education, transportation, health services and support given to that baby.
This system does not exist elsewhere, and to claim migrants do not use this system is disingenuous. And, they immediately qualify to work. Ice can’t remove those processed unless they commit a felony. How to manage this cost and care for the human on the end of the spectrum is a real crisis at the local level, a problem trapped beneath a federal policy that is in every way flawed. The worst part is the denial of it, and the blame game volley that forgets humans sit beneath silver blankets waiting to be processed. Why there is not an immediate meeting with Central and South American leadership to deal with this is the question of the hour #2.
The third REALLY BIG PROBLEM: the persistence of Covid-19. National and state response to this plague demonstrates the void between federal mandates and local realities, and in Texas, Arizona and New Mexico — oops AND CALIFORNIA- this is painful. In most states, Covid-19 restrictions remain in place, yet migrants are being released into communities with positive Covid-19 tests. A recent report indicates that approximately 10% of individuals released from migrant facilities into the US are infected. As citizens wear masks, socially distance and recover from a year of hell still waiting to attend a restaurant at full capacity or even school, now they must suck it up and accept a border policy that negates every public health order- most oppressive- in the name of humane border policy? There is nothing humane about this, and dispersing infected migrants into American communities undermines the principles of logic that seem lost at the present.
The last century showed how physical violence and property destruction augmented the power of the state as the dehumanization of opponents justified the state’s inhumane treatment of those targeted. Think Stalin. Hitler. Mao. The pandemic is a pretext for this to be the case in the US, and border policy fits into this conversation amid continued civil unrest across the nation. Civil disobedience is a right in America, but civility is an expected parameter in this age of anti-bullying, gender and sexual politics, weaponized race, high suicide rates, big tech control and a pandemic. There is a clear expectation that citizens of the United States lead the way in acceptance, tolerance and justice. Yet, with the border in disarray, oppressive public health laws, weaponized racial divisions and general dismay among many Americans about what the hell is happening, history screams for remembrance. It seems America is wagging the dog… while dancing to WAP on TikTok as Rome burns.
