Imagine being a political fugitive who escaped their country of origin where radical ideologues have taken over. Their draconian, tyrannical style of rule has destroyed its economy, and while those who rule live in safety with full bellies, you and your family starve in breadlines. You were promised “free healthcare” but you wait for months to get it, and as you wait, your family members die of diseases. You’d complain, but doing so is hazardous. You’ve watched as police took people into custody who spoke out against the regime, or watched their lives get destroyed as they became social pariahs.
Knowing that salvation and safety lay in a promised land to the north, you gather your family and use what connections and resources you have to leave. Your journey is long and dangerous, but eventually, you reach the border of the country where your family will finally find peace and prosperity.
Only when you get there, you notice that you’re not the only family. In fact, you’re one of hundreds of thousands. You’re placed in a camp in the dirt with families from other countries that were far better off than yours but, economically speaking, paled in comparison to the country you were fleeing to. Food and medicine, the things you came to find, are hard to come by because it’s all being used up by these other immigrants.
It gets worse. After being granted asylum you go to find a job, but many of these jobs are taken by illegal immigrants. When you do finally land a job, illegal immigrants have driven wage standards so low that you hardly make anything for hours of work. What’s more your working conditions are horrific. Your family can only afford a small apartment, and while you’re grateful that you’re out from under the thumb of a tyrannical regime, your heart is broken. This was supposed to be a land of opportunity and prosperity, but it’s clearly in stagnation and it’s only getting worse.
There once was a time when both the left and the right in this country agreed that this kind of scenario should be avoided and that border security was a top-most priority so that the prosperity of this nation could continue to grow and benefit everyone.
It wasn’t even that long ago. As early as 2006, border security was a very serious issue for them. They ran on border security. This includes Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton.
That’s because common sense said that one can’t help another unless one first helps themselves. It’s imperative to have a solid economic foundation at home because, without one, you can’t help anyone else.
Basic morality says that those in need of help should be given it, but it has to be tempered with wisdom.
Illegal immigration is expensive. As the Federation for American Immigration Reform noted back in 2005, the taxpayer burden was $45 billion. Today, that number has skyrocketed to $132 billion and is expected to reach $200 billion by 2025. The public funds required to support these illegal immigrants is far heavier than our economy can support for long, and as these unskilled workers continue to displace American workers, the tax burden will become higher on everyone else.
This isn’t even mentioning the spikes in crime, some of which will result in terrorists making their way through our southern border.
Thing is, none of this is fresh news. The consequences of illegal immigration have been known for decades, yet the left seems not to care. It even goes so far as to punish leaders that seek to stem the tide.
One has to wonder why, but the answer is easy. They believe that letting people into the country and granting them amnesty, even voting rights, will have them staying in power forever, and once they’ve achieved total power it’s not too far of a stretch to say that our country will end up like the country the immigrant in our story fled from.
