Geography teachers worth their salt explain that a country has at least four traits: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory with clear borders; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.
In recent years, the issue of the US’s clearly-defined territory and borders has been stretched to the breaking point as illegal immigrants have breached the Southern boundary with Mexico in unprecedented numbers. Due to their location, the initial burden has been felt most clearly in Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico.
Seeking relief for their states and also aiming to raise national awareness of the crisis, GOP Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida have arranged high-profile transfers of some illegal immigrants to liberal enclaves such as Martha’s Vineyard, New York City, and Vice President Kamala Harris’ official residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington DC.
Those transfers have been praised as political genius by supporters but condemned as harmful pranks by detractors. Regardless of one’s position, the roiling crisis has many aware that “every community is a border community.”
The border crisis reached a new boiling point at 11:49 pm on Thursday, May 11 when a former US government policy known as Title 42 expired. Title 42 was begun in March 2020, the first month of the Covid pandemic in the US and the last year of the Trump administration. It allowed border officials to quickly return asylum seekers back over the border on grounds of preventing the spread of Covid-19.
In Virginia getting answers from our two US senators, Democrats Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, was anything but easy. We asked them the following three questions by email:
1. Do you have a statement about Title 42 expiring and what your plan is to secure the southern border?
2. Since you voted to confirm Alejandro Mayorkas as Homeland Security Director, do you still stand behind his appointment or call for his removal?
3. Since you voted to confirm Mayorkas to this important position, what responsibility do you take personally for our nation’s current border crisis?
No response has been received from either senator’s office as of publication time.
Sen. Warner’s official Twitter page has had no references to the border fiasco. He did, however, on May 11 tweet about what he sees as the important need for marijuana shops to have access to traditional banking services.
In contrast to the silence from Senators Warner and Kaine, the two Congressmen representing the western third of Virginia have addressed the issue. Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA6) made an announcement that he voted for the “Secure the Border Act” on May 11.
In 2022, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency seized over 379 million doses of fentanyl, enough to kill every American. And those are just the shipments of fentanyl the DEA stopped. There is no sign of the cartels slowing down the flood of illegal drugs.
Our open borders have also led to an historic number of unaccompanied minors living in our country, many being exploited and abused.
With the White House and Senate in Democrat hands while the House of Representatives is GOP-led, it is doubtful if any long-term solution can be found in the near future.
–Scott Dreyer
