Frankly, neither Republicans nor Democrats hold much moral high ground on the issue of immigration. Historically, the issue has been a political football with both parties talking a lot but not taking much action in the halls of Congress.
The White House – whether occupied by Democrats or Republicans – isn’t much better. And increasingly, Pew Research Center data indicates the two political parties are more closely aligned on the immigration issue than one might think.
In a November survey, Pew revealed: “Republicans and Democrats differ over the most pressing priorities for the nation’s immigration system. Republicans place particular importance on border security and deportations of immigrants who are in the country illegally, while Democrats place greater importance on (creating) paths to legal status for those who entered the country illegally – especially those who entered as children.”
But it is important to note that both Republicans and Democrat majorities told the Pew survey that increased border security is an “important U.S. immigration policy goal.” But the Republican majority on this question had 91 percent support while the Democrat majority was 59 percent.
The growth in immigration angst along the Southern border has coincided with the growth of asylum seekers massing along that border. Many of those are residents of the so-called “Northern Triangle” countries - Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. But over the last two years, there has been a spike in asylum seekers from Cuba, Venezuela and African countries like Cameroon.
How prevalent is the problem? Customs and Border Protection reported 2.4 million migrant encounters at the Southern border in the U.S. in 2022, surpassing the 1.7 million migrant record established a year ago.
And based on the latest federal court battles, the cornerstone weapon in stemming the immigration tide along the Southern border is an obscure public health law written 78 years ago to stop the spread of communicable diseases like tuberculosis.
Title 42, part of the 1944 Public Health Service Act, was never intended to be the basis of major immigration enforcement in the country and certainly not the appropriate test for asylum seekers. The law gave the federal government the emergency power to stop “the introduction of communicable diseases” by migrants entering the U.S. — and to expel migrants without regard to their attempts to legally seek asylum as a public health necessity.
In 2020, the Trump Administration dusted off Title 42 to help the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic as cases soared. But it soon became evident that COVID-19 was not the only concern driving the use of Title 42. The old federal code was used some 1.7 million times to keep migrants from entering the U.S.
Underscoring the bipartisan kicking of the political can down the road, both the Trump and Biden administrations used Title 42 as a border control measure. While Trump supporters expected nothing less from the guy who pledged to “build the wall” on the Southern border, Biden soon came under fire from his supporters for failing to drop Title 42 enforcement by Customs and Border Protection.
The Biden administration extended the Trump administration’s Title 42 orders in August 2021, but in April 2022 announced that it would end the policy, saying it was no longer necessary to protect public health. But shortly before the policy was set to end in May, a Louisiana federal judge ordered the Biden administration to continue the restrictions.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan of the District of Columbia vacated Title 42, agreeing with the American Civil Liberties Union that the public health law was being used to turn back asylum seekers rather than to protect public health.
Now the matter is before the Supreme Court, with Mississippi joining a number of states with Republican leaders seeking to keep Title 42 in place lest its elimination “cause a crisis of unprecedented proportions at the border.”
A majority of Americans want stronger, safer U.S. borders. But is Title 42 really the way?Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com
32 comments:
you did it sid!.........you finally wrote a good editorial.
So Covid isn’t more than a common cold until you can use it to your advantage. We learning a lot from these godly peeps!
Sid is as misguided as a dud-scud.
Not one of these trespassers is seeking 'asylum'. They're seeking a lot of things, but asylum isn't one of them.
I don't care whose poll or pulse you check, if Sid thinks 59% of democrat politicians desire border security, he's gotten ahold of summa them dorm-drugs.
While Sid is trying to run the bases, once again he slides into the dugout.
Yuma Arizona hospital has spent over $21 million recently on illegals in hospital. This includes labor and delivery, dialysis ER care cancer treatment. Etc… they’re needing to know who to send the bill to… Arizona said we can’t pay that local municipality says same federal govt is sitting on there hands
Hey, maybe Ukraine can send them a check. So many Ukrainians pouring over the border along with middle eastern and Africans and Asians. It’s a real issue. All getting free food water healthcare and kids in school locally. This is a real burden on Americans in inner city and the working poor with no healthcare and already crappy schools plus they get free utilities. If I were poor black I would be pissed. It’s unreal. They have better water than Jackson does
One of the most egregious failures under the Trump administration was allowing RINO Paul Ryan to kill immigration reform when there was the chance.
"Last month, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan of the District of Columbia vacated Title 42, agreeing with the American Civil Liberties Union that the public health law was being used to turn back asylum seekers rather than to protect public health."
And this week the US Supreme Court ruled it back in place.
If "economic asylum" is allowed most of the world's population would qualify.
Democrat social, drug and crime diseases spread by the peasant invasion:
1. STDs by rape of women and girls in caravans;
2. Cartel members residing in American cities to facilitate fentanyl, meth, child sex and "collections" from illegals, as well as crimes of opportunity;
3. Sociological stress that Biden's millions of illegals exert on American citizens near border and beyond.
4. Sid Salter ignores/ridicules Trump's successful border policies probably because he supports open borders and amnesty.
Leave it to Sid to boil down the invasion of our southern border by these erstwhile 'asylum seekers' as nothing more than an uptick in 'immigration angst'.
Sid must be running low on his supply of freshly fried chicken.
The immigration system has needed to be reformed for decades.
And, some of you want to ignore that we need immigrants to, for example, provide medical services in rural areas and in other areas of science that are not as lucrative and skilled labor. They also fill jobs that Americans avoid. These are important in maintaining progress and for economic prosperity.
INS has been a dumping ground for the politician's poor relations and barely competent supporters.
I do wish we could have an informed debate about immigration. But, hysterics works in politics so misinformation abounds and how others have managed to secure borders is at the level one ancient civilizations tried that failed. They would envy the technological capability we are too agitated to even discuss.
I do wish we could have an informed debate about immigration.
I'm sure you're extremely tolerant of opinions that differ from your own.
What we need is some of that "common sense" immigration reform; similar to the left's "common sense" gun control reform.
@9:35am
1. "Immigration Reform" is libspeak for amnesty, a vulgar notion that would double the invasion by illegals. Expulsion of illegals is lawful and preferable.
2. Educated, legal immigration and work visas have always been fine with Americans and leftists conflate legal and illegal immigration for their ignorant base, trying to say Doctors and nurses are border jumping among the peasant hordes.
It's all about the ultimate Democratic party strategy of perpetuating a large and growing permanent underclass. These people will hopefully be forever dependent on the government crutch and vote for those who can provide it. The Democrats will not stop this asylum push until the numbers are overwhelming. At the rate we are going, it won't be long.
The only effective pushback is to make the Democrat bosses live among the people they choose to boss. Send the "asylum seekers" to their neighborhoods and cities and you will soon hear them holler.
Sid is playing both ends against the middle.
9"35 - Here's a pro-tip. Ask the Five-Whys.
Why do we need illegal aliens to perform certain jobs? Because Americans won't perform those jobs.
Why? (answer here)
Why? (answer here)
Why? (answer here)
Repeat...
It's not as simple as 'we need them'. When you reach the fifth answer (assuming the answers are thought out and honest), you will realize the basis for our having painted ourselves into this corner.
Hint: Sooner or later you will arrive at LBJ, the Great Society and today's democrats.
It's much easier and profitable to sit on the porch and drink beer than to climb up on the roof and lay shingles.
It's much more fun to hang out by the grill than to landscape the yard.
It makes more sense to sit in the ER waiting room with a runny nose than to work the midnight shift on the hospital housekeeping staff.
@9:35
We already have a pipeline for cheap medical labor. It is called the Philippines. Healthcare workers fight tooth and nail to stop English speaking Filipina nurses and medical technicians from getting visas. They don’t want the salary suppression. Democrats don’t want Filipinos because they are mostly conservative (think Michelle Malkin) instead the democrat party wants the socialism addicted dregs of Latin America.
The immigration system has been broken for decades, including when Republicans controlled Congress. You cannot legitimately heap all the blame on Democrats.
Asylum my ass.
Show of hands, who here would dig ditches or bus tables for $800 an hour? Everyone. Exactly what I thought.
Now, I don't believe ditch diggers and table busers should be paid that high, but they can and should be paid more and fairly. So if there are jobs that Americans won't do, try paying more money to an American who will do it at the higher rate of pay; then deport the illegals working for cheap.
We will never have a first world country with a third world population.
11:47 You are exactly right, in the past the system did not function well and there were those who took advantage of the cheap labor illegals even when the Republicans were in charge. But now there is no immigration process whatsoever that anyone at the southern border is bound to respect, and there are those in the Democratic party in particular who actively promote the results of this chaos. They have decided that no one is illegal as long as they use the term "asylum" and cross the non-existent border with impunity. They have also decided that this influx will result in a political advantage when those people become voters. That's their priority, nothing else.
I think Sid missed the whole part where Trump was building a wall.
That’s a very effective solution to the invasion our nation is currently facing from Dumb F*uck Biden‘s inaction on this issue.
Sid is a sappy, weak liberal.
Does anyone know if Sid went to journalism school? If he did, he needs a refund.
I would really like to hear Sidney’s opinion regarding opening Israel’s borders.
12:11 - You've obviously never recruited or attempted to hire significant numbers of labor. "How much it pay?", is typically the first question. Answer that with $17 dollars an hour with plenty of overtime and you are met with rejection.
As long as 'they' have a little scratch in their pocket, an auntie to provide supper, a quarter tank of gas and enough weed to get through the weekend, they cool. If he's got a fat woman at home, who works for minimum wage and knows how to cook, he'll never work another day in his life.
Raise the pay to $19.50 and you get the same answer. And on the chance several do report to work, on the third day, they're nowhere to be found. Got that scratch.
Republicans have some responsibility in this but the majority of it is on Biden and Pelosi not completing the wall. I don’t know what they say, we have an open border. They are responsible for the fentanyl deaths of our children. I hope the Republicans rain hell on the democrats the upcoming year for the border crisis.
Sid - the Supreme Court ruled that Covid-19 is still with us and prevalent in our society.
42 will stay until covid goes away.
@1:54 - You need to watch the videos of the hordes pouring through Trump's wall. A sawzall can cut through the flimsy metal wall faster than a thug can steal my catalytic converter using one. The "wall" doesn't work and never will. We must find another way to stop unlimited invasion of our country and provide a lawful path to citizenship for those who qualify for that privilege.
A sawzall can cut through the flimsy metal wall faster than a thug can steal my catalytic converter using one.
So, faster than 60 seconds? They can cut a whole in the wall faster than that? Link? PROOF?
Is anyone stupid enough to believe that Washington, D.C. is interested in this nation's security after sending billions of dollars to Ukraine, but no increase of funding, or concern for our southern border? Anyone?
@11:28 has it exactly right. I’ve been offered plenty of jobs paying 15, 17, $20 an hour. I turn them down every time and wait for that job come through paying the minimum wage. You got to be a full-blood sucker to work for more pay.
@10:41 - They don't need to cut the whole wall. They need only to cut one or two panels so people can shimmy through the opening. Watch the videos widely available on the internet and see for yourself.
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