My previous column concluded that the so-called “border crisis” has been largely manufactured by GOP politicians to manipulate their voters. However, as many seem only too happy to play along with the ruse, let’s take a closer look at the realities of this prominent election issue.
First, while many voters prefer Trump on immigration, he was never especially effective on the border. While his policies greatly reduced legal immigration, even such draconian policies as family separations failed to reduce the number of undocumented immigrants in the country. Moreover, his border wall was a massive boondoggle that Mexico emphatically did not pay for.
The number of attempted border crossings did drop significantly under Trump, but as Ronald Brownstein writes in The Atlantic, “Over Trump’s four years ... his administration deported only about a third as many people from the nation’s interior as Barack Obama’s administration had over the previous four years.” Presumably, Trump’s promised mass deportation if reelected is also little more than smoke and mirrors.
In addition, Biden has been more active on the border than he gets credit for. According to Greg Sargent in The New Republic, border encounters were down to 57,000 this past July, “the fifth straight month of declining border crossings and the lowest monthly figure of the Biden administration.” Biden has also issued far more immigration-related executive actions than Trump did during his tenure and has repeatedly ask for greater funding and authority to secure the border — requests which have been repeatedly quashed by Republicans in Congress.
Second, while conservative media voices like to pair immigration with crime, no such correlation exists. Immigrants actually commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans because, obviously, someone here illegally wants to avoid the attention of law enforcement. Moreover, crime overall has come down dramatically during the Biden administration. Even with immigration surging, our country is safer than ever, putting the lie to the idea that other countries are flooding us with criminals. In short, the “migrant crime wave” is made up.
Third, despite persistent claims that migrants are a drain on the economy or living off government benefits, immigrants are hardworking and vital to our economy. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the surge of immigration that began in 2022 will, by 2034, increase the GDP by $7 trillion and increase government revenues by $1 trillion. Were Trump to successfully deport the millions of undocumented immigrants in the U.S., it would not only devastate the agriculture, construction and service industries that depend on their labor but also the many businesses that count on their spending.
As an illustration, when Alabama passed HB 56 in 2011 to pressure undocumented immigrants to leave the state, “there weren’t enough workers to bring in the tomato crop the following spring,” Joyce Vance writes. “Prices skyrocketed and supply was limited. Construction crews were hit hard. ... The wait times for getting work done were lengthy. Schools lost funding. ... Immigrant kids weren’t there that year, even those who were American citizens, because Alabama required them to reveal their parents’ citizenship status to start school that fall.”
Lastly, it’s true that immigration increases during Democratic administrations, but it’s not because of nonexistent “open borders” policies. It’s all about economic opportunity. Dustin Arand writes on Medium that “Since at least 1949, the U.S. economy has performed significantly better on a host of macroeconomic indicators whenever a Democrat has occupied the White House.” A study from the Economic Policy Institute shows a clear Democratic advantage in terms of GDP growth, job growth, the unemployment rate, wage growth, inflation, interest rates, business investment, and household income growth.
Arand writes, “The fact is, whether we’re looking at the top one percent, the bottom ten percent, or anywhere in between, every income level has seen their real incomes rise more when a Democrat occupies the Oval Office.” It’s this economic vitality that makes people risk their lives to come here.
Immigration has always been about people seeking a better life; they’re just a lot more likely to find it when Democrats are in charge — as are the rest of us.
Urie is a lifelong Idahoan and graduate of the University of Idaho. He lives in Moscow with his wife and two children. You can find his writing online at Medium (hopeanyway.medium.com) or Substack (hopeanyway.substack.com). Or, you can email him at ryanthomasurie@gmail.com.
