There is a crisis on our southern border. That much is true. But, after that fact, little else is accurately reported by the media or truthfully explained by our Republican friends.

 The crisis, too many immigrants arriving and seeking asylum to be processed and admitted or denied, has been ongoing for over four decades. Year after year, except for the COVID-19 years, the border crisis has expanded in numbers of those seeking a new beginning in America.

Regrettably, solutions have become embroiled in the overheated rhetoric from both sides of the issue in Washington, leaving the border states overwhelmed, understaffed and underfunded to serve the migrants who arrive destitute, hungry and hopeful.

Historically, America has welcomed immigrants, with the Statue of Liberty serving as our national beacon, inviting all to the promise of a new kind of nation filled with promise and hope. For 62 years, Ellis Island, built in the 1890s, served as the arrival point for more than 12 million new Americans. The requirements for acceptance were simple. Most arrived by boat, and if they came as first- or second-class passengers, they walked into America and became citizens. Steerage and the sick had to pass a physical inspection. Legal papers and good health were more than enough; no passports or visas were necessary.

 As the immigrants came, our nation grew into something special, a blend of many backgrounds, multiple religions, and innovative and gifted new talents residing in the new Americans. America thrived.

But, in 2015, something changed with Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. For the first time in modern American politics, a leading candidate failed to embrace the value of immigrants and instead identified them as criminals and murderers. 

Trump built his entire campaign around the issue of Immigration, focusing on a wall to keep out the undesirables.

Following Trump’s election, border politics became a foremost national issue and migrants continued to surge to the border. The border crisis receded only with the advent of COVID-19 and Rule 42.

But the die was cast for the Republican Party; immigration was to become a full-throated attack on “The Other.” Immigrants were seen by increasing numbers of Americans as no longer those who came to work hard and thrive but rather as social burdens and dangerous aliens.

Since the Biden presidency, the numbers of those requesting asylum have ballooned for multiple social, climate and threat-related reasons and more migrants than ever have approached our southern borders.

Biden has requested $14 billion in additional border funding to hire more border guards, employ more asylum judges, and construct more detention facilities. Republicans have countered with HB-2, demanding an end to political pardons like the Dreamers who were raised in America and changes in asylum laws to restrict more applicants from qualifying for asylum. 

Normally, these differences can be resolved in Congress, but not with Republicans today.

Just last week, a large group of Republicans, led by Speaker Mike Johnson, visited the Southern border. 

Speaking to the media, U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls R-Texas, explained the Republican position on the border crisis this way: “Let me tell you, I’m not willing to do too damn much right now to help a Democrat and to help Joe Biden’s approval rating,” 

Nehls simply spoke his truth, that he would instead sabotage any border solution than to give a Democratic president a policy “win” over the border crisis.

And there we have it. 

Our Republican friends would prefer to extend the problems on our southern border and blame Joe Biden for the problems than serve the American people and work to fix our immigration policies.

As for the migrants, it is fair to guess these politicians could not care less.

Jim Crawford is a retired educator and political enthusiast living here in the Tri-State.