Stop the politicking and tend to the border

Last week, Carla Provost, the first woman to lead the Border Patrol in its 94-year history, told members of a Senate Judiciary panel that apprehension numbers on our Southern border are off the charts.

According to the latest figures, the number of migrants apprehended surpassed 100,000 for the second consecutive month. The 109,144 migrants apprehended in April was 5,400 more than March, and marked the highest monthly total since 2007.

Princeton Policy Advisors, a group focusing on developing policy solutions to issues like illegal immigration, also reported staggering statistics. It estimates 913,000 border apprehensions for 2019, double last year’s number. That would be the highest level since 2006. To give some local perspective, that many apprehensions is more than the combined populations of Carbon, Schuylkill, Lehigh and Luzerne counties!

Provost compared the crisis to holding a bucket under a faucet; the number of buckets you give doesn’t matter if you can’t turn off the flow. She said some agents are spending as much as 40 percent of their time tending to families with children and serve as child care professionals, medical care givers, bus drivers and food service workers.

Provost, who favors strengthening the border wall, also explained how the Mexican drug cartels are devastating American communities by peddling deadly narcotics. Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who organized last week’s Senate panel, thinks that the Mexican cartels are winning, pointing out that drug trafficking is a $64 billion a year industry.

So how are Democrats, who control the House, dealing with the crisis?

Because President Trump made the border wall a focal point of his administration, Democrats have shown they are out to block any funding to deny him any credit or GOP advantage heading into the 2020 elections. After denying Trump’s request for $4.5 billion in supplemental funding, Democrats charged him with overreach when he took executive action on the border crisis.

Some Democrats, like presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, are even denying that there is a crisis. He’s stated he would not strengthen the border wall and that he would even tear down some of the standing barriers.

Here are some other politicized reactions by Democratic leaders:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “President Trump must stop holding the American people hostage and stop manufacturing a crisis, and must reopen the government.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: “This president just used the backdrop of the Oval Office to manufacture a crisis, stoke fear, and divert attention from the turmoil in his administration.”

Joe Biden, current front-runner for the Democratic nomination: “This is a crisis created by the administration, and that’s why you know he (Trump) keeps these hordes comin’.”

Ironically, it was former President Barack Obama who called the situation at our southern border “a humanitarian crisis” back in 2014. A number of Democrats have called for abolishing our Immigration and Customs Enforcement department. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a favorite of liberal socialists, wants to eliminate the department along with other New York officials, including Mayor Bill de Blasio and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts joins Gillibrand in wanting ICE eliminated. Both are candidates for the 2020 Democratic nomination.

Border patrol chief Provost has said it’s difficult to see border agents being trashed when they are out risking their lives every day to protect this nation.

We agree. These overworked agents are the only line of defense in enforcing our immigration laws and securing our border to keep our communities safe.

The fact that Democrats are not accepting a border crisis is pure politics. It’s time to stop the politicking, playing to the cameras and start working for the American people who put them in office.

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com