Republicans are claiming that we have hordes of illegals and criminals at our Southern border who want to bring in drugs and take jobs away from American citizens. That is mostly a lie!
We do have a problem at the border. There are desperate people trying to get into this country. Most are not criminals, and are trying to obey U.S. immigration law (which means they are not illegal either).
The problem has two causes. The first is the sad situation in their own countries, where they have few, if any, prospects to support their families in a decent manner. The second is out badly broken immigration system. We cannot control the first reason, but we could control the second -- if our politicians would work together instead of trying use the situation to win votes from people who don't understand the situation.
Immigrants who cross the border and evade capture, have broken U.S. immigration law -- so technically, they could be called "illegal". But that is not the situation currently at the border. The people there are trying to cross the border, true themselves in, and ask for asylum. That is perfectly legal under U.S. immigration law. Calling them "illegal" is wrong.
Making the situation even sadder is that U.S. businesses are desperate for workers, and cannot fill their openings with citizens -- especially the dirty, dangerous, and low-paying jobs. These jobs would happily be filled by the desperate people trying to legally enter our country.
The problem could be fixed by passing a reasonable immigration law, but our politicians (especially Republicans) would rather demonize the immigrants to get votes than do that.
It's easy to claim these people are criminals who pose a danger to Americans, but most aren't. They want to be good, law-abiding Americans. And history has shown that undocumented immigrants commit crimes at a much lower rate than citizens.
It's also easy to claim these people are bringing in drugs. That's also mostly a lie. The ones allowed in for an amnesty claim are searched. The ones who try to sneak in are very likely to be caught. The cartels know this is a very bad way to try to sneak in drugs. They have much better ways -- bringing the drugs in by trucks, boats, and airplanes (usually hidden in other goods being imported).
It's time to stop demonizing and lying about the desperate immigrants at our Southern border. It's also time to fix our broken immigration system. But I doubt our Republicans in Congress will make any attempt to do either.
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