Eagle Impasse - Issue 2 of 2024

Politics

Eagle Impasse

Texas Governor Greg Abbott caused a stir this week by using the Texas National Guard and state police to block federal law enforcement from holding the border open for illegal immigrants.

Estimates of how many illegal immigrants have entered the US under the Biden administration vary, but it's broadly accepted that the number is at least several million. Many of these illegal immigrants enter through a port of entry called Eagle Pass in Maverick County, Texas.

Under the current administration, the US Border Patrol's role in the Eagle Pass border crossing has, ironically, been to make sure that everyone can cross the border at all times rather than attempting to stop illegal immigration. In fact, the feds have even gone so far as to physically remove the concertina wire barriers put up by the state of Texas.

Thousands of foreign nationals show up daily at Eagle Pass—usually between 3,000 and 4,000, but sometimes as many as 10,000—and almost all of them are processed by Border Patrol as asylum-seekers. This has been happening for years. After processing, immigrants are typically released into the US. They're given a court date (as far out as 2031) for follow-up but are effectively free to stay in the US as long as they want to without fear of deportation or legal consequences.

In theory, asylum-seekers would go online, file an asylum request, and wait for approval before entering the United States. But there's no penalty for applying for asylum after illegally entering the country, and so naturally, that's what most people do.

Once they're in the US, immigrants have up to a year to file for asylum, but the deadline can be extended on a case-by-case basis. At some point, after an immigrant applies for asylum, USCIS will make a ruling either approving or denying the request. The qualifications for asylum are minimal – basically, anyone on the planet qualifies – but on the off chance that USCIS denies an asylum claim, immigrants do not have to leave.

Instead, they are issued a court date and notice to appear (NTA) for a separate hearing with a DOJ immigration judge who will reassess the decision. This part can take years to play out, and during this time, immigrants are free to either work under the table or in some limited lawful capacities without fear of ICE deportation. From the USCIS website:

You may live in the United States while your Form I-589 is pending before USCIS. If you are found ineligible, you can remain in the United States while your Form I-589 is pending with the immigration judge. Asylum applicants are not authorized to work unless you meet certain requirements. For more information, please see Permission to Work in the United States. Affirmative asylum applicants are rarely detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The asylum process is essentially just a rubber stamp the Biden administration uses for political gain. A progressive administration acting this way does not have bad outcomes; the overall well-being of the country is not a primary concern because the current administration's staff and cabinet do not share such quaint ideas as national identity or homeland.

What it mostly boils down to is this:

• When migrants go to red cities, they turn them blue.
• When migrants go to blue cities, the cities get federal dollars.

Democratic administrations use open borders as a mechanism to punish their enemies and help their friends. FEMA sends huge amounts of money to blue districts for social justice programs and Democratic city budgets. And this isn't a conspiracy theory or me playing demagogue – it's publicly available data on the FEMA website. Here are some examples from 2023 for your consideration:

In 2023, millions of dollars from the FEMA Shelter and Service Program (SSP) went to Democrat counties in Texas, but no dollars went to the Republican-held state government itself. It's a way of undermining GOP political power in red states, a federal end-run around the will of the people who live in the 'deplorable' states.

When federal dollars go directly to cities, they tend to go to Democrat cities. Some cities (Chicago, NY) even received more than one cash infusion in 2023. Here are some examples from Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 of the 2023 SSP allocation:

The administration flies or busses future Democrats to Democrat cities and then gives the city governments giant influxes of cash. New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philly, DC, Denver...all receiving a nice chunk of change. When Democrat mayors go on TV and say they "can't support" wave after wave of illegal immigrants, it's just part of a choreographed performance to receive federal dollars.

By creating a migrant crisis for everyone and then only doling out financial relief to politically loyal friend groups, the Biden administration creates a scenario where open borders mean more money and more voters for Democrats and fewer voters and fewer dollars for Republicans.

I'm spending the time going into the details on this because most liberals simply claim that Abbott's closing of the border is some fascism, racism, or violation of human rights, and it's really not. What Abbott is doing is the right thing; it's just that in the mind of a progressive, any random group of military-aged Guatemalan men has a more legitimate claim to America than the average middle-class grandfather in places like Ohio or Missouri.

As Michael Savage is fond of saying, a nation is defined by its borders, language, and culture. While there are plenty of nuanced positions to take involving immigration, culture, naturalization, assimilation, or skilled vs. unskilled labor, using the monopoly on violence to hold the door open by force simply is not a policy that an administration would enact if it cared even slightly about the wellbeing of the country it supposedly represented.

Abbott's move, in this case, represents probably the most extreme course of action that is still technically legal. He's right to do this, and I'm hoping it works out for him, Texas, and all of us.

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