Politicians say they support border security on the southern border but they have yet to fix it. President Donald Trump wants a wall, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi say he can’t have one, and so there is an impasse while politicians repeat ad nauseam their talking points. If history is any guide, both parties will punt and then use the issue to rally their base in the next election so the cycle can repeat itself indefinitely.
According to Pew Research, there are more than 10 million people in this country illegally, including more than 5 million Mexicans and another 2 million from Central America. In FY18, a total of 396,579 individuals were apprehended between ports of entry on our southwest border. (For reference: Maine’s entire population is 1.3 million and the total number of U.S. unemployed is 6.5 million.) There is no agreement on what to do about the people here illegally but continuing to let the number grow is not likely to resolve it.

While we should do our part to help those less fortunate, it is unsustainable to accept all who want entry when our country is almost $22 trillion in debt ($179,000 per taxpayer). We should have an educated debate about how many and whom we would like to have enter our country legally, while we control illegal immigration to deminimus levels.

Is it too much to ask our federal government to develop a coherent plan, including upgraded physical barriers and other measures developed by security experts to actually address the issue, and to then implement the plan so that the border is actually secured? I could care less whether we call it a “wall” or simply a “solution.” We should defund congressional and the presidential pay and benefits until they pass a rational solution.

 

Chad Clark

Readfield


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