The truth about the Southern border the GOP won't tell you, and that the left is incapable of effectively narrating.
Voters require truth, not propaganda
Hello again TAT readers,
Welcome back to this week’s first essay. I hope that you find it as worthy of your attention as last week’s piece on oligarchy, the most popular offering from TAT, in the year and a half since I began this effort to inform Americans about threats to our nation, honestly and in plain talk.
Introduction
As a reminder, I do not write for any political purpose. I write exclusively to inform readers objectively, with context and based on all of the most critical known facts. This topic is extremely sensitive to most American voters, be they left, right or of any other political belief system. This essay will be extremely unwelcome to those on the right, partially offensive to those on the left and necessary reading to all voters in this crucial election year. It is also one of the two primary issues that this year’s presidential election, will hinge on. The other was discussed last week in the long essay about oligarchy, and specifically, whether we are experiencing “inflation” or price-gouging. Regardless of your beliefs, anyone that plans on voting this coming November, must understand the truth about both.
Previous background regarding “inflation” vs. price-gouging:
Oligarchy is an acute threat to democracy (truthaboutthreats.com)
It's not Inflation, its price-gouging by corporate Oligarchs, who are also, the largest campaign donors. (truthaboutthreats.com)
The most dangerous narratives to American democracy this election year (truthaboutthreats.com)
Background
This topic is one that I have written on previously and I will include today, a few excerpts and links to those pieces as well. Still, today’s work will be an attempt to provide a cohesive narrative about the border itself, its use as a political talking point over the decades, and the intense dishonesty of the current version of the GOP’s narratives about the border.
As a Texan, our Southern border is a topic near and dear to me. Every single day, the Texas GOP bombards us with overtly dishonest nonsense about the border. There is never a reason to believe anything about the border from the state GOP nor, our national elected officer holders like my Congressman, Tony Gonzalez or our two Senators, John Cornyn and the now infamous, Ted Cruz. Lying about the border is no longer just a Texas problem, it is a serious threat to US national security.
Previous TAT essays about our Southern border:
Texas Travesty - by Paul Cobaugh - Truth About Threats
Please, let's solve immigration and put an end to the bizarre, false narratives and cruelty of Governors, Greg Abbott, Ron DeSantis and the MAGA hordes. (truthaboutthreats.com)
Separating the Wheat from the Chaff about our Southern Border. (truthaboutthreats.com)
Today’s version of the GOP, dominated by Trumpism, is a threat to our national security and lying about the border, is a significant pillar of Trumpism. Should we experience another extreme, right-wing administration, not only does it dramatically decrease our national security, but it threatens our democratic republic, itself. A world without US style democracy and the resources we bring to bear against global tyranny such as Putin, Xi and the terrorist theocrats in Tehran, is a world where freedom goes onto the endangered species list.
The border historically, through the 2024 Election
The history of our Southern border with Mexico is quite far from what most Americans assume it to be. After the US war with Mexico, largely over admitting Texas to the Union after nearly ten years as an independent nation, created the animosity that eventually led to the US/ Mexican war in 1846. In the 1849 treaty that officially ended the war, the US acquired the former Mexican territory that would eventually become, most of our southwestern states. It would take an extra six years of negotiation to establish the precise border with Mexico.
Background reading:
Timeline of major border events - Southern Methodist University (smu.edu)
Milestones: 1830–1860 - Office of the Historian (state.gov)
At this point in history, little attention was paid to the border and surrounding region. The people of the region mostly ignored the border and lived as they had in the decades and centuries prior. It wasn’t until decades later in 1882 that the US legislated its first real restrictions about entering the US from Mexico. Ironically, it had nothing to do with the existing inhabitants but was written to exclude Chinese workers seeking US citizenship, not Mexicans.
It would not be until 1917 that the US began serious ideas about restricting Mexican entrance into the US. This was largely a punitive measure following the earlier Pancho Villa raids of 1916, into the American southwest and General Pershing’s empty-handed campaign of pursuit of Pancho Villa into Mexico. The border region essentially operated as it had for centuries on both sides.
In the 1920s, the majority of Border Patrol presence was at the Canadian border due to Prohibition.
Even as late as 1942, the US was issuing over four and half million “contracts” to Mexican farm workers, that today would be seen as special work visas. Operation Wetback in 1954 is where things really started to show the traits of today’s animosity with border immigrants with one notable exception. In 1965, Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act, which ended caps on the number of immigrants allowed into the US from a given origin country. The act concentrated on reuniting immigrant families and attracting skilled labor to the US. From then on, it has been a series of political battles initially focused on drugs but eventually targeting the very citizens who’d enjoyed centuries of free movement between nation.
This general outline about our borders brings us up to the modern era. With the included links, there is a pretty well detailed history. Nothing in that history has prepared us for the hateful, un-American xenophobia that we experience today. This is almost exclusively built on the backs of modern Republican political agendas for the purpose of political power. Yes, the other side also wields immigration issues as a political agenda and neither side has done a thing to make any serious attempt to embrace the only logical and pragmatic solution, comprehensive immigration reform.
The legislative and political battles since the aforementioned, controversial 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act of the Johnson administration, set the tone for the years since.
A Brief Legislative History of the Last 50 Years on the U.S.-Mexico Border from the University of Arizona
Despite both the Bush and Obama administrations having proposed similar comprehensive immigration reform packages, both parties in congress, have turned the immigration battle into something that is no longer achievable. Neither could muster the support to pass either. While that it is easy to point fingers, understanding the problem is really the answer. That understanding points directly at comprehensive immigration reform as the answer, not preposterous border walls and hate. A wall would only exacerbate the hate by rewarding it with a useless and exorbitantly expensive attempt at a wall.
To call the clown show of legislation from the GOP in the House of Representatives and the Senate, serious “border security,” is like calling a miniature horse, a Kentucky Derby winner. First of all, a wall will not work and has never worked. With modern technology, going under or over a wall is easier than me driving to my local supermarket. Separating ourselves from the world’s second largest trading block created by NAFTA is not only sheer ignorance but a self-inflicted wound to our own economy. The amount of commerce that passes through our southern border daily is staggering. One of the TX governor, Greg Abbott’s political stunts that all but shut down the border, cost us billions, not millions.
Here in San Antonio, the proverbial saying is that “we live in northern Mexico.” Yes, this is not only true, but it has become a boon to not only our local economy, but it reflects the fact that this was indeed, part of Mexico until 1836. They are Mexican Americans the same as others being Irish Americans, Italian Americans and so on. Immigrants are America. Why the hate? This is of course, a rhetorical question since of course, the only real haters are now mostly part of the MAGA movement. This is a true American tragedy and has accompanied every new immigrant class. First it was the Irish as our first slaves and then Italians, Germans, Jews, Chinese etc. etc. etc. Unless our genealogy shows native American ancestry, every single one of us is an immigrant.
Where are we now?
Now, here we are with the MAGA GOP getting what they want in congressional negotiations but at the demand of Trump, refused to even offer a bill for a vote. That bill also by the way, would fund our allies against a genocidal Putin and because of months of refusal to fund Ukraine’s defense, has cost thousands of extra lives and given advantage to Putin, Xi and Iran, geopolitically. I have described this in a variety of earlier essays which I leave below for your reading should you choose.
The GOP supporting Putin, is really the GOP supporting Xi, Iran, N. Korea and BRICS. (truthaboutthreats.com)
So let’s begin with the most recent numbers from the CBP/ Customs and Border Patrol, in order to see if the GOP is lying to us.
Below are a couple of graphics from publicly available CBP reporting. Everyone can see this information posted regularly by the CBP at the following embedded link: Southwest Land Border Encounters
As we can see in the first graphic, the 2024 numbers are coming down, every single month. The same is true in the second graphic regarding demographics.
Some points to consider:
There is now, in the Biden administration the largest Federal presence on the Southern Border, than at any other time in US history. How exactly does merit the title of “Biden’s Border Crisis?”
Putin, who supports the Trump candidacy and the GOP’s efforts to reelect him, plus their efforts to deny Ukraine funding, has been pumping asylum seekers into a route that includes first a stop in Cuba, then to Nicaragua, both Putin satellite states, in order to increase the numbers of asylum seekers at our southern border. This is called, “weaponized migration.”
African, Asian Migrants Seek Nicaragua Shortcut to US (voanews.com)
Nicaragua is 'weaponizing' US-bound migrants as Haitians pour in on charter flights, observers say | AP News
In the following chart, it is easy to see how Russian allies and close partners like China, India, Venezuela, and Russia herself, at least doubled the number of asylum seekers at our southern border in 2023.
In 2019, the Trump administration also experienced a record high in asylum seekers. COVID early the next year gave him a powerful tool to reduce the numbers, and it was called Title 42. As this was based on the pandemic, it had no legal recourse after the pandemic had been tamed. Even then, the Biden Administration’s careful planning saw a near 70% reduction in border encounters, largely due to the use of an app rather than presenting themselves in person to sign up for an interview. Somehow this rarely makes the news, and especially so in primary sites like FOX, NewsMax, OAN, Breitbart etc.
Let’s sum this up
Well readers, today has been part history lesson and part data interwoven into a narrative of reality, not political rhetoric. My goal was to intervene in the dangerous and un-American narratives of our election season. Like I said early on, I’m a Texan and I’m used to being lied to and there’s nothing to be done about the disgracefully dishonest Texas government. We must though, all come together to put down the down narratives of hate and dishonesty spewing from the mouths of MAGA sycophants in Congress. Should their narratives dominate, our nation and the world will suffer immeasurably with another far-right extremist administration that has nothing to do with American Democracy.
Please remember the links to the CBP website so that you can do what I do, which is to look for truth, not political road apples. Where I come from, we all understand that this means horse manure.
Our nation has plenty of problems but there is zero chance that we can solve any of them so long as half our voters exist on a steady diet of conspiracy theories and propaganda. I have done my best to bring truth and with the most credible sources to back up my thoughts. It’s up to readers to decide what is and is not they wish to believe but without someone putting it into context, it is difficult to find it without a guide. I hope that reading TAT, provides you such a guide.
Immigration at our southern border, has been well within my professional national security wheelhouse since the early 2000s. In my Army CT/ Counterterrorism career, I would go on yearly deployments and return home to Texas. In between deployments, I would both brief and be briefed by Texas and Federal law enforcement regarding the southern border as it pertained to terrorism operations. To this day, I read CBP reporting a couple of times a month. I understand this situation very well and know where to look for answers. I do my best to share my experience with all of you.
I encourage everyone to find sources for honest writers who can tell a story based on reality and without a strong political bias. It is truly the only way that we solve our problems and move our nation towards the horizon that our prestigious founders foresaw for our republic. All believed that citizens should be well and accurately informed. Since my content is free to all and that I only charge for subscriptions if someone wishes to comment, I clearly don’t write for profit. I do it because of family tradition of giving to the greater good and because I swore a sacred oath as a retired Army officer, “to protect and defend the constitution, from all enemies foreign and domestic.”
I fervently believe that most Americans want the same. It’s incumbent for those who have knowledge and experience to share with those who seek truth, that we have learned over a lifetime, to keep this republic in step with our true values, not the fake patriotism of those who would be dishonest about our most serious threats.
I wish you all, the most wonderful of week’s going forward. Back again in a couple of days.
Cheers,
Paul