You can’t solve our country’s problems if you don’t have rational policies. Here are two CNN headlines and stories posted on Friday, September 27, 2024 (here), as the 2024 campaign enters a climactic phase:
Trump campaign highlights stories of those killed by undocumented immigrants or fentanyl
“Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee were joined Friday by three mothers of those killed by undocumented immigrants or fentanyl …. Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, who was raped and killed by a 23-year-old citizen of El Salvador, said during the call that ‘this is not a safe time for Americans,’ and stressed that the border crisis ‘is a threat to the American people.’ Also on the call were Anne Fundner, who spoke at the RNC convention about her 15-year-old son dying from a fentanyl overdose, and Alexis Nungaray, the mother of a 12-year-old girl who was found dead in a creek in June. Two undocumented men from Venezuela are accused in the girl’s death and are currently facing charges related to her death.”
Comment: First, Trump is lying when he claims migrants are smuggling fentanyl across an “open” border. Fentanyl enters the U.S. through ports of entry in cars and trucks, and 95% of the smugglers are American citizens. Spending billions on a border wall to stop migrant border crossings won’t have any impact on the fentanyl crisis.
Meanwhile, Biden’s change to asylum policies has drastically reduced migrant border crossings at no cost to taxpayers, and Harris is saying she’ll tighten asylum rules even further (see story here). The Democratic border funding bill would further reduce border crossings by hiring more agents, and would intercept more fentanyl at the ports of entry by investing in detection technology and increasing inspections (currently, CPB has manpower to search only 2% of vehicles entering from Mexico), but Republicans at Trump’s urging blocked that bill, which is not how you close the border and stop fentanyl if those are your real goals.
Second, studies show immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than citizens. This makes sense, because they come here for work, and have incentive to keep a low profile. Crime overall has been declining since 2022. Of the roughly 11 million illegals in the U.S., a few will be criminals, as with any large population. Citizens commit grisly crimes, too, and many more of them.
Highlighting high-profile crimes by immigrants won’t, by itself, prevent any crimes. It merely serves the political purpose of stirring up animosity against immigrants in general. But if all 11 million illegals are expelled from the U.S., as Trump and Vance talk about, this will have drastically negative impacts on the U.S. economy. A more rational policy would focus on removing immigrant lawbreakers and making sure they don’t return, which is far more practical and costs far less.
Trump criticizes Harris border visit as he continues to promote bill banning noncitizen voting
“Trump went after Vice President Kamala Harris for her Friday visit to the southern border as both candidates continue to emphasize their border security plans on the campaign trail. [He] again accused Democrats of letting people enter the country illegally because ‘they want the votes,’ even though noncitizens can’t vote in the US.”
Comment: First of all, Trump is lying when he claims “millions” of noncitizens vote. Like his voting fraud claims, this is false. It occasionally happens that a few noncitizens are inadvertently registered to vote when they obtain driver’s licenses. This is an election systems management issue, and is under control. Cases of noncitizens intentionally voting illegally are extremely rare, as is voting fraud generally, and the handful of such cases don’t change election outcomes.
Why is a bill banning noncitizen voting necessary, when it’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote? This isn’t serious legislating, it’s merely political grandstanding. What Republicans are really worried about is immigrants, most of whom are people of color, becoming naturalized citizens and acquiring voting rights even when they’re law-abiding, contribute to the economy, pay taxes, and serve in the military. That’s because minorities tend to vote for Democrats. That fact, alone, is not a good reason to deny citizenship to qualified applicants.
Of course, there are many other examples of political lying, some on both sides, and these are only used here as examples to make the following point: Good government starts with good facts.
The larger issue is that governing is a serious business. America needs competent leaders, and benefits from honest political competition. But that’s asking too much of one of its major parties and a substantial segment of the U.S. populace. We’re a poorer and more fractious country, with a less effective government, because of that.