Those who blanch at just about any attempt to enforce immigration laws and secure the border love to say of such policies: The cruelty is the point.
Texas has handed them a huge cudgel by placing razor wire and buoys in the Rio Grande. A Department of Public Safety officer also alleges that troopers were told to push migrants, including children, back into the water and deny them a drink in the heat. His account is unconfirmed, and state officials have disputed portions of it.
If any of it’s true, it’s an outrage. The state needs a thorough investigation into the trooper’s email, and any supervisor or trooper who promoted such behavior should be disciplined, if not fired or even brought to face criminal charges. Whatever happened, the wire must come down. It’s simply too dangerous.
Even if children were endangered or drinking water was denied, there’s no reason yet to think that it was widespread. Critics are already wildly overreaching, some attributing the order to Gov. Greg Abbott himself with no evidence to support it. Let’s not forget that in 2021, Border Patrol agents were smeared with allegations that they used whips on migrants. An investigation eventually proved what was obvious: The agents on horseback were holding reins, not whips.
Deterrence requires consequences. If border enforcement measures don’t change the risk calculus for those attempting to enter illegally, they aren’t going to work. Texans rightly recoil at the idea of razor wire cutting young children and a pregnant woman. But there’s an argument that the safest thing for migrants themselves is to push them to ports of entry for processing of asylum claims.
The state’s border security obsession gets plenty of blame here. But the underlying issue is that the state is trying to do something that the federal government should, but can’t — or won’t.
President Joe Biden’s lax policies, Mexico’s lack of cooperation to stop migrants from Central and South America, the despicable human smugglers and the home countries that terrorize or fail to provide a way to make a living — all have contributed to the intolerable situation on the U.S.-Mexico border. Migrants should understand the increasing dangers, too, particularly from smugglers, and heed Biden’s advice from January: “Do not, do not just show up at the border.”
The fix, as we’ve said frequently, is a set of rational immigration policies that combine the country’s workforce needs, compassion that is meaningful but limited, and a working asylum system that focuses on those genuinely in danger of persecution and addresses claims in a timely manner. The backlog of cases is years-long, and with so little risk of deportation, why wouldn’t an enterprising migrant try to get here?
The irony, of course, is that the U.S. is facing full employment and needs workers in all kinds of sectors, from entry-level construction to experienced doctors and nurses.
Stories of migrants who heard that Biden was opening the border in a way his predecessors did not are too frequent to dismiss. Biden’s administration finally tried to alleviate the crisis by pushing some migrants to use an online tool to request asylum and stretching immigration law to allow a certain number of people in per month. But it’s been a shell game.
So, yes, the Legislature and the U.S. Justice Department should investigate the DPS allegations and determine how high up accountability should go. But Congress must assert its authority, too, examining the administration’s actions, holding it accountable and legislating a better system.
Texas has, for years, tried to create order out of a chaos it did not create. No governor or Legislature could ignore the prospect of small border towns inundated, sometimes in a matter of days, with migrants numerous enough to match their populations.
We’ve lamented state spending and resource allocation to do what’s always been a federal job — even if the feds aren’t doing it, Texas taxpayers shouldn’t have to pick up the slack. The latest allegations show why: There’s always a risk of mistakes and outrages, especially when a stressed workforce is pushed into a job it’s not meant to do. State troopers are not Border Patrol agents.
Cruelty isn’t the point. Addressing an unsustainable situation is. Yes, Texas has gone too far. And everyone who brought us to this point bears some portion of the responsibility.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
