Our View: Demonizing migrants and rolling out razor wire won't solve our border crisis
If Texas’ current governor had a hand in designing the Statue of Liberty she would stand at the edge of the Rio Grande offering – not a torch and a welcoming poem – but a coil of freshly minted concertina wire and a sign that says, “Keep off my country or risk death.”
Comments by our governor about how migrants aren’t being shot because Texas would be charged with murder by the Biden Administration pretty much sum up the level of dehumanization taking place under Operation Lone Star.
No one should expect the State of Texas to stand idly by as the federal government shrugs off the responsibility for managing the ongoing crisis at the border, but employing measures that are designed to injure people equates to the callous disregard for human life and safety.
And now a woman and two children attempting a crossing have died at night in the waters off Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, their bodies recovered by Mexican officials. Federal immigration officers trying to respond were reportedly barred by Operation Lone Star’s armed operatives. The Texas Military Department says by the time the feds arrived three bodies were already being recovered on the other side of the river.
More: ‘La pérdida - The loss’: Deadly disaster at El Paso, Juárez border
The incident marks another chapter in a failed effort by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to crush with an iron fist people who have already been crushed by poverty, crime and economic desperation.
Aside from our governor’s willingness to risk expending or damaging human lives to make political points, the debate over the monstrosity that is his response to the border crisis generally overlooks one big thing about American politics: The folks who can solve the problem are not doing so.
People are risking their very lives and the lives of family members by literally cutting themselves up moving through a deadly wire cloud for a chance to apply for citizenship and, they hope, get a court date way off in an uncertain future. Meanwhile, lawmakers who could create change on a federal level are biding their time.
The ideal of defending the border – of turning back those Operation Lone Star considers to be invaders – meets a harsh reality on the ground. Real people get hurt.
Ask Venezuelan migrant Omar Tortua, whose family was featured in a USA TODAY Network article on crossings at Piedras Negras. He showed a reporter and a photographer the slashed and bandaged leg of his 5-year-old son, Jesús.
The child became ensnared in the state’s welcome wire while crossing with a family group that had just crossed six countries and dangerous miles of jungle for a chance at getting a court date.
This is the U.S. border, not the Berlin Wall. That people fleeing oppression are getting sliced by wire manufactured in a Texas prison using unpaid prisoner labor is an irony likely lost on the current governor of Texas.
Many of the migrants arriving at the border are legally seeking asylum. With the end of Title 42, nothing stands in the way of processing others for illegally entering the country and deporting them.
The deployment of deadly-sharp wire and a floating barrier designed to throw people climbing it back into the Rio Grande indicates that our governor has a less-than-adequate appreciation for common decency and the value of human life. But, to be fair, he’s only a symptom of far deeper problems plaguing the American political system that, for many years, have led to a lack of progress in fair immigration reform.
A bad, expensive gimmick
The most gadget-y “tool” in our governor’s deadly toy chest is a colorful length of “American Ninja Warrior”-style challenge barrier gone wrong – and its million-dollar price tag is obscene. It was installed as a border barrier last summer. It’s been the subject of courtroom drama ever since.
The stunt was all part of our governor’s strategy of promoting himself as the protector of all things American and Texan. It, likewise, implies that if anyone gets hurt, it isn’t his fault or responsibility. It seems that in his view, they were advised not to desperately seek freedom and a new life, but nevertheless, they persisted. And if they get through, our governor has bus or plane tickets ready so migrants can fend for themselves in cities run by liberals.
Gridlock is a trend that must end
While the federal government’s handling of the situation bears strong resemblance to the evacuation of the Titanic, this particular federal ship has changed captains many times without improvement.
Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden are just the most recent people to fail to untie that intractable Gordian Knot that is finding and implementing reasonable immigration policies.
It takes more than a cruel government response to solve the problem of creating a fair, humane and civilized immigration system. It takes the combined will of the U.S. Congress – and a presidential administration willing to make hard choices.
We’re waiting for the Biden administration and Congressional leaders to stand up.
Texas is indeed bearing a huge burden. Those living along the border or in cities near it bear daily witness to the impacts of a crisis that isn’t being addressed.
Our National Guard troops, the Department of Public Safety and other agencies work hard in unbearable heat and trying cold to manage a bad situation. But all they can manage are the impacts of the complete federal failure to act – a failure that extends over literally decades and administrations from both parties.
The worst “bad guys” in this mess are those office holders who won’t act, or who prefer to play partisan politics with immigration policy and hope whatever bad things shake out benefit their “side.”
It is they who are pushing border states to the breaking point.
News flash – there are no winners when everyone is losing. The states, the economy, impacted residents near the border and those immigrants seeking a different life in a land of opportunity, we’re all caught in the middle.
America’s immigration problem won’t be solved by the national guard, spiteful governors or high-minded politicians and activists decrying the plight of those trying to cross to a new and better chapter of their lives.
It takes legislation and guts. Let’s see if there are any takers among those elected to get the job done in both parties.
The Caller-Times Editorial Board. John R. Moses is the Executive Editor and can be reached at jmoses@caller.com.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Our View: Rolling out the razor wire won't solve this border crisis
