‘Open borders’ lies resonate in Republican debate

A poll commissioned by America’s Voice concluded that disinformation promoted by Republican politicians that the borders are “open” is one of the factors that is forcing thousands of Central Americans to emigrate, especially young people. And during the second Republican debate, several candidates echoed that claim, along with South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, who said the border was “wide open,” or former Vice President Mike Pence, who said a “borderless nation” is not a nation.” .

It is these kinds of lies coming from conservative voices and the media that give arms to human traffickers and encourage thousands of people to confidently make the dangerous journey north because, as the results of said survey show, when respondents were shown the false statement that “the border is wide open ” after the end of Title 42, “35% of respondents said they were likely to consider immigrating to the United States, and 36% indicated they were likely to advise friends or relatives to do so.”

In other words, it was once again a soulless debate, full of lies, especially on immigration, where the candidates behave childishly, repeat trivial talking points and seem more likely to be auditioning to be Donald Trump’s running mate. who, by not taking part, trumps them all for the GOP’s MAGA base heading into that party’s primaries.

Indeed, what was seen in the debate was what was expected: a display of lies with seven Republican losers, devoid of ideas or proposals for the common good, but full of hatred and anti-immigrant rhetoric, who, with their unsuccessful responses, again set the stage for the path of possible Donald Trump’s candidacy in his attempt to return to power. It is so simple.

Frankly, we think the candidates would make more noise given the events at the border, where thousands of migrants continue to arrive seeking asylum.

But they rather remained within the framework of the learned script: the border is “open”; that the border strip should be militarized; that Mexico and migrants are “responsible for the fentanyl crisis” and overdose deaths, even though it has been established that this is not an immigration issue and that 90% of the drug comes through official ports of entry brought in primarily by American citizens. That is, fentanyl arrives on cars, trucks, boats and planes, and not through migrants or asylum seekers. This lie is no longer perpetuated in debates or anti-immigrant campaigns.

They also reiterated that we must put an end to sanctuary cities and even conduct military operations against the cartels inside Mexico because Mexico, in their opinion, is not a “good partner” in stopping the infiltration of consumable opioids. from this side. As good representatives of the American right and far right, they ignore the issue of the sovereignty of nations, expressing irresponsible opinions about invading foreign territory.

And, of course, this gem could not be missing from the list of demagogic ideas and proposals of the Republicans: denying citizenship to those born in the United States to undocumented parents. And it is even more disgusting when it is proposed by a man born in the United States to immigrant parents, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who never tires of disgracing his own group of migrants, his parents, his friends, his social and economic environment, but above all his entire origin . Listening to him say this nonsense takes us back to Nazi Germany and everything it represented.

In particular, there was no serious discussion of ideas. And, in any case, the absent Donald Trump continues to dictate the tone and proposals, especially on immigration, who must have been grinning from ear to ear last night when he saw seven of his political imitators repeat his political “legacy” word for word. as if it were a script dictated by himself.

In essence, Republicans are not offering real solutions, but are only trying to politicize the problem. It’s sad and ironic that the headquarters was the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California, the Republican president who instituted an amnesty in 1986 that legalized 3 million immigrants.

But neither Reagan nor his dream of a shining city on a hill has a place in this Trump Republican Party, which aims to end the history of the United States and begin a new one that has nothing in common with what its founders dreamed of.