CRISIS AT THE BORDER: WHY PRACTILITY MUST PREVAIL

The issue at the border in Texas is a priority.

It’s been a highly challenging, complex issue for both Democrats and Republicans to get right.

The long-standing conflict pits both parties against one another in an election year that is increasingly toxic.

Let’s remind ourselves of the words of former President Donald Trump:

“They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people,” he said on the campaign trail in 2016 about immigrants crossing the border. And recently he said some migrants are “not people.”

We cannot underscore enough how that hateful rhetoric has shaped and continues to shape the narrative around immigration and how to address border issues.

Yes, we need answers at the border, but let’s be practical in how we get them.

While there is — and has been — fear mongering, it does seem that there are some rational thinkers amid the chaos.

Shortly after the Supreme Court temporarily lifted the hold on a Texas law that would allow law enforcement to detain and deport immigrants entering the U.S. illegally, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to pause it a day later.

Chief Judge Priscilla Richman, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, and Irma Carrillo Ramirez, appointed by President Joe Biden, voted in favor of the pause. Donald Trump-appointed Judge Andrew Stephen Oldham dissented.

The pause helped the state of Texas avoid what would’ve been a catastrophe for the people who live there but also the law enforcement officials tasked with the insurmountable job of detaining hundreds, if not thousands, of undocumented immigrants. Not to mention the subtle racism that would ensue while they approach Black and brown people who look the part.

Republicans’ fear-mongering over immigration and the border completely ignores the reality that immigration is a boon to the U.S. economy.

A recent Goldman Sachs report forecasts that the economy will grow faster than expected because increased immigration will add more workers to the labor force.

Tennesseans, it should be said, need to be honest about immigration.

Last year alone, more than 6,700 immigrants were naturalized in the state of Tennessee, according to Homeland Security data. The year 2020 saw the most naturalizations at 7,449. Between 2013 and 2022, more than 55,043 became U.S. citizens in the Volunteer State.

Those thousands of immigrants pay sales taxes, property taxes and gas taxes just like everyone else in Tennessee.

Yet Republicans are obsessed with the notion that the influx of immigration will drastically change our way of life.

Some GOP states have taken drastic measures to ensure immigrants do not find a welcoming reception.

According to a CNN report, 12 states passed laws to ban sanctuary cities from being created, including Tennessee. Lawmakers in Tennessee pass such legislation in 2018; it became law without then-Gov. Bill Haslam’s signature.

The Tennessee measure requires local law enforcement officials to comply with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement requests to hold immigrants for purposes of deportation.

State Rep. Patsy Hazlewood did not support the bill. “I’m not a lawyer, but I’m told by good lawyers there are constitutional issues with this bill,” Hazlewood said in 2018.

So not all Republicans have allowed ugly rhetoric to guide their decision-making on such a charged issue, but it’s certainly a small number of GOP lawmakers left who think rationally.

If Republicans and conservatives were to think rationally about immigration, they would come to value the economic benefits of a healthy immigration system.

The issue at the border is a priority; our immigration system, such as it is, does not function properly. Our leaders’ failures to buckle down and offer legislation to reform immigration laws have allowed politicians to fear monger and obscure reality. Misguided and uninformed hatred have no place in how we move forward.

We need to be reasonable because this, at its core, is a human issue.

We do not succeed when we pit ourselves against each other.