(You can listen to this column, read by the author, here.)
A recent commentary by Denver Gazette editor Vince Bzdek raised an intriguing question: “Is migrant crisis fed’s fault, or Colorado’s?” I’d say this isn’t an either-or-question. This unprecedented magnitude of illegal alien entries into the U.S., encouraged and allowed by President Biden and openly accommodated by Colorado, Denver, and other Democrat-controlled sanctuary cities, is indisputably the fault of all of the above along with the hundreds of billions of dollars that have been squandered to accommodate it.
This catastrophe was triggered and has been accelerating from the very beginning of the Biden presidency while the president and his Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, have pooh-poohed it, preposterously claiming, “our border is secure!” Only now, in the first stage of his reelection campaign with polls showing massive disapproval of his performance on immigration policy and border security has the word “crisis” finally passed Biden’s lips. And even then, absurdly blaming it on Donald Trump.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Someone always gets the bill. When the feds funnel billions of dollars to subsidize sanctuary cities for the care and welfare of millions of illegal aliens, the cost will ultimately be passed on to federal taxpayers, including folks who don’t live in those sanctuary cities. They shouldn’t be forced to bail out the sanctuary cities whose elected “social justice” warriors brought this on themselves by sanctimoniously rolling out the welcome mat to begin with. Of course, that was before the deluge. Suddenly, they don’t want any more. Real justice would be best served by having the politicians who created this mess and the people who elected them open their own homes to all those who crossed our border illegally. Fat chance.
Bzdek wasn’t actually opposing subsidies for sanctuary cities in his commentary. The thrust of which was that Colorado hasn’t milked the federal cow as well as border states like Texas. Especially the city of El Paso, thanks to its Congresswoman Veronica Escobar. He said with envy, she’s “been able to grease the skids for federal reimbursements” and wonders why Colorado’s congressional delegation hasn’t. Perhaps because Escobar has more clout as a leader of the radical left-wing House Progressive Caucus that dominates the Democrats’ legislative agenda with 102 members out of the party’s 213. Oh, and she also represents a congressional district that’s 82% Latino.
El Paso is a border city that’s become a way station for foreign migrants. That includes those who illegally sneak across our border as well as those ushered across under Biden’s outrageous misapplication and abuse of “parole.” That’s a quasi-legal immigration status that’s customarily granted by the federal government to a relatively small number of refugees and other foreign nationals, but nowhere near the many millions Biden has extended it to. Ironically, El Paso’s alien intruders want out of that city for fear of deportation. Which is why they head for sanctuary cities like Denver that provide free housing, food, clothing, medical care, public education, and also shields them from federal immigration law enforcement.
Which brings us to the so-called “bipartisan” Senate bill that failed on February 7 with all but a handful of Democrats voting for it and all but a handful of Republicans voting against it. That’s hardly bipartisanship. With Biden’s public approval rating on immigration tanking, his handlers were desperate to change the campaign narrative. Their scheme was to contrive a bill so deficient on border security they knew House Republicans would never accept it. After which they’d claim Republicans stonewalled this solution to the crisis (which was all Biden’s doing) with the liberal media echoing the new narrative. And that’s just what happened, with Biden blaming it on Trump, to boot.
At Biden’s insistence, the 370-page, $94 billion so-called Senate Border Bill (with less than $20 billion for the border) was bundled together with aid to Israel and Ukraine getting the bulk of the money — two unrelated issues. With progressive Democrats opposed to Israel and right-wing Republicans opposed to Ukraine, the bill was guaranteed to fail. When it did, Democrats and media liberals absurdly claimed the failed Senate bill wasn’t “perfect” but was a “compromise” that gave Republicans most of what they wanted.
Nonsense. In April, House Republicans had passed HR-2, the Secure the Border Act, listing their demands, including a 900-mile border wall. The failed Senate bill included no border wall and rejected many other key Republican security and immigration reform measures. Instead, Senate Democrats authorized 5,000 illegal crossings a day! That’s no compromise. Why allow any? And they threw in $1.4 billion for private organizations that aid illegal aliens. If they’re truly private, they should fund it themselves.
If Republicans approved the Senate bill, Biden claimed he’d “shut down the border right now and fix it quickly.” That’s laughable. He didn’t need this bill to do that. He already has that power if he’d simply exercise it and let the border patrol do its job, as Trump did. Republicans would have been crazy to accept that deal or trust Biden and the Democrats to enforce border security. Their vision of “comprehensive” immigration reform is a very porous border and expedited citizenship for countless illegal aliens who will return the favor by electing Democrats forever.
Longtime KOA radio talk host and columnist for the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News Mike Rosen now writes for CompleteColorado.com.
