5 Bipartisan Reasons to Close the Border
& Biden's Wall Building
“Shameful. Embarrassing. A potentially impeachable offense.” —Opening words in this Juan Vargas article
There’s nothing quite like knowing you were right. While a public apology from Biden to the US would be nice for 150 billion dollars in damages, I’m just happy that the wall is getting built. Despite the Constitution putting the responsibility of borders on the executive branch I find it ironic that Democrats instantly cry impeachment over actually doing the job of a executive.
I don’t know why this isn’t a bipartisan issue. Sure, one can surmise it’s a giant power grab by Democrats trying to get 10 million more voters; never mind the humanitarian crisis. Instead, I’m going to lay out some history and reasons why closing the border should be a bipartisan priority.
1. We fought two wars for the border
Mexican-American War (1846–1848)
When Texas was admitted to the Union it began a chain of events that led to the Mexican-American War on May 13, 1846. The Mexicans were harassing the Republic of Texas in debate over the border, and the US inherited this tension. Democratic President Polk sent troops to harass the Mexicans and got 11 soldiers shot. Polk claimed Mexican aggression, shedding blood on American soil, and Representative Lincoln (the future Republican President to free the slaves and give us Juneteenth) challenged the claim wanting to know the exact spot blood was shed.
When the curtain of war fell the American military swooped in and captured Mexico City in a short 2-year war. Instead of occupying the entirety of Mexico, as most nations would have after conquest, America snipped off the northern territories. This helped achieve America’s perceived Manifest Destiny and was in some ways a dress rehearsal for the coming Civil War.
The Left would like to point out that the US, especially Southern Democrats, started several filibustering expeditions into several Latin territories. Filibustering in this context is hiring a private army to invade a country or isle. Therefore, the mass migration we see today is merely repayment of “imperial debts” in their (I think) flawed opinions.
This ignores imperial invasions of France and Spain. Indeed, the whole reason Mexicans celebrate Cinco de Mayo to this day isn’t because they fought off the US but the French for the second time in 1867. To put the brunt of the blame on the US shows an unjust tunnel vision of would-be historians ever since the 1619 Project published.
The Border War, (1910–1919)
Bandit War, & the Zimmerman Telegram
This war was the fifth and last conflict actually fought in the mainland United States. German Imperialists fomented and sometimes fought alongside the Mexicans — such as Dr. Lyman B. Rauschbaum — in raids of the Southern US. In Texas, the Bandit War was mutual racially charged violence along the border. Essentially conflict within the border conflict. Again, the Zimmerman telegram was sent by the German Empire and dragged us to WW1.
So should Mexico pay us for WW1 when we wanted to be left alone?
Today, politicians have a heart attack when we send 1,500 troops to the border. After the Border Crisis of 1916, when Pancho Villa began his raids, we mobilized the entire National Guard — 150,000 troops — to guard the 2k mile border. It wasn’t until after the Battle of Ambos Nogales in August 1918, we established a permanent border wall for the protection of both parties.
1.5* Texas Fought One War
In the Texan War for Independence, Tejanos and Anglo Texans forced the Mexican dictator Santa Anna after the Battle of San Jacinto to sign the Treaties of Velasco. The Mexican Congress nullified this as Santa Anna was a prisoner of war and under duress when signing them. It wasn’t until the Mexican-American War that the Rio Grande was formally recognized as the border.
2. The Drug War
The Left likes to argue that America’s War on Drugs, started by Nixon in 1971, was a failure. Just legalize like Oregon! Thing is, that led to slavery. Cartels, like the mafias in Las Vegas and New York, are a crafty bunch. Regulations only annoy them or help them outcompete the honest citizens. For example, the cartels use legal and illegal fillers in their drugs. If regulations were the answer, one would be shutting down Big Pharma to only partially stop the manufacture of narcotics. Instead of stopping the good and law abiding pharmacies, we must destroy the bad actors.
It was only when the FBI and DOJ (and in New York’s case, Rudy Guilianni) started handing out 50-year and 100-year sentences like candy that the mobs faded into obscurity. Biden’s policies of appeasement made the problem — the Cartel’s profit margins — over 2600% worse.
I mean, this month (July, 2023) cocaine was found in the White House. While Secret Services concluded that they “couldn’t find the perp” and Congress wants to know who that is, I believe that’s not the most important question. No, where did it come from? Is the Biden White House nothing more than customers as they “lose” 20,000 children smuggled into narco slavery?
Guess we’ll just have to find out once someone dies of fentanyl or carfentanil in the White House. Just comparing Trump’s numbers to Biden’s (& even Obama’s) is more than enough evidence to me that surrendering in the drug war will only make the humanitarian catastrophe even worse. The US took forty years to stop the crime in the Wild West (1865–1895) and also over fifty years to stop our own mafia situation (1920’s-1980’s or 90’s). To want Mexico to solve their problems in half the time — without aggressive military assistance — is naive.
3. Closing the Border Stops Drugs AND Guns
Democrats hate guns. Republicans hate illegal drugs. Democrats like recreational drugs (legal or otherwise). Republicans like easy guns.
The problems in Mexico are partly a bipartisan baby of the US. While new age Republicans are in favor of closing the border; Democrats are indifferent to the idea. It took over three years for CNN to claim the border was a crisis alongside New York and Chicago, Illinois. Ted Cruz or other “slow-old-behind the times-racist-extremist-Qanon-xenophobic-fascists” as the Left calls them, have actually been very up to date with the times. Perhaps instead of name calling, Leftist news sources shouldn’t be years behind on actual news?
I digress, but China is deeply involved in the modern border crisis, much like Germany in WW1. Only this time they are teaching them how to make drugs that will kill Americans. It’s really not much different than the US sending money to Iran for them to send to Russia to murder Ukrainians. The only difference between the two is one is called a border crisis and the other is called an invasion.
Doubters will try to claim to claim that these wars are different — yet their body count differs only slightly. Reuters said in April that the entire Ukraine conflict has killed 354,000 people; note that the war started in February 2022. From 2020, drug deaths have shot up and crossed 200,000 by 2022 and it is my hypothesis that it should clear 400,000 by election time in 2024.
Guns are causing problems as well. Cartel violence since 2006 is estimated to have claimed 150,000 lives in Mexico but my guesses are much higher.
In 2018, the number of drug-related homicides in Mexico rose to 33,341, a 15 percent increase from the previous year — and a record high. Moreover, Mexican cartels killed at least 130 candidates and politicians in the lead-up to Mexico’s 2018 presidential elections. — cfr.org
The right likes to bash Chicago for their gun violence but, despite our differences, they are victims of the cartels as well. Since Biden got in office in 2020 over 30,000 weapons have been seized at our borders as of July 2023. The Sinaloa Cartel is responsible for much of the violence inside our cities; especially Chicago.
“Much of the gun violence in the city can be traced to drugs that come from Sinaloa(…)” — CNN
“Eighty-three percent of men arrested for crimes in Chicago in 2013 tested positive for drug use, according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.” — Also CNN
What the Left agreed was a crisis when Obama was in office is now exponentially worse:
“In the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 we seized more methamphetamine than the entire fiscal year 2020.” —Robert Bell, Special Agent in Charge of DEA Chicago, ABC7 News
“New data from the FBI show that for the first time in four years, violent crime across the country went up last year. In Chicago, from 2019 to 2020, homicides jumped by more than 50%, according to the bureau. Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown talked about those numbers Monday and what’s causing it. The city’s top cop spoke at the City Club, putting much of the blame for Chicago’s gun violence on the illicit drug trade. “Gangs fighting over turf are destroying lives and communities, killing innocent children, young people and adults,” Brown said.
“This is a massive crisis facing our city and cities across the country. I think the FBI data really shows that it’s — we’re not experiencing a national crime surge, we’re experiencing a very specific increase in homicides and shootings,” said Roseanna Ander, Ex. Dir. University of Chicago Crime Lab, ABC7 News
(Bolds were added by me, that very specific increase was the 2020 election of a cocaine customer Administration.)
4. It’s A National Security Threat
The headlines some weeks ago were aflame with Yevgeny Prigozhin and the possibility that his Wagner Group, the most powerful private military in the world, would revolt against Putin. What’s interesting is Prigozhin nets only worth 1 billion dollars/euros and Wagners budget is only 1 billion euros (equivalent to 1.1 billion US dollars).
El Chapo is worth 4 billion in net worth.
Yes, that’s him right now in prison after Mexico seized 12.6 billion of his assets. Before, he was worth 15. When Mexico arrested his son, Guzmán López, the cartel repelled the military and had a prison break for his release. Culiacán was turned into scenes from Syria in our War on Terror using SAW machine guns, M2 50. caliber heavy machine guns and various other hardware that we can’t get from a mom and pop gun store. Including grenade launchers.
If Wagner Group is the most powerful official mercenary group in the world then the Cartels threatening our borders are 12–30 times more powerful. Their firepower extends to the air, land and sea as well. Wagner has the upper hand of getting free hardware from the Russians while the Cartels are more focused on shipping their poison. Hypothetically speaking though, the Cartels could easily take over large swaths of southern America and start another 1916 raiding campaign. This would be even more pertinent if, God forbid, they all united.
Allowing billions of dollars in assets to flow to criminal organizations that could turn and buy ex-military equipment off the black market on our border is reminiscent to the buildup of Russia’s armies on Ukraine. It just hasn’t formulated yet. I hope I’m wrong but with the flow of people on our border it’s giving a lot of conspiracy theorists ammunition of possible incursions happening in the future.
5. It Works
A little cliché but it’s a well established fact that both Trump and Biden are building the wall. The cartel raked in less money when Trump was in office and that meant less power. While I have little confidence that Biden will completely close the border (someone in his administration is a customer, after all) let us recognize that this border issue should be a bipartisan concern.
There’s literally no good reason to keep the border open.
Biden Administration Is Building a U.S.-Mexico Border Wall that Could Worsen Flooding in Both…
Documents show that two federal agencies have been at odds over the border wall project across the Tijuana River Valley…voiceofsandiego.org
Biden is forced to build Trump's border wall
Homeland Security said Friday it will build 20 more miles of border wall, carrying out some of former President Donald…www.washingtontimes.com