I am writing in reference to an article by Dr. Matthew Cronin that appeared in the March 15 edition of the Western Livestock Journal. Dr. Cronin’s assertion that “liberals also support open borders and illegal immigration…” is false, intellectually dishonest, and unproductive to the narrative.
First, a review of recent Democratic immigration policy. President Barrack Obama was known derogatorily by fellow Democrats as the “deporter in chief” due to the large numbers of Mexican and Central American illegal aliens returned to their countries during his administration. Moreover, Border Patrol assets, in the context of number of agents, peaked during his administration. That’s not “open borders.”
Likewise, President Bill Clinton implemented Operation Gatekeeper in 1994 to stem the flow of an unprecedented number of illegal aliens crossing the border south of San Diego. My dad was running hundreds of cows east of San Diego at the time. We saw the results of Gatekeeper in real time. It wasn’t good for us but the Border Patrol operation achieved the intended results. That’s not “open borders.”
Currently, President Joe Biden is facing a crisis at the border and it is too early to judge his effectiveness in confronting it. President Biden’s approach to asylum seekers and unaccompanied minors will differ significantly from that of the previous administration, but his actions hardly constitute “open borders.”
The idea that Democrats want to remove immigration controls at the border is a tired (but effective) trope designed to smear the party and influence elections. The concept is similar to other falsehoods stating, for example, that Democrats are socialists or “want to take your guns.” Very few Democrats support any of these positions as portrayed and, in fact, their views are generally much more nuanced.
Instead of trafficking in partisan rhetoric, perhaps Dr. Cronin should have illustrated the real policy differences between the two parties pertaining to immigration and let the readers decide. — James Kemp, Campo, CA
