Written by Monty Granger @mjgranger1
There have been more illegal border crossings this year than any other year in recorded history. By comparison, 2022 saw 2.7 million crossings over all twelve months, whereas 2023 had already surpassed that number by the end of August with more than 2.8 million. Yet, the White House, aka Sleepy Joe Biden & Co., continues to deny a “crisis”—or even a problem—at the border despite the evidence of human– including child–trafficking, a flood of fentanyl, gang violence, terrorist infiltration, an influx of murderers and rapists, criminal migration, and on and on.
Recently, as reported in the Washington Times, President Biden threw up his hands and said that, despite the opposition of his base, he had no choice but to allow a border wall to be built. According to him, Congress had appropriated the money against his wishes, and now it could only be spent on a new wall. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas took the next step, stating that he had asked for and received suspension of 26 laws that would have delayed the construction so that the work could begin immediately.
Smell a rat? Me, too!
This is a blatant play for Never Trumpers, RINOs, and Independents opposed to another Donald Trump presidency. Combined with relentless “Guilty until proven innocent” legal attacks on the former president, Biden & Co. are trying to make up lost ground in polls and with potential voters. What better way than to use Trump’s best play? You want the wall, but no Trump? Here you go!
This puts the political Right in a tight spot. Which way to turn?
How about to the US Constitution? A border wall is only one small piece to the larger border security and immigration puzzle.
This is not really an immigration problem anyway; it is an INVASION problem. Legal immigrants line up and wait their turn; just ask them! My father’s second wife was a first-generation Mexican-American whose parents immigrated legally to the United States and then started a pepper farm in Greely, Colorado.
But current US immigration policy requires giving due process rights to invaders. This is illegal, or should be. Were the US Supreme Court or the Congress to intervene in the current open border immigration issue, they could easily rule in favor of denying entry, denying due process (suspending habeas corpus), and repelling these invaders.
The US Constitution says in Article I, Section 9, Clause 2: “The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus (due process) shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.” This is known as the “Suspension Clause,” and has been used in the past, during peace and wartime, to disenfranchise “insurrectionists,” spies, and invaders of the United States. It must be invoked again NOW.
The US, like all countries, has ports of entry where lawful visits and real immigration (migration, asylum) take place. If a person chooses to enter the US at any other place or attempts to sneak across in a plane, train, automobile, ship or boat, that person is an invader who should be denied due process and then repelled.
Because this is an invasion problem and not an immigration problem, the US military should necessarily be involved in a solution. Limited resources for border police should be freed up to be used exclusively at points of entry, with the military policing everywhere in between. National Guard and Reserve forces could be used on a rotating basis to assist Active Duty joint mission (all branches) personnel.
Rules of Engagement (ROE: a legal policy of how/when to use force) for these troops could include “shoot to kill” in certain circumstances when armed enemies present themselves as a threat to life and limb. The military could use state-of-the-art technology to head invaders off at the pass and prevent them from entering the country. Those who do enter between legal ports of entry can be sent home via plane, train, or automobile after signing a waiver to habeas corpus (if the Supreme Court/Congress will not invoke the Suspension Clause). This would prevent invaders from using US laws against us.
What about the issue of those invaders who are already in the country? US Marshalls and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officers can be utilized to find and then deport them, again, after having them sign waivers, sans Suspension Clause invocation.
This is not unprecedented. In 1954, under the Eisenhower administration, an estimated 1.3 million Mexicans were deported in an event called Operation Wetback. The racist name notwithstanding, it was an operation that was co-sponsored by the Mexican government, demonstrating that the home countries of these invaders should, and, indeed, must be included in the solution.
Before being repatriated, invaders should be in-processed military style, like a suspected terrorist at the US military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This would include taking photographs, fingerprints, DNA samples, a retinal scan, facial recognition, and other biometric identification. Such information would be shared with the country of origin, and proper detention/deportation arranged with the home country. Repeat offenders and criminals could then be easily identified and properly processed before being deported. Of course, cost sharing in this regard is essential.
The invasion/immigration problem is not brain surgery. We can do this with common sense, practicality, and the law of the land: the US Constitution. What we need are courageous, loyal, and patriotic politicians, technocrats, bureaucrats, and Supreme Court Justices who are willing to put America first and preserve this great country for citizens and lawful immigrants.