Fake Mercy: The Immigration Failure
Leftism populism in America is an untold story
Border control between the USA and Mexico is an epic immigration failure, and the Biden administration is reaching new lows of neglect.
“The migrant crisis is exposing Democratic policy weakness at every level, from an administration that is scared to take on its progressive wing and take bold action to states such as New York and Massachusetts, which have “right to shelter” rules that are utterly unworkable in the face of this onslaught. Unless Democrats seize control of the issue, the politics of it will end up having the same effect as in other Western countries — rocket fuel for the populist right.”
—Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post op-ed, Sept. 15, 2023
The op-ed is titled “Democrats need to admit that they’re wrong on immigration”
This weekend’s piece by Fareed Zakaria inspired me to reflect with you on the biggest roadblock to action. Let’s start by acknowledging that the public is not aware of the the details of immigration policy. Meaning: the public is often misled by empty finger-pointing that “this” is a hangover from Trump/Obama/Clinton/LBJ/Washington. Nonsense. You and I know better.
Everyone in Washington knows that this White House is deeply frozen by a shockingly unresolved tension between two core constituencies: “Progressives” who favor open borders (because any restrictions are racist) and “Labor” — those socially-conservative blue collar workers who tend to view migrants as competition. Both are wrong in principle, which makes the inaction even more infuriating. What caught my attention was how perfectly Zakaria’s warning is, because the immigration issue is dynamite and inaction by the White House is going to have major splash damage.