Migrant rhetoric matches border reality

It's not the rhetoric that's fueling the fear that those illegal crossers present a danger to the security of the nation and the safety of Americans. It's the reality.

Roughly 5,500 illegal entries are recorded every day at the southern border. Over the past four months, the total number of unscreened entrants to the U.S. nearly matches the population of the city of Detroit. If all the undocumented immigrants who have entered the country since Biden took office were gathered in one place, they'd form the 16th largest state in the nation, equal to the population of Massachusetts.

No other country in the world allows such disregard and disrespect for its borders. Biden is not only permitting it, he is also enabling the crisis with his embrace of the left wing's open border agenda. He repealed policies put in place by Trump to slow the migrant flood without replacing them, and then sat in the White House and pretended not to see the disastrous results of his inaction.

There is little barrier to entry at the southern border. Migrants are brazenly wading across the Rio Grande or slipping through gaps in fences and walls. A few weeks ago in El Paso, Texas, a migrant mob tore down a razor wire fence and overwhelmed the National Guardsmen who tried to stop them.

There's no way to describe this other than as an invasion.

Last year, border agents seized 26,700 pounds of deadly Fentanyl at the border, a nearly five-fold increase over 2020. Fentanyl overdoses took the lives of 112,000 Americans in 2023. Drug trafficking is one reason the Mexican cartels are so involved in moving migrants into the United States.

Migrants have also been linked to a series of high-profile crimes, including the brutal slaying of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, whose murder has become the rallying call for cracking down on illegal immigration.

Donald Trump was in Grand Rapids recently to highlight the slaying of Ruby Garcia, 25, who was shot to death and dumped on a roadside. Her accused killer is Mexican citizen living in the U.S. illegally who had been deported in 2020 but snuck back into the country.

Is the former president engaged in opportunistic fearmongering? Yes. But there's plenty of reason to be fearful. Biden's dereliction has put Americans at risk.

Apologists for illegal immigration note the undocumented commit crimes at a lower rate than native-born U.S. residents. That's irrelevant. We're stuck with the criminals we've bred ourselves. We shouldn't tolerate any level of crime from those who have no right to be here.

Custom and Border Patrol agents arrested 35,433 undocumented immigrants with criminal convictions last year, including 598 known gang members. Since the beginning of fiscal year 2021, 294 individuals on the terrorist watchlist have been apprehended at the southwest border. Leaving such a wide open a terror corridor into the country is as dangerous as a cocked gun.

Donald Trump may be crude in his description of migrants. But his rhetoric on the threat the surge presents matches the reality on the border.

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Previously:

• 03/13/24: Biden speech failed the moment

• 07/13/23: Stop feeding the Meta monster

• 12/22/22: Twitter Files expose Dem/Big Tech bond

• 04/17/22: Abortion ruling empowers states

• 04/08/22: Inflation isn't a Biden talking point

• 03/24/22: Hunter's laptop finally gets some light

• 03/03/22: Biden offers no reset

• 02/28/22:Giving up COVID, keeping mask, fist bumps

• 01/17/22:Biden, Dems roll dice on agenda

• 01/03/22: Can't hide from COVID behind jabs, masks

• 12/23/21:Manchin stood with his people in killing Biden's bill

• 11/04/21: For Dems, 'not Trump' not enough

Nolan Finley is conservative editorial page editor of The Detroit News.