Migration or Invasion?

Illegal migrants have been entering America through our southern border since the days of Ronald Reagan and before, even during the tenure of Donald “Build the Wall” Trump.

But in the past three years of the Biden presidency, the numbers have skyrocketed.

Upon assuming the presidency, Joe Biden stopped Trump’s initiative to construct a wall along our Southern border. Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy ended.

Catch-and-release policies became the norm. And the world observed this, with anyone able to make it to northern Mexico free to traipse into America.

How many? As reported by Fox News’ Griff Jenkins, “Encounters with illegal immigrants at the southern border have topped over 300,000 in December.” What’s the math? 3.6 million per year, more than the population of every U.S. city except Los Angeles and New York.

That’s just “encounters.” How many migrants are not encountered? Called “gotaways,” Border Patrol estimates 1000 per day, or 365,000 per year. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas acknowledges, “600,000 illegal ‘gotaways’ crossed border in 2023, calls immigration system broken.”

These are simply guesses. The real number is unknowable. Let’s say close to a million gotaways annually, making the total 4.5 million migrants a year, more than the population of LA added to America each and every year.

These are not doctors, engineers, or skilled trade workers. Most migrants are unskilled, unable to speak English, illiterate and unemployable. As such they are, by necessity, supported by American taxpayers for food, shelter, education, travel, healthcare, and clothing.

What does that cost? “NYC’s daily per-person cost to house migrants climbs to nearly $400.” That’s just for housing. What about healthcare? California plans to provide healthcare insurance to all illegal migrants, at an annual cost of about $4,000 for each adult.

Is this sustainable, especially since no efforts are being made to curb illegal immigration? U.S. national debt recently topped $34 trillion. With current the current interest rate on the debt at about 3 percent, interest on the debt is over $1 trillion per year. Interest alone consumes a quarter of the 4.4 trillion in annual federal receipts, more than defense spending.

As economist Herb Stein observed, “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” This refers to the U.S. welfare state, which combined with an open border, cannot coexist, as Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman noted.

What do Americans think? Rasmussen Reports asked them. In a recent survey they found, “65% of likely U.S. voters believe it is accurate to describe the current situation with migrants at the border with Mexico as an ‘invasion’ of the United States, including 43% who say such a description is very accurate.”

Going further, “70% of voters consider border security a vital national security interest for the United States these days.”

But is it bad enough yet? Clearly yes, “72% believe the current situation at the U.S.-Mexico border is a crisis.”

Financial ramifications are a portion of the problem. What about the fact that there are millions of young military-age men, from all over the world including countries not friendly to U.S. interests, unvetted, with unknown backgrounds or intentions?

Trump described them as “bad hombres”, intent on crime or terrorism. The number of Chinese migrants crossing into America has risen dramatically. Should we be concerned? This is a national security nightmare.

If 4-5 million migrants arrive in America each year, and 10% are troublemakers, that’s 450,000, the same size as the active duty U.S. Army.

Our enemies would not need to attack us from outside our borders, their military may already be embedded in America.

Imagine China invading Taiwan and the U.S. attempting interference or countermoves. How easy would it be for a small Chinese army, already positioned in the U.S., to sabotage military or communications infrastructure?

Is this migration? Or an invasion? And why is it being allowed, facilitated, and encouraged?

Elected officials have no interest in securing our national border. In a hyperpartisan Washington, D.C., this is one of the only times when Democrats agree with Republicans.

Democrats want new voters. Their policies and leaders are unpopular these days. 65% of likely U.S. voters think the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction, according to Rasmussen Reports. Only 22% of voters strongly approve of the job President Biden is doing.

Creating a new dependency class of tens of millions of potential voters serves Democrat electoral interests. Republicans don’t mind ceding power to the Democrats in exchange for money.

Open borders provide cheap labor for the Chamber of Commerce GOP establishment. Republican lawmakers are rewarded with generous campaign contributions and other financial perks in exchange for looking the other way from an open border.

Ten or 20 million new Democrat voters will make the GOP irrelevant as a national party. Are Republicans oblivious or do they just not care?

The invasion continues, deliberately and systematically. Elon Musk correctly observed, “At this point, there is no question that this administration is actively facilitating illegal immigration.”

Is this Barack Obama’s promise to “fundamentally transform America” using the Cloward-Piven strategy of overloading and breaking the welfare system? Followed by chaos, then rescued by an authoritarian central government taking control, ushering in a fascist or communist America?

It’s well beyond migration. It’s an invasion and woe to America if we don’t recognize it as such.

Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a physician and writer.

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