Dakota Beacon

Many share the sense that our republic slowly slips away like grains of sand through fingers. The voters have supposedly permitted a few powerful politicians with utopian visions to direct the lives of the many. Whether to control our health, wealth, or the climate around us, these powerful few seek to fulfill their vision of what is best for the rest.

So it is with immigration. The US open borders with millions of new residents having arrived over the past two years serves as a means to an end. They will soon become voters by hook or by crook.

Illegal aliens pour across the US southern border by the thousands each week, and to a lesser extent the northern border as well. Biden’s administration exerts zero effort to stop the flow. In a weird sort of way, the administration’s current plan seems to welcome the aliens and then distribute them inland. When questioned about open borders, Biden’s administration remains mum. This type of transparency seems opaque at best.

This sentiment was not always so. A quote challenging this belief reads as follows:

“All Americans, not only in the States most heavily affected but in every place in this country, are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country. The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants. The public service they use impose burdens on our taxpayers. That's why our administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders more by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens. In the budget I will present to you, we will try to do more to speed the deportation of illegal aliens who are arrested for crimes, to better identify illegal aliens in the workplace ... We are a nation of immigrants. But we are also a nation of laws. It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws we have seen in recent years, and we must do more to stop it.”

Who said this? Was it Donald Trump in 2016? Oh, no! This excerpt was extracted from the State of the Union Speech delivered by President Bill Clinton on January 24, 1995 at the beginning of his second term. For this address, 28 years ago, he received a standing ovation from a Joint Session of Congress including then Senator Joe Biden.

Governor Christine Todd Whitman from New Jersey gave the rebuttal. She blathered on with all the usual feel-good platitudes filling the airtime (blah, blah, blah).

No mention whatsoever about immigration. What a missed opportunity. If only the Republican leadership had taken advantage of this great opening. For the first time in 40 years the Republicans had gained control of the US House of Representatives.

A factoid worth noting occurred on Democrat President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s watch. For all intents and purposes, there was no immigration into the United States for over 40 years from 1924 to 1965. Two major laws bracketed this period. The 1924 Johnson-Reed Act vastly reduced immigration from countries outside the Western Hemisphere and banned immigrants from Asia. More importantly, the law was strictly enforced. In 1965 the Immigration and Nationality Act created a system focusing on family reunification and the acquisition of skilled immigrants. Ostensibly, the ban fostered two objectives. First was to admit economically acceptable and productive individuals. Second was to allow time for the newcomers to be assimilated.

Bottom line. Control of our borders can certainly be accomplished. Where there is a will, there is a way. President Trump’s actions on immigration spoke far louder than words.

Do not underestimate the power of this issue. Sentiment opposing open borders continues to build among the American people. Make no mistake. This issue no longer exists as a Democrat or Republican concern. This has become an American concern. Are your Senators and Congressmen listening? One-third of the Senators and all Congressmen are up for re-election in 2024. Being a presidential election year, the turnout should be great. Given a specific candidate, the turnout could be greater still. Any noise you and I make will be heard by the candidates.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).