Migrants Are Not Terrorists
Migrants Are Not Terrorists
The absurd and inflamed rhetoric prevents us from addressing real problems.
We live in a political time where one side of the aisle refuses to discuss issues, preferring instead to mislead and inflame the discussion. Their entire strategy is to fear monger the far right base about anything and anyone who isn’t white, conservative, and Christian.
This fear mongering is exactly why the go to response for Republicans on migrant crossings hasn’t been to better fund Customs and Border Patrol in order to increase the number of agents and improve their technology, nor has it been to invest in upgrading the asylum program, improve processing technology, or invest in processing facilities.
Instead the approach has been to do nothing about America’s outdated immigration system or the migrant crossings. Republicans find it better to use immigration as their main political attack topic since all of their other topics, like the economy, have fallen through.
Republicans choose to scare people. To claim that the human beings crossing the border in search of a better life are actually rapists and murderers. That their blood is poisoning America. That Democrats are inviting them into our country in order to get new votes. And the latest claim spewing forth from the MAGA celebrities is that terrorists are coming across our Southern border. They claim none of us are safe.
This is, of course, a lie.
Let’s begin with the latest claim, that 10 IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) were found along the border. What the fear mongers keep leaving out is that these IEDs were found by Mexican authorities in Mexico as cartels battled over territory.
The next point brought up is the number of watchlist hits that have happened at the Southern border. While it is referred to as the terrorist watchlist, it is a bit of an exaggeration with its name, but we will get back to that in a minute.
The first question to ask Republicans is why are they focused on this number now when there have typically been more watchlist hits at the Northern border? Where was the alarm if this is such a scary situation?
85% of all watchlist hits in 2023 were at the Northern border, almost all of which happened at Ports of Entry.
Even on the southern border, over 1/3rd of all watchlist hits have also happened at Ports of Entry.
Fewer than 0.01% of all migrants trigger a watchlist hit.
And finally, as you can see by the chart below, the level of watchlist hits was continually increasing under Trump. The amount was disrupted by the pandemic but has now continued on the same trajectory it was already on.
Now that we know the actual magnitude of watchlist hits, let’s discuss the watchlist itself.
The US contains a database of known terrorists and terrorist organizations. Oftentimes revolutionary groups are also put on this list even when they are guerrilla fighters in another nation. This was the case for FARC from Columbia. The group has disbanded, never posed a threat to America, and has been delisted as a terrorist group by the US government. And yet, those members are still on the watchlist which is officially known as the TSDS (Terrorist Screening Dataset).
Also on the watchlist are family members, friends, and associates of suspected terrorists. People who have done nothing wrong and have no terrorist associations themselves.
Then there are the people who are wrongly on the list or trigger false positives. Mohamed Khairullah has been mayor of Prospect Park New Jersey since 2005. He is on the TSDS and has filed a lawsuit over that fact.
The TSDS has faced numerous lawsuits due to its inaccuracies and the fact that 98% of the people on the list are Muslim, despite religion, race, and ethnicity being factors that are not allowed to place someone on the watchlist.
If none of that makes you feel any better about the watchlist hits then maybe the fact that no one with ties to Hamas, ISIS, or Al-Qaeda has been reported as any of the apprehensions or watchlist hits. And in fact, no terrorist activity in the US has been tied to border crossings at all.
Finally there is the fact that immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than Americans do.
Congress Is At Fault
Over 2.8 million migrants have crossed into the US in 2023, surpassing the 2.7 million of 2022. This number is not small, but it is also the result of destabilized nations such as Venezuela and Nicaragua, US Sanctions making economic situations in South America worse, climate change, and an outdated asylum and immigration system in the US that can’t process, house, and hear cases of asylum seekers fast enough.
The US has an obligation by international law to allow people to seek asylum and hear their case. Being the richest and most powerful nation makes the US a beacon for asylum seekers who are traveling hundreds and even thousands of miles to escape their dire situations.
President Biden has directly called on Congress to pass legislation to improve America’s outdated immigration systems, but House Republicans have refused to do so.
Democrats also attempted to pass a bill to increase funding to CBP to hire new agents and improve border monitoring technology. Republicans voted against it.
Republicans demand a wall that has been proven to be easily scaled, cut through, or dug under. Just this past week a video was posted, reposted, and shared by MAGA politicians showing migrants flowing through a Trump style border wall that had a vertical piece cut out of the way.
Until Congress passes realistic and comprehensive immigration overhauls, this level of migrants will continue to be a challenge for different major cities to handle, which in turn will continue to cause stress for Americans. All the while funds that would go to other causes end up going to patchwork fixes that barely manage the situation.
For that reason, Americans have every right to be upset over the current immigration problems. But their anger is misplaced. People who are repressed, struggling, starving, and desperate are going to risk everything they have to get to a better life. And again, international law requires us to hear their requests for asylum.
Our government needs to do their job. They need to vote on a bill that will properly fund CBP, update our processing programs, or asylum programs and update housing centers for migrants awaiting processing.
It is our government’s job to solve these types of issues. Instead, Republicans use migrants as a fear mongering campaign tool while having the least productive House of Representatives in modern history.
Nothing will change until we start discussing the actual facts of the situation instead of misleading the public. These lies and half truths have one goal: to manufacture fear that will be used to try and push forward extremist, unpopular positions.
