The Quote Below—More Misinformation from the Media:
“It is a symptom of our division that [Donald Trump] can live in a friction-free zone that doesn’t require him to grapple with contradictory facts. His supporters hear the words of a martyr who defended them to the end so their country can remain safe and free. His opponents hear a jingoistic refrain — the repeating chorus of his presidency — that criminalized hard-working immigrants. . . . He created fear of outsiders. . . . “Indeed, the most durable wall Mr. Trump built is the one between Americans, not the one between the United States and Mexico. In many ways, his wall of steel and concrete is for show. . . .
“Whenever he faced turmoil, he furthered division. He returned to the site of traumas he inflicted, as he did in McAllen, home to the largest U.S. Customs and Border Protection detention center, which became notorious in 2018 when national and international observers decried the cruelty of family separation. . . .
“Mr. Trump wasn’t the first sower of divisions or builder of walls. That started . . . with the dispossession of Mexican lands after the U.S.-Mexico War; relegating Mexican workers to the lowest-paying, most dangerous jobs; casting them as carriers of disease; and lynching them by the hundreds in the first decades of the 20th century. Over the past century, politicians have argued that immigrants steal jobs, commit crimes, bring disease, and take advantage of our safety nets. . . .
“Mr. Biden has already begun to reverse some of the damage, offering a draft of immigration reforms and halting construction on the border wall. These efforts will help get us back to status quo. That’s not enough, but it’s an important step toward moving beyond the border thinking of Mr. Trump and his supporters.” – Trump Began His Great Wall. He Ended It Too, Geraldo Cadava, The New York Times, 1/26/21 [Link]
Fact Check of Above Quote: This article pitches the convoluted propaganda that border control is bad because it promotes “division.” Well, is division always bad? Only if one believes that separate countries, marked by borders, are bad. Through most of our history, patriotic Americans have viewed borders and border control as divisions which protect our national identity and way of life. This sensible belief had no challenges until the rise of the anti-American mania known as political correctness (PC).
Those who advocate PC maintain that America is an evil country with no legitimacy. Therefore, America has no right to maintain its existence and national character by protecting its borders. This mentality is evident in Cavara’s article when it refers to our Southwest as dispossessed “Mexican lands” and our country as a place where Mexican workers were exploited and murdered.
Mexico today has no valid claim on the Southwest. It is land we developed and made an integral part of our country. As for our national failings, real and imagined, they do not disqualify us from being a sovereign nation—especially given our efforts to do right in the present. Cadava seems upset that some U.S. politicians have pointed to immigrants stealing jobs, bringing disease, etc. Is he trying to suggest that this is never the case and that there is never any downside to immigration? His charge that President Trump “criminalized” hard working illegal aliens is absurd. They became criminalized when they broke our laws. Even if they are hard-working, that doesn’t mean they are law-abiding.
It would be nice to get back to the status quo when there was no division over whether we should protect our border. But now that there is, patriotic Americans must stay divided from those who want a new status quo of a borderless country.