As I said in my last post, when borders get overwhelmed, the locals get fearful. They want order on the border, not anarchy. Too often, liberals forget this and sometimes lose elections as a result.

As Fareed Zakaria said in his CNN special, “It’s a trend we’ve seen repeatedly all over the world.  Anger over immigration, leads to hard-right populist power.”

In 2015 as a result of the Civil War in Syria, Europe took in the most refugees since World War II. European countries took in millions, often with deep reluctance. It took a lot of courage, from leaders such as Angela Merkel in Germany and it sparked a huge political backlash and a sharp rise in popularity of populist leaders. It led to the UK leaving the EU. Marie le Pen garnered many more votes in France than she ever had before. In 2022 a party that sprang from the fascists in Italy led by Mussolini then was led by Giorgia Meloni, its most extreme right wing party since that war. In Sweden a party with neo-Nazi roots won the second most votes for its parliament. And, of course. Donald Trump won a surprising election for president over Hillary Clinton and his anti-immigration policies were a big part of his appeal.

David Frum a wise conservative commentator in an interview with CNN,  stated the issue directly: “If liberals won’t defend the border, fascists will.”  And as Fareed Zakaria said, “Disturbingly, today America seems very open to an anti-immigrant message.”  Some go even farther, suggesting that America seems very open to an authoritarian government or even, a fascist one.

 As Zakaria, said in 2023, “54% of Americans believe there is an invasion at the border, including 40% of Democrats and while 3 in 4 once believed immigrants were important for America’s identity, just over half now think that is true.”

Immigration is such a red hot issue it can lead to very dangerous political consequences. We should all be careful.