Liberals, such as Democrats in the US, are failing to see the problems with immigration and conservatives and populists and authoritarians are getting ready to pounce on this election issue again, as they did in 2016 in the US. That issue helped spur Trump’s surprising victory in the race for the American presidency. From the first day of that campaign when Trump came down the escalator in gaudy Trump tower and lambasted Mexican illegal immigrants as rapists and murderers is message has resonated with people. Conservatives, including populists and authoritarians, have been successful in latching on to the issue of immigration around the world. Fareed Zakaria, an astute political analyst, is warning Democrats that the issue of immigration could “cripple their chances at the polls” in the upcoming national elections in the US.” Why is that?
It is true that the US Republicans are taking advantage of this problem and keep hammering the Democrats for what they call their policies of open borders. Such rhetoric plays well with nearly everyone, because virtually no one wants open borders. Most Americans think the Republicans, led by Trump are better able to deal with what they see as chaos at the border.
According to Zakaria it is more than that however. He says the other reason Democrats are getting hammered in the US is that “their [Democrats] policies are wrong. Grossly inadequate to the challenge at hand. Apprehensions at the southern border are surging again.”
The borders across the US are bending as they encounter waves of arrivals that seem well beyond the ability of American border agents to effectively deal with. As Zakaria said, “Now that American cities like New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C., local governments there are facing back-breaking expenses to house them.” They frankly don’t know what to do.
Of course, as I have said before, such expenses should be born by the federal government and not state governments. Immigration, whether legal or illegal is a national issue and costs should be paid by the nation, not the states which are being inundated. That is painfully unfair.
As Zakaria said, “New York city Mayor Eric Adams was exaggerating only slightly when he said, this problem will destroy the city.”
If Republicans are able to persuade Americans that these problems have been exacerbated by weak policies of the Biden administration and states with Democratic governors or Democratic led state governments, this issue could drown Democratic leaders around the US. There are few issues more amenable to Populist manipulation and fear-mongering than images of chaos at borders and massive impositions of expenses upon receiving states, provinces, or governments.
According to Zakaria, “the Biden administration proposals have amounted to band-aids on a massive open wound.” Similar arguments are being made by populist opponents of existing government around the world.