In the final 2020 presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the topic turned to the immigration issues at the southern border. “Children are brought here by coyotes and lots of bad people, cartels,” Trump said, referring to the human traffickers who facilitate illegal crossings into the United States.
That single word — “coyotes” — brought to light how many progressives with such strong, idealistic views on the migrant situation actually know very little about what’s going on. They flocked to Twitter to attempt to mock Trump, thinking he was referring to the actual animal.
“How the hell does a coyote bring a whole human across the border?! Lord—–stop talking,” declared Democratic Georgia state Rep. Dar’shun Kendrick.
It was clear that when it comes to the lives of people seeking refuge, progressives only entertain the veneer of the issue, with feel-good slogans, simplistic solutions for complicated matters and wishful outcomes based on fantasy-driven advocacy.
Martha’s Vineyard, a progressive elite safe haven, has been confronted with a fraction of the reality of the crisis and forced to momentarily leave the fantasy behind by asking itself the same question border states have been for years: How do we manage these people?
The sanctuary for many millionaires and billionaires was given the opportunity to act on its progressivism by becoming a sanctuary for the deprived.
Instead, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ scheme to send people who’ve crossed our borders to Martha’s Vineyard became the stick that slammed into the elite’s hornet nest as progressive politicians and pundits attempted to sting back with rhetoric claiming flying migrants between states is immoral.
These same people had nothing to say, of course, when President Biden started flying migrant children from border states to New York state in the dead of night a year ago. Soledad O’Brien ironically called DeSantis’ “disgusting” flights “human trafficking” without realizing the method many of these people use to make it to our borders is a human trafficker.
If one of the wealthiest places in America can’t find a way to house 50 people, then what chance does any border town or neighboring city have? What do progressives think happens to these people when they cross the border?
In fact, many progressives have little to no remote idea what these people go through to make it to our borders or even what happens to them afterward.
They’re overlooking the existence of an entire industry that bankrolls cartels to traffic human beings to our borders. Women and children pay cartel members to be trafficked, and they can end up being sex-trafficked even beyond our borders.
There’s a reason Immigration and Customs Enforcement is highly involved in preventing sex trafficking: It’s a highly prevalent risk for people seeking a better life.
Progressives don’t want to understand that living a life as an illegal immigrant is highly dangerous. They’re known to not report crimes like theft, assault and rape because of potential deportation. They live their lives in the shadows of American society for years or even decades with the possibility that one slip-up will mean losing everything and being sent back to the place they left.
Progressives believe most of the people crossing our borders are valid asylum seekers who should be able to stay in the safety of the United States rather than remain in Mexico. The truth is that during fiscal year 2020, 73.7% of asylum claims were denied.
Progressives think only people from Mexico and Central America are coming over our borders. The truth is there’s a huge industry of trafficking of people from all over the world. It’s the reason a 6-year-old girl from India was found dead at our border in 2019. In 2021, Border Patrol agents famously attempted to apprehend Haitian immigrants at the Texas border.
What’s happening at our southern border is a real crisis; the solution isn’t to put on rosy glasses and hope for the best. With 2 million people crossing in the last fiscal year alone, this issue isn’t going away — it will only exacerbate as federal immigration policy doesn’t change.
Democratic politicians have been able to wave a flag of emotional support from a thousand miles away while border and neighboring states struggle to manage the disaster. The Biden administration will always implore Americans to exert an excessive amount of empathy but never explain why.
Why should American citizens accept the status quo of border failure? Why should we pretend that people aren’t being taken advantage of by an entire trafficking industry?
Democrats used to understand the national-security risk of failing to secure our borders, but they’ve thrown it aside for faux progressive empathy. They may learn their lesson — when it’s too late.
Adam B. Coleman is the author of “Black Victim to Black Victor” and founder of Wrong Speak Publishing. Follow on Substack: adambcoleman.substack.com.
(originally published on New York Post).
