America has neutered itself at home and abroad. The US and the world are much worse off for it.
The pictures last week of illegal aliens overrunning Border Patrol agents in Texas say a great deal about the modern failures of the United States both at home and abroad. People who have no legal business being in the US simply destroy fencing and make their way past officers of the US government. The officers there are mostly impotent to stop this rampage. This was not always the case when in the past such officials were empowered to use force to keep the order. But not today. Every officer knows that if he brandishes a weapon, he will be subject to an internal investigation. If he fires in the air to gain control or force the mob backward, he will be kicked out of the force. Finally, if he were actually to shoot a person involved in a criminal act—entering the US illegally—he might spend the productive years of his life in a US penitentiary. The good guys know it and so do the bad guys. So they stream in. Were any carrying drugs? Were any of them criminals in their home countries or ours? In the past, these were issues. Not anymore.
Just for some perspective, from Israel getting into the US used to be quite an effort. Israel has now joined the visa waiver program, so getting permission to enter the US for an Israeli citizen now takes about 15 minutes online and $21 for a three-year waiver. Just over a year ago, a friend of mine took four of his kids to the US to finish their naturalization as US citizens. Since they were not US citizens when leaving Israel, he paid a guy $1,000 to get him an early appointment at the US embassy to get the kids their visas. Each visa costs a couple of hundred dollars. Normal waiting times to get an appointment without the middleman were measured in months. Who wouldn’t want to just jump a fence and make himself at home?
The failures at the Texas border are not a bug but a feature of the current administration’s program. Democrats have enabled millions of illegal aliens to come into the US these past three years, with the somewhat defective belief that their presence will keep the Democrats in power. This has nothing to do with asylum or saving people from death and famine. Asylum seekers would have to seek asylum in the first country they encounter, well before the US. And nobody is running from a hot war or a recognized famine. Those who are coming do so to work and to find a better life than they had back in their third-world homes. The reason I doubt that the Democrats’ thinking will pan out is that many of those who are coming are Catholic and will not get down with abortion and dressing their kids up as the wrong sex. Also, as we have seen, Latinos are moving Republican as they realize that a safe and prosperous country only comes with the platform of one party these days. But the Democrats invite foreigners to enter the US illegally and many states give them benefits that locals do not receive. Estimates of the number of illegal entrants, since Joe Biden took office, seem to be around seven to eight million people. Just today, the Senate voted down a proposed law to stop funding for the US to fly illegal aliens from their home countries to towns in the US.
Illegal aliens are overwhelming towns and cities across the US. There are not enough places to put them, and the financial requirements to feed them and provide medical and other services are too much for local governments to handle. Look at New York and the juggling act of Mayor Adams. He has moved the illegals gifted by southern governors from hotels to schools and religious facilities and has even asked New Yorkers to take these people into their homes. One Venezualen has taken it upon himself to teach others via TikTok how to become a squatter and get home for nothing.
Those border patrol agents who were overwhelmed look a lot like those who helplessly watched clothes stores and pharmacies cleared out by organized gangs. Armed civilians, store security, and police are completely impotent to do anything about those wiping out stores, big and small. Estimated shoplifting losses in New York City alone to organized shoplifting gangs are $4.4 billion for 2022. Any of those groups listed above could act: a brave citizen could hold the thieves until police arrived. Empowered security guards could act to detain thieves or even threaten them with force. And of course the police could drag the bad guys off to jail. But all levels of government have neutered these players, and they don’t want to go to jail or get killed. They know the rules and so do the thieves. If a smash and grab gang thought that they might be shot dead by an armed shopper, they might look for a different line of work.
Beyond America’s borders, world leaders also know that the US has chosen to self-sensor itself and not act. Most would agree that Putin would never have invaded Ukraine on Donald Trump’s watch. While Putin might be surprised by the level of weaponry given to Ukraine, in the end he knows that he has a large numerical advantage over his enemy and will win by the tried and true Russian method of making the enemy run out of soldiers first. China has been aggressive with her neighbors, with no fear of US pushback, either militarily or economically. Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah has praised Joe Biden—that is all you need to know about where Biden’s priorities are in trying to make Israel stop its war against Hamas before a final victory. People here hear the words of Biden, Blinken, and Chuck Schumer and realize that the Democratic leadership will leave Israel high and dry if it guarantees four more years of a Biden presidency. The US takes its loser attitude and tries to force it onto the Israelis. There is no one here who does not know someone killed or wounded in the original attack or the six-month war in Gaza. The people here are not interested in quitting too early or letting Hamas off the hook in Rafah. Binyamin Netanyahu and some of his ministers have made it clear that they are going into Rafah. They would like the US to be on Israel’s side, but unlike the US, Israel still has the moxy to do that which is right in its interests. They will go in even without US support for the move.
The US is a superpower. May the next administration show itself as such both at home and abroad.