Republican border lie falls to pieces
Although the GOP has desperately tried to spin the current situation at the border into an incorrigible disaster that only they could be trusted to solve with bluster and strong arm tactics, President Biden has called on Vice President Kamala Harris to head a task force to deal with the border crisis and we’re already seeing results.
“Build the wall!” might make for a good slogan that brings the GOP together and cements the racism and xenophobia they all stand for, but it’s a promise that’s never really gotten far and wouldn’t really be a solution if it happened, whether refugees simply tried climbing over it or not. That’s why Vice President Harris is looking at what brings refugees to the border in the first place and partnering with Central American countries to work on the root causes, while also helping to ease the transition for migrants who have been sent back to their countries of origin.
Two major causes have been the COVID pandemic, which is a key reason for why distributing vaccines to poorer countries is important for stopping its spread, as well as the hurricane that devastated parts of the region in the fall of 2020. So far, things are off to a good start, with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei declaring his wish to partner with the U.S. to address “poverty and the many evils that affect us.”
This response happens just as the number of detainees being processed at the border has dropped sharply – yet again showing the substantial difference between this administration and the previous one. It’s one thing to have the right answers – but can take substantial time to apply them successfully.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making