This week I am traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border. I will be meeting with federal and local officials, business leaders, social service organizations, and others who can help me better understand the challenge of illegal immigration in our country and the solutions that might make a difference. Here’s what I know now:
Last year U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered nearly 2.4 million unauthorized migrants at our Southwest border — a staggering figure and almost five times the approximately 450,000 encountered during the year 2020. This number does not include those who have illegally overstayed their visas and many others who have unsuccessfully attempted to cross the border. This chaos and disorder is a complete embarrassment for our country. Who’s responsible? The dramatic uptick in illegal immigration began just days after The Biden-Harris Administration took office in January of 2021. (RELATED: DEROY MURDOCK: There’s Nothing ‘Normal’ About Biden’s Border Crisis)
The millions of people — almost all from Latin America — who are desperately trying to come to our country belie the left’s narrative about America — that we are an unfair, racist, and abusive nation that systematically oppresses racial and ethnic minorities. If our country is so deeply flawed; if we are truly a country for the wealthy, the powerful, and the white, then why are so many Latin-Americans seeking refuge here? Surely there are other nations they could choose.
The reason they choose our country is obvious, and it is something that many on the left hate to hear and to read. The United States is the greatest nation in the world. This is the land of freedom, opportunity, capitalism, and the rule of law. Thanks to America’s conservative movement we remain a nation of family and faith that rewards hard work and that in most states offers children both choice and quality in education. This is also why so many Hispanic immigrants choose my city, Miami. We offer residents the lowest tax rate in our city’s history and the lowest homicide rate since the 1960s. Wages are rising and children can learn in excellent schools — public, private, and charter. We embrace risk-taking and are unafraid of disruptive technologies. In response to these policies, people from all over the world — and from states like California, New York, and Illinois — have decided to make their lives here in recent years.
However, as attractive and exceptional as our country and my city are, illegal immigration simply cannot be tolerated. The border crisis we have experienced since early 2021 has undermined confidence in our government, burdened local communities, overwhelmed social service agencies, and demoralized the millions who have been patiently waiting in line to come into our country. We’ve witnessed the strengthening of drug and human trafficking organizations, which has resulted in the death of many of Americans who have succumbed to drug abuse and to the suffering of countless migrants who desperately entrusted their lives to coyotes.
Immigration to the United States should be legal, orderly, and compatible with our economy. It’s time for an American President to clearly communicate this to our citizens and to our neighbors in the Americas — in English — and in Spanish. (RELATED: JENNY BETH MARTIN: Lawless Biden’s Border Chaos Wreaks Havoc On American Communities)
It’s also time for an American President to prioritize our neighbors by investing in the Americas in a way that reduces China’s influence in our economy and alleviates the pressures that push Latin American immigrants to our borders — principally poverty and crime. Just last month two prominent Democratic Senators including Bob Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized the Biden Administration’s lack of vision and engagement in the region. For decades politicians of both parties have recklessly neglected the Americas while encouraging American companies to move jobs and supply chains to China and while investing billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars in faraway wars. However, in July of 2021 when Cubans took to the streets to demand freedom from tyranny and oppression, the Biden Administration did not lift a finger to support them.
I am sure I will have more to share after visiting with our fellow Americans who are forced to contend with the consequences of failed immigration and foreign policies on a daily basis, but for now it seems clear that the politicians of yesterday have consistently failed to deliver the solutions that could have prevented the chaos and crisis that have come to characterize our southwest border.
Our country needs leaders who are both serious and committed to fixing this problem.
Francis Suarez is the mayor of Miami, the former president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and is running for president in the Republican Primary.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.