I have never had concerns about "the border" or about immigration.

[milestogo]

Maybe its because I live in a Northern state. I have never heard it as a big issue on DU or anywhere else. Did I miss something?

[Johonny]

1. No, I lived in Texas and now California and

It's like not a thing. The whole economy depends on cheap immigrant labor. Not just at the lowest levels. The tech industry as well.

[Melon]

20. This isn't necessarily true for everyone

My friend has a family ranch south of Laredo. They are an elderly couple and they have ranch hands on the ranch and live in Dallas.

They have been specifically told by the ranch hands over the last years to not go down or only go out escorted. This is a family ranch probably 100 years old. The older man was great friends with all the Mexicans but it’s not the same today. The smugglers are heavily armed and it’s big money. The ranch hands only traverse the ranch in the evening in pairs and always armed. There is trash and empty water bottles and clothing left in piles throughout.

The cartels have changed what smuggling is.its not just people but drugs coming across and you can hear gunshots often. There are always undocumented people someplace on the ranch.
.

[hamsterjill]

24. I grew up in Uvalde County, which is 90 miles from the Mexico border.

The border issue is most assuredly an important topic in this area. Yes, Republicans have capitalized on it, and Republicans know how to push the emotional buttons.

But in Del Rio two summers ago, there were an estimated 30,000 people at the border wanting to cross. The population of that city (itself) is 30,000. So the people wanting to cross were as many in number as the citizens of the town. And the townspeople were terrified.

What you describe in your post is something that I hear consistently from people who live in that area. They are afraid of "bailouts" constantly. They have had fences cut and animals get out on the roads and hit by cars. They find people in their barns and have had vehicles stolen. This is not the "average" immigrant wanting to find a job and have a better life. It is human smuggling. The "coyotes" take people's money and smuggle them across the border. The people are trusting. But if something happens and the coyotes are found and chased, they will abandon the people they are smuggling. These people are left anywhere - out in the middle of no where, and they are desperate to survive. So, they do things on the ranches that cause problems for the ranchers.

And right now, there are NO people at the Del Rio border waiting to cross. Probably because they are afraid of Trump and his gestapo. But the Border Patrol Unit for the Del Rio sector is posting comparison pictures all over social media comparing Trump's approach to Biden. The people in the area like the fact that the border is clear.

I seem to get in trouble on DU every time I mention this, and this post will probably be hidden. But the border definitely IS an issue that Democrats need to have an open and honest discussion about. It's a winning issue for Republicans because they play on the fear and hatred of the residents. With nothing from Democrats that counters that feeling - what exactly would anyone expect?

[Walleye]

26. It sounds more like a criminal issue then an immigration issue. But what do I know?

[Melon]

30. It's an immigration issues. These were thousands of people coming over in that area a month.

It’s crazy that I still see people blowing off what was a major issue for anyone close to that border.

[hamsterjill]

34. Thank you.

Appreciate your input.

[Trueblue Texan]

29. Thank you for this information. nt

[hamsterjill]

33. Thank you for being kind.

This topic is typically not accepted well on DU. It's not a pleasant topic. But it a very real issue for the people who live in the area.

I just saw a thread on DU yesterday about how Democrats want to try to turn Texas blue - and believe me, trust me, NOTHING would make this lifelong Democrat happier. But this issue is going to be paramount and simply has to be addressed. People in that area are genuinely afraid.

[happy feet]

28. Thx for sharing. I too am in NE

[Skittles]

2. I've lived in Texas half a century

NEVER had any issues with immigrants, documented or not

REPUKES are the fucking assholes who cause the most MISERY

[AStern]

3. Same.

It's always been blown out of proportion.

[milestogo]

4. In college I worked in a restaurant

One day somebody came in wearing a uniform. Suddenly everyone disappeared. They were afraid it was immigration, but it wasn't. I had to make sure it wasn't and then reassure everyone - or I would have had to do all the jobs myself.

[SheltieLover]

5. Never been a thing for me either. And, isn't it interesting, Abbott

Trafficked all those migrants to sanctuary cities & now they're arresting them?

Something tells me there is a lot of grift going on with transport & prisons for profit.

[BOSSHOG]

6. Republicans can't Lead, Govern or Manage Money

But they can and do manufacture crises, push them heavily with awesome spin from their media machine and always make sure they have someone or groups to blame when their follies backfire.

The “problem”. We had with the border was a large number of citizens wanted to get the hell out of their country and head for democracy. That “problem” will soon be solved. They will have to find democracy elsewhere.

[Johonny]

11. Immigration to the US is way down

And it will be catastrophic for the Trump economy as the jobs immigrants create and more importantly work, go unfilled.

[BOSSHOG]

17. One could come to the conclusion

That no one in the miller administrations puts much thought into action items.

[ananda]

13. It's nice for them to have a manufactured problem to deflect...

from the really serious problem of rich billionaires
and krazy krizztians.

[BOSSHOG]

16. Oh the tough life of those pushing conservative values

Your post has two redundancies. I love it.

[newdeal2]

7. It really only became a thing because of RW media

They kept repeating that Biden imported 11 million people into the US and low-information racist voters believed it. They love to see a different group of people get beaten up - makes them feel good, I guess.

[Walleye]

27. Plus, they were scared of the large numbers of Spanish-speaking people gathering at once

Xenophobia really is a thing. Also, a lot of these redneck Republicans have never even lived in a big city.

[Ping Tung]

8. The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion. Thomas Paine

My mother was an immigrant.

[lapfog_1]

9. I've lived in southern Arizona and in California

for most of my adult life except for a couple of years in Kansas ( adult life - I was born and raised there ) and Colorado.

The only place it was ever an issue was in southern Arizona... and mostly because the migrants would "trash up the desert" with excess clothes, food wrappers, empty water jugs. And, yes, a few of them died there and you would need to get the sheriff and the Border Patrol to come get the body.

The only other issue with the migrants was that they would break into anything that you have on your property that could be used for shelter. Often the coyotes ( the human ones ) would drop them off and tell them "go north" and leave them with no money, no transportation, nothing but a bit of food and water. Walking in Arizona... especially with children, is difficult in the best of conditions... and is often much much worse.

Other than that... very few migrants I have met ever presented anything other than people looking to survive.. they don't WANT to migrate, they are forced to because of their own countries. One couple described to me how they had more than 6 bullet holes going through their house walls because of gang violence in northern Mexico. Other 27 year old woman I met had to leave Venezuela because she participated in an anti-Maduro protest after the last presidential election and someone identified her in the protest crowd and she claimed she would be arrested if she returned to her home.

I'm sure I met more, but they never admitted to being illegals.

[Sparkly]

10. Of course not. It's ridiculous on its face.

I one emailed Helen Thomas and she actually wrote me back! (Just once.) "The Republican Party always needs an enemy," she said. At that time, it was "terrorists," and they could make them up as they went along. "We heard chatter! Boo!! If you vote for Democrats we could get hit again!" and even though the 9/11 attacks happened around DC, people in tiny red towns shook in their boots.

In the Trump era, it became "illegals." Not the gun-wielding "legals" who murdered children in their classrooms, not the MAGAT-crazed "legals" who stormed our Capitol to overthrow our system of government, but people they suddenly made into monsters with fear-mongering propaganda.

It could be ANYone next, if it serves their purpose. They only need to stir up fear, and they're very practiced at that.

[Faux pas]

12. I grew up in SoCal

I don't remember any big problems with Mexicans coming to our state unless they were criminals. I worked at the California Institution for Men. We deported several a month, for crimes in California, while being in the country illegally. Half of the ones deported had been deported up to dozens of times.

😆 I do tend to go on...

[NewHendoLib]

14. It's all about xenophobia

[WhiskeyGrinder]

15. Harris ran on hiring thousands of new border agents and officers, so apparently some Democrats care?

[Polybius]

18. Absolutely

I live in NYC. I care.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

23. What's going on in NYC?

[haele]

19. No. No big deal .. I have live in a border city since 1985...

The majority of crime and problems are caused by US citizens.
There are the occasional travelling "gangs" that come to the US and burglarize rich folks, but most of those are middle classes looking "tourists" here for a long group package tour with visas - that go straight to work for the US based gang that recruited them.
Two months later, they're headed back to Brazil or Columbia -.or Indonesia, Slovakia, or South Africa - with a few souvenirs and a much nicer bank account than when they left "home".
But then again, there's a "open till midnight" taco, tamale, or fruits/tecolatas stand manned by the Tios within walking distance in almost every "questionable" neighborhood, and you can't throw a baseball without hitting a South or Central American food stand most everywhere else.
Again, most of the crime around here is not committed by immigrants. They're scapegoats for the punks, addicted, and crazies.
Most of them just want to keep their heads down and make use of opportunities to breathe and thrive - things they couldn't do in their home countries.

[sinkingfeeling]

21. It's never been a big issue nor a 'security' issue. I lived in Tucson and Texas and many years in Arkansas, which has a

large Hispanic population (chicken plants rely on immigrants).

[Wingus Dingus]

22. It's never been an issue in my life, that I'm aware of.

I'm sure there's groups of people somewhere doing things they're not supposed to be doing, and it's affecting me in some way, but that's life.

[Aristus]

25. I live in Washington State. Pretty far from the southern border.

We have a fairly large population of Hispanic-Americans here, from Mexico, Central America, and many from Peru and Chile. Many of them are undocumented. And we have no problems that I'm aware of. They work hard, raise their families, contribute to their communities; you know, all the things Republicans say they want from immigrants. But I guess if they are Catholic and brown-skinned, that doesn't count.

I'd rather live in an entire community of undocumented immigrants than have to share the neighborhood with some bigoted repuke dickhead.

[Ocelot II]

31. There has been smuggling and human trafficking across the southern border for years;

this is a lucrative business for the coyotes. Border communities have also had to deal with the strain of many migrants who crossed voluntarily and who need shelter and other resources but who can't work legally. The issues are real in those cities and need to be addressed, but not the way Trump and ICE are doing it. I'm in a border state, but it's the other border so I don't see those problems, but I do see many people who may or may not be here legally; they are valuable members of the community. There was one recent incident of human trafficking into Minnesota from Canada where the coyotes abandoned a family at the border and they froze to death - the perps were apprehended and are being prosecuted. Our immigration policy (or the lack of one) has a lot of real problems that can't be ignored but Trump has weaponized it.

[surfered]

32. There are benefits and there are problems. Trump exaggerates the problems and prevents the GOP from agreeing...

…to a solution.

The vast majority of immigrants are not entering the country illegally. They are turning themselves to apply for asylum under international treaties to which the U.S. is a signatory.

Due to lack of funding, there are not enough resources to timely process these applications . These applicants are not criminals because they know what committing a crime would do to their chances if asylum.