Is the Biden administration really blind to the obvious?

I see the entire immigration issue to be a series of really dumb policies that could be resolved with about two ounces of common sense.

But, neither party wants to resolve the problem, because they both are getting, in their mind, political gains. The Republicans cry open border and the Democrats use the humane issue, and both parties are dead wrong.

Everyone understands that we are a nation of immigrants and that the nation was built on sound immigration laws. Until recently, our immigration laws were applied at our borders with strict rules.

Ellis Island, even at its peak, never opened the border to anyone who could get to the island. There were strict rules, and many immigrants were turned back to their home country for a variety of reasons, from having certain diseases to criminal backgrounds.

Immigration was the foundation of the country’s expansion in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. Without the immigration policies, the country would not have settled the continent and the industrial revolution would not have happened.

Our nation would not have become the world power it has become. Without the immigration of the last three centuries, the United States would probably be a second-world agrarian society. Immigration allowed us to be the great melting pot we are, where all are welcomed under the law.

Immigration always brought people into the country to do jobs that many earlier immigrants refused or did not want to do. If you ever read the Jungle by Upton Sinclair, you would understand what people who immigrated here from Europe in the early 20th century faced and how they were treated, a far cry from the way illegal immigrants are treated today.

I agree that no nations’ sovereignty can be secure without secure borders. If our borders are open to unlimited and an unregulated influx of people, then we are not a sovereign nation. Lawlessness can not be an excuse for a border policy.

I keep hearing from the administration that they are allowing an open border because it is the humane thing to do. They also put forward the excuse that they are coming to do jobs that our citizens are unwilling to do. They claim that these people are fleeing governments that threaten their very lives.

All the these things are true, and we should have a way for these people to enter the country with our government’s support. But we can’t just open the southern border and not enforce our immigration laws.

The Republican Party has refused to enter into any meaningful negotiations with the administration to resolve the southern border issue. They have preferred to keep the border open so that they can make political hay out of the issue.

They are doing as great a disservice to the country as the administration’s open-border policy because they are, once again, entrenched in their political ideology of never giving an inch to the Democrats.

They can cry all they want to, but both sides must sit down and apply the common-sense policies that have served the country for most of its history when immigration was the question.

Common sense would tell you that the open-border policy can’t lead to anything good. If we have a unrestricted open-border policy, aren’t we inviting an unarmed invasion to happen? Common sense would make the obvious apparent: we had a immigration policy in place, even though at times it was discriminatory, it allowed for lawful immigration that was closely monitored.

My ancestors, like most citizens of the United States, immigrated here from Europe in the 19th century. When they came here, there was a flood of people coming from Ireland, Germany, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and, to a lessor degree, South America and Asia. The government kept close reins on where people were coming from and the number of people allowed into the country from across the world.

Some groups were discriminated against, especially Asians and Africans, and that was not right from our perspective, but it was the way it was at the time. Our great European migration ended after World War II, when we slowly started to expand the racial makeup of immigrants.

Things went off the rails when we granted amnesty to illegal immigrants in 1986. It implied that illegal immigration would be tolerated and that if enough illegals managed to cross the border, amnesty would eventually be given to them.

Ever since then, our southern border has been a sieve, allowing illegal immigrants to flow into the country almost unchecked. Both Republican and Democrat administrations have done nothing meaningful to secure the border. There has been plenty of hand-wringing, hollow speeches, blaming each other and dodging the problem.

Our current administration has taken a blind eye to what is happening on the southern border. They have repeatedly outright lied to Congress and the public.

Their claims that the border is secure can be refuted by turning on any news program covering the uninterrupted flow of people crossing the border. Once again, I see administration bureaucrats lie to Congress, avoid questions they don’t like and make obvious false statements to the press.

What I don’t understand is: What is the end game? Are we just going to open all our borders and let anyone into the country without vetting? Where are we going to put all these people? Do we have the social infrastructure to care for these people?

What happens to our language, customs, education system and politics if we keep the border open? Why are our politicians avoiding the obvious when they could, in a bipartisan manner, solve the problem? Why can’t they get anything done — not only the border, but all the other issues we are facing?

Do I have any ideas as to how we address this issue? I do, and it’s simple: Tell our politicians to get off their butts, take the bull by the horns and do their job. That goes for the administration, too: quit playing games and lying to us; do your job or get out of the way for people who are willing to put politics aside and solve the problem.

Common sense has once again taken a back seat to political ideology; every one in Washington should stand in front of the country and explain why we have this problem and what they intend to do to resolve it.

It’s not only the administration that is blind to the obvious, but also every one in Washington, both Democrat and Republican, who can’t see beyond the end of their biased noses.

They talk a good game but they never bring home the bacon in the end. I, for one, am fed up with their petty games, ideology, know-nothing attitude and pursuit of wealth at the expense of the country.

What is it going to take for them to wake up to the obvious?

BERNARD LESLIE is a beekeeping expert who lives beside Kentucky Lake in the northeast corner of Henry County. His email address is bleslie0515@gmail.com.