Most people agree that when trying to solve a problem, it’s better to do something than nothing – unless the “something” makes things worse than the “nothing” that was (not?) being done.
This could prove to be the case with two different border “somethings” that come from two different levels of government and two different political parties. Each serves multiple political agendas – and each could have several unintended consequences.
On the same June afternoon that President Joe Biden signed executive orders blocking migrants who cross the border illegally from seeking asylum, the Arizona House of Representatives finalized a referendum for the fall ballot that asks voters if they want to allow state and local law enforcement to be able to arrest illegal border crossers and give local judges authority to issue deportation orders.
Ostensibly, both actions were taken to slow the intake of huddled masses crossing our border – flowing at such a record-setting rate that even self-labeled “sanctuary cities” started begging Biden to take action.
So, Biden transformed himself into… Borderman! Essentially, dressing himself in tights and a cape to make him look like someone Arizonans will vote for.
With all the exemptions included in Biden’s executive border order, U.S. Representative Juan Ciscomani told me it could do more harm than good. The first Mexican-born Congressman from Southern Arizona said that while the unaccompanied minor exemption was necessary – because we don’t deport 12-year-olds – it might lead to more kids being used as props by human smugglers. “I’m not opposing this or criticizing it [for] any other reason except that I understand this system well because I went through it,” he told me on KTAR’s Arizona’s Morning News.
Lest you think that I’m only cynical of Democrats, I’ll acknowledge one has to run everything Ciscomani says through the Running-for-Reelection-in-a-Competitive-District TikTok filter. And here’s more side-eye for my friends on the right: The GOP-crafted state referendum that’s supposed to stop people from making a run at our border is really only there because it will help Donald Trump in his run for the White House.
HCR 2060, the Secure the Border Act, will likely pass because the border is the No. 1 voter issue for Arizona.
But Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels also told me HCR 2060 is an “unfunded mandate,” and thus might do more harm than good. His border county, with a population of 125,000, has only so much jail space: “We can’t set aside our child molesters, our murderers, our bad, bad, evil people that need to be in jail and give that up for… somebody [who] came across the border illegally for trespassing,” the Republican lawman says.
When you add the cost of defending HCR 2060’s constitutionality in court to the damages taxpayers will be liable for when a state judge deports someone who has a legitimate reason to be here, I’m afraid we can’t afford these border “somethings.”
So, once again, the government can only offer more… nothing.
Jim Sharpe is the host of Arizona’s Morning News on KTAR-FM 92.3 (weekdays 5-9 a.m.). Visit ktar.com to find more information about his on-air work.
