From a Google Image Search - NBC News
It's the Republican Immigration Show
I wish I could draw. When I heard about Mike Johnson (R-Speaker of the House) going to the border with 59 other members of the House a picture formed in my brain. It's an image of 60 Republicans standing together in a tight group with a rope around the middle. These 60 Republicans go everywhere together. Peer pressure greater than we ever felt in high school acts like a covalent bond keeping anyone from setting off on their own. So, the visual in my mind is of this group of 60 (middle-aged, predominantly white Americans) shuffling along from election year photo op to the next photo op while trying to stay upright in such close quarters, and not fall as they might get stampeded. Alas, I can only draw with words, but I hope you get the picture. It's funny and not funny at the same time.
There are reasons that tens of thousands of Venezuelans are leaving their country to make the dangerous journey to face a hostile situation at America's Southern Border. Perhaps they don't even know what it will be like when they arrive. The numbers are overwhelming, and no one is being turned away. Instead, if they come through Texas, Governor Abbott is putting them on buses and sending them to "sanctuary cities" in a spirit of retribution. Because the system cannot handle numbers like these, we can see that something needs to be done. Using real people as pawns to stick it to a President because he is an incumbent running for office and a Democrat, is against America's traditional role as a champion of human rights (although if you read through all the immigration laws you will see that our humanitarianism often slips when certain groups of immigrants are involved) (Wikipedia has a good list).
Republicans in the House of Representatives insist on mass deportations. Democrats, who hope to win votes from minorities, do not believe that cruelty in matters that most likely involve people who are leaving their home nations because of tyranny and lack of opportunity will help them get elected in November. It's difficult to know if any true altruism is present. The Republicans do not want to help the Democrats get elected in November. Any revisions to immigration are caught between the extremists and the imminent elections.
A gaggle of US Representatives moving as a bloc may look unwieldy and ludicrous, but that gaggle can stop the business of our federal government for as long as they wish, or until we the people choose different, less extreme, representatives. Who knew that the Republican bench of extremists was so deep? Well, we all did, but did we know that the likes of Mike Johnson was lurking somewhere on that bench, more radical than any of the usual suspects. It seems we got "gobsmacked".
Going to the border to inspect the extent of the "invasion" is a treasured moment for Republicans, especially when the numbers of people seeking relief from some disaster in their home country get larger than normal, especially if it's an election year. It's all a show. It's the President-Biden-is-a-Bad-President Show. It has high ratings among Republican viewers. However, it is just an act. News reports out of Washington say that Republicans in the House will not accept any compromise with President Biden to get to a deal and therefore any immigration bill is practically (you can omit the qualifier) dead on arrival.
Here is a link to a video that offers some backup to my assertions:
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/house-republicans-threaten-to-reject-senate-border-deal/
For the Nerds
Key Immigration Acts by Year and/or Administration
1. Naturalization Acts of 1790, 1795, and 1798
2. Alien Friends and Alien Enemies Acts, 1978
3. Civil Rights Act of 1866 and 14th Amendment sent to states, ratified 1868, Naturalization Act of 1870
4. Page Act of 1875 - The first federal immigration law that prohibited the entry of immigrants considered as "undesireable" and the first federal immigration law
5. Immigration Act of 1891 - First comprehensive immigration laws for the US
6. Immigration Act of 1924 - Johnson-Reed Act - Created the US Border Patrol, etc.
7. Indian Citizenship Act - 1924 - Granted citizenship to Native Americans in US
8. Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 - Hart-Celler Act - Set up a Visa system
9. Immigration Reform and Control Act - Simpson - Mazzoli Act - 1986 - Reagan Administration - Sanctions for hiring illegal aliens, amnesty if already in US, created path to permanent residency for some, created H-2A visa for seasonal agricultural workers.
10. Omnibus Appropriations Act of 1997, Provision that required automated entry and exit control system for non-citizens, began phone verification for worker authentication by employers, made it more difficult for legal aliens to access welfare benefits, increased border enforcement - Clinton Administration
11. 1997 - Funded Refugee and entrant assistance, immigrants unlawfully present in US for 180 days, but under 365 must remain outside US for 3 years, unless pardoned - Clinton Administration
12. Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 - GW Bush Administration - set up the Department of Homeland Security - provided more Border Patrol agents, required that schools report foreign students attending classes, and foreign nationals in the US required to carry IDs with biometric technology.
13. REAL ID Act - 2005 - GW Bush Administration - Set standards to enter government buildings, board planes, open bank accounts, created more restrictions on political asylum, severely cut back on habeas corpus relief for immigrants, increased immigration enforcement mechanisms, altered judicial review, established standards for state driver licenses, made it legal to build border barriers
14. The Secure Fence Act of 2006 - GW Bush Administration - authorized the construction of fencing along the Mexico-United States border.
15. Jaime Zapata Border Enforcement Security Task Force Act of 2012 - Obama administration - created Border Enforcement Security Task Force with the Department of Homeland Security.
16. Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Humanitarian Assistance and Security at the Southern Border Act, 2019 - Trump administration.
17. Recognized the Shadow Wolves as ICE special agents. - 2022 - Biden administration.
Many other immigration bills have been passed with specific groups in mind, either exclusionary or inclusionary. You can trace the history of unwelcome immigrant groups, groups unwelcome because of wars, and groups welcomed because of favors given in wars or military service. All the immigration laws I have listed came from Wikipedia.
Conclusions:
Republican obstructionism against legislation to improve mass immigration strategies at the Southern border has made it impossible to study the situation and come up with solutions. It has become a political ploy designed to block any progress and then to claim that the blockade is Biden's fault, hoping to use this against him during this key election year. Immigration at the Southern border has always been a fraught matter. Currently, since we no longer have working study committees to discuss designs for workable systems, we end up with a patchwork of systems decreed by politics, not by insightful discussions and planning. This is also designed to make the government look inept and to justify a more illiberal approach to governance in America. It also suggests that the American economy, which once welcomed immigrant workers is in disarray. No thoughtful legislation on US immigration policy will likely pass until after the election in November, although to get funding for two wars (Ukraine and Israel) Biden may have to anger his constituents by compromising, which is the point. Greg Abbott's rogue activities in Texas make progress on immigration seem existential when it isn’t.