Our border crisis grows worse as Washington sits on the sidelines

The situation on America’s southern border is worse than we’ve been led to believe. While much is being made of the “humanitarian” crisis on the border, few are paying attention to the much larger crisis, the one that has terrible consequences for our nation as a whole. This is the continuing movement of illegal immigrants, illegal drugs, and even human slaves across our porous and still largely undefended border.

I’m writing this from a hotel room, after having spent the last several days on the southwest border in Arizona and Texas, meeting with local sheriffs and Border Patrol agents to get an update on the situation they face as they try to stanch the flow of illegal immigrants, drug traffickers, and even human traffickers abusing our porous borders.The law enforcement authorities face different problems. In Arizona, they’re trying to stop drug traffickers who recruit teenage illegal immigrants to carry their poison across the border, while in Texas, they’re dealing with an influx of human trafficking that threatens to overwhelm their resources. Despite the differences, all the local sheriffs and Border Patrol agents with whom I met agreed on a few basics.First, as one law enforcement officer put it, “DACA is amnesty, and amnesty is a magnet.” That is, when would-be travelers on the southern side of the border hear Washington talking about “DACA,” what they hear is “amnesty is on the way,” and that translates to “let’s get across the border as soon as we can, to make sure we’re included.” Consequently, attempts to cross the border illegally surge.

Second, if amnesty is granted to DACA recipients, we’ll have a new trade of counterfeiting residential leases purporting to show residence inside the United States going back to 2007. Fake drivers licenses and fake Social Security cards with stolen Social Security numbers already generate revenue for counterfeiters. Fake leases will do the same, and provide the “proof” that newly arrived illegal immigrants will need to demonstrate they “qualify” for the DACA amnesty.