Is Affordability Related to Immigration Policies?

Affordability is one of the words that politicians use to discuss the conditions in the United States. They say that the results of the 2026 mid-term election will be based on affordability.

According to Steve Cortes, president of the League of American Workers, affordability is related to border security. He says that the United States has “the right – and obligation – to prioritize the well-being of our citizens, and “immigration enforcement achieves two macro-objectives at once: It makes America safer while also attacking the systemic affordability crisis.” He claims that the “evidence is already compelling. The early economic returns on immigration enforcement are nothing short of stunning.”

Fewer Illegal Aliens, Higher Wages

Real wages are the “mother’s milk” of Main Street prosperity. Most Americans do not own enough investments to really thrive from rising asset prices. Instead, their financial vitality flows form their paychecks, adjusted for the prices they must pay for the goods and services they need.

Thankfully, under President Donald Trump, real wages have risen every single month of his presidency. A big share of those benefits accrues to blue-collar workers, as this administration produces the best working-class wage growth for a new term since Richard Nixon took office in 1969. In contrast, during the Biden years, real wages declined every single month for two straight years, the worst such streak on record. These gains result largely from at least 2.5 million illegal aliens leaving America, through self-deportations as well as removals. In industries like trucking and construction, with large segments of foreign workers, pay jumps for U.S. citizens. Even the biased New York Times recently admitted that “construction wages have been rising” due to immigration enforcement.

Border Control Equals Rent Control

Masses of illegal aliens crowd out citizens in the housing market. According to Apartment List, since Trump took office, national rent prices for Americans have actually declined by 1.4%. CNBC called the current trend “one of the more renter-friendly periods in a decade.” …

… A similar trend in favor of renters blossoms nationwide. The American Apartment Association survey just revealed that 40% of owners and investors across the country say immigration policies are lowering rents….

If American citizens do not have to compete against unjust, unlawful foreign workers, then they return home every day with more real pay – returning to homes that are getting more affordable, at last.

These trends point to much better days ahead for Americans, and especially for working-class strivers who were crushed by Bidenomics.

The Voter Mandate: Secure the Country, Grow Prosperity

Law-and-order makes sense economically, plus it makes for good politics.

Voter dissatisfaction over affordability is real and profound. For instance, in my most recent poll of battleground North Carolina, Trump’s approval rating dips to -14% net, 39% to 53%. By far, the lead driver is affordability. Right now, only 30% of North Carolina voters approve of the administration’s handling of inflation, and a massive 76% cite grocery costs as a primary inflation worry.

But there is good news for Republicans, too. By a big margin, the best issue for Trump is border control/immigration. Meanwhile, the Democrats leap to denounce the federal cops and restate their aggressively open borders radicalism. No wonder the Democrat brand is in free-fall. In my survey, only 30% of North Carolina voters give a positive view of Democrats, versus 54% who disapprove.

Conclusion: What’s Working, Works

So … a big political opening unfolds. The GOP can kill two birds with one shot. Keep people safe and ease their economic burden.

Immigration enforcement represents a just and reasonable policy approach. In fact, it is a perquisite to recover our culture, national security, street safety, and societal cohesion. Concurrently, sensible immigration control brings terrific economic benefits and provides a key solution to fixing the affordability crisis.

  

What Will the Border Look Like Next Year?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns border security and illegal immigration. Good news today is President-elect Donald Trump naming Tom Holman as the “border czar.” Holman is a veteran immigration official with a law enforcement career spanning several decades. Trump’s announcement brought cheers from border patrol officers who recognize that Holman will allow them to do their jobs.

While Holman directs events at the borders and helps Trump to close the borders, they will also be deporting many of the illegal immigrants who are committing crimes across the United States. Simon Hankinson of The Heritage Foundation published an article at The Daily Signal that included the following information. 

There were 959 carjackings in Washington, D.C., last year – up from 148 in 2018. Shoplifting is so bad that stores in some neighborhoods have closed. The CVS on Pennsylvania Avenue, a few blocks from the White House, keeps Charmin toilet paper and trash bags in locked cabinets.

Not surprisingly, though, to the dismay of progressive activists, it’s not just conservatives who want crime prevented, prosecuted, and punished. After a disastrous experiment under far-left District Attorney Chesa Boudin, even ultraliberal San Francisco had had enough of rampant lawlessness and fired him back in 2022.

On Tuesday, almost-as-woke Los Angels replaced its deliberately feckless, far-left District Attorney George Glascon with a “former federal prosecutor who ran on a platform of ‘restoring safety and justice,’” according to local station KTLA.

In elections across America, the Democrats tried to reduce everything to identity politics. Anyone voting against their candidates, they claimed, did so because of racism or misogyny, not because they preferred conservative policies.

But the truth is, people of all races and both sexes don’t like being victims of crime. It’s a universal value.

Just as they prefer ineffective alternatives to punishing crime, the American Left does not want immigration enforcement either. If she had been elected, Kamala Harris had promised to support a Senate border bill that she claimed would have fixed the border she and Joe Biden broke.

Not only would the bill have failed to do that … but it would have made taxpayers foot the bill for lawyers so millions of economic migrants Biden let in could make unmerited or fraudulent asylum claims and drag them out in immigration court as long as possible.

Holmon is no pushover, and he knows the law. When recently asked if there was any way to deport illegal aliens without separating families, Holmon did not miss a beat in stating that families can be deported together. I look forward to seeing what Holmon will do with the border problems. 

Will the Southern U.S. Border Ever Be Secure?

             The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns the right and responsibility for sovereign nations to secure their borders. Some people keep hoping that President Joe Biden will understand clearly that his border policies are horrible and do something to secure the border. I hate to be the bearer of unwelcome news to people holding such hopes, but Biden does not intend to secure the border at all. According to Terence P. Jeffrey at CNS News, the proof is in the budget proposal for the Department of Homeland Security that his administration recently presented to Congress. 

[The Biden] administration has presented Congress with a Department of Homeland Security budget proposal that calls for slashing spending on what it calls “Border Security Assets and Infrastructure” by 96%.

In fiscal year 2021, Congress approved $1,513,000,000 in funding for border security assets and infrastructure. Biden is now asking that Congress approve just $54,315,000 for fiscal year 2022. That is a reduction of $1,458,695,000 – or 96.4%....

Now, if Biden gets his way, the federal government will not spend one penny in fiscal year 2022 on planning or constructing a “physical barrier system” at the border….

[For] “Integrated Fixed Towers” … How much does Biden want for this piece of infrastructure? Nothing….

[For] “Remote Video Surveillance Systems” …  How much does Biden want for this piece of infrastructure? Nothing….

[For] “Mobile Video Surveillance System” … Biden wants nothing again….

[For] “MVSS-M2S2 Modular Mobile Surveillance System” … How much does Biden want for it in the coming fiscal year? Nothing….

[For] “Border Security Assets and Infrastructure End Items” … Biden wants $54,315,000 for fiscal year 2022.

Indeed, that $54,315,000 for this one category equals all of the money Biden is requesting for “Border Security Assets and Infrastructure” in fiscal year 2022.

            Jeffrey further explained that Biden plans to spend money on some parts of immigration even though he does not plan to secure the border. “Biden is calling for $655,000,000 to fund ‘construction modernization’ of CBP’s ‘land ports of entry,’ where people come to the United States legally.” You read that correctly!

Yes, Biden wants to cut $1,458,685,000 from federal spending on border security assets and infrastructure aimed at stopping illegal border crossers while increasing spending by $655,000,000 on formal ports of entry.

            Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, “First, the president’s budget invests in a secure border.” Does he even know what a secure border is? Mayorkas thinks that he can secure the border by “modernizing our land ports of entry” and setting up surveillance technology.

            The proposed budget makes it obvious that Biden does not intend to secure the southern border now or next year. Americans might as well give up on hoping that he will and start praying that America will survive the Biden administration. There are estimates that two million illegal immigrants will enter the United States this year. Time that number by the four years of a Biden administration, and we can expect at least eight million people illegally entering our nation before we get rid of the clown occupying the White House.

Will Red States Secure the Border Despite Biden’s Policies?

             The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns the need for sovereign nations to protect their borders or lose control over who enters their country. It is a well-known fact that former President Donald Trump campaigned and governed on building a fence along the southern border. During the four years of his administration, more than 400 miles of fencing was constructed.

Daniel Horowitz explained that some of the newly constructed fencing replaced 373 miles of existing but “dilapidated or easy to breach fencing and added 80 miles of fencing where none previously existed. 

… However, most of that fencing was in Arizona or in the El Paso sector, which includes far west Texas and New Mexico. Just 18 miles were completed in the Rio Grande Valley sector and zero miles were completed in the Del Rio and Laredo sectors, but 165 miles in those three sectors were under construction when Biden terminated the project. Del Rio, in particular, is a hot spot at this point.

            The Biden administration not only stopped the construction on the fence to leave the border wide open, but its policies are direct invitations to “cartels and smugglers to bring in potentially millions of new migrants, along with cartel members, gangsters, and previously deported criminals.” Horowitz is questioning what the states can do when the federal government openly disregards the rights and safety of American citizens and communities as well as national security.

In January, I laid out the constitutional case for states to secure the border when the federal government is actively working against border security, one of the foundational purposes for the states to create a federal government in the first place. Now, one Texas lawmaker is introducing a bill that could serve as the impetus for states actually securing some degree of control over the border.

On Monday, Texas state Rep. Bryan Slaton filed HB 2862 which would fund the completion of the border wall in Texas with state funds. The bill requires the governor to request reimbursement from the federal government. Such an effort would bolster the existing Operation Lone Star, in which Gov. Greg Abbott has deployed the Texas Rangers to the border.

            Texas is not the only state with increasing travel over the southern border. Sheriff Daniels of Cochise County told Horowitz that things are worse in his county now because the construction was stopped midway. Horowitz wrote that “Builders completely ripped out the old fencing to build new fencing, but now, with the construction halted, there is nothing there, and illegal immigrants and smugglers can cross over with cars and enjoy the newly built access roads.” He added the following explanation.

What’s worse is that in Cochise County, the infrastructure in the low water crossings was not completed, which means that when the heavy rains come in a few months, the foundations will be destroyed, making it much more expensive to rebuild. Meanwhile, time is of the essence, as Sheriff Daniels is now counting close to 3,000 runners detected on his cameras per month, up from just 400 a month a year ago. His sergeant, Tim Williams, who runs the camera system, tells me the department is only apprehending about 35% of them. Due to the rugged terrain and remote areas, those crossing in areas of the border like Cochise are mainly criminals and drug runners – not the sort of people you want disappearing into the interior.

            Horowitz suggested that Arizona create its “own bill to complete at least the existing infrastructure of the border wall.” He also suggested that other red states appropriate money to help Texas and Arizona secure the border as they “shoulder the national burden.” States could “also crowdsource from private funds.”

            It appears that the Biden administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress are not interested in national security. They intentionally stopped the Trump policies that led to border security, opened the borders, and invited citizens of the world to move into the United States.

Horowitz noted that action from red states “to complete the border wall would publicly embarrass the Biden administration and force an inflection point in our body politic” about the border in general. The states would be “forced to choose between anarchy and security” but “red states have no choice but to act before hundreds of thousands more teem through our border.” Horowitz interviewed Don McLaughlin, mayor of Uvalde, Texas, 60 miles into the interior from the Del Rio border with Mexico:

“The ranchers are getting confronted more and more, their fences are getting cut, and their land is being trashed by the migrants,” said the border mayor. “What’s concerning is that they are getting bolder and bolder about coming to your house and demanding you give them food, you give them transportation, and you give them money. It’s a powder keg that’s going to blow up – whether it be a local citizen, a local rancher, or one of these immigrants coming across the ranches, because they’re getting braver and braver. And some of them, to be honest, are very aggressive when they approach you. We’re seeing more aggressiveness now than we’ve ever seen before.”

The anarchy that spills over on our side of the border obviously bubbles up from the Mexican side. Even the Mexican government has become exasperated with Biden. As Reuters reports, Mexico President AMLO referred to Biden as the “migrant president,” and his government is concerned at how Biden’s policies have created a sophisticated market for organized crime up and down the smuggling routes of Mexico.

            There is much talk about another civil war in the United States. There is great divide in the nation between conservatives who seek to protect and preserve the Constitution and leftists who seek to fundamentally transform America. Citizens may be suffering from whip lash caused by the changes in policies between the Trump and Biden administration, but the division remains. Will the next civil war be fought between red states and blue states over the illegal immigration problems? Horowitz suggested that the red states “work with Mexico to build the wall and make Biden pay for it!”

Elephant in the Room

            I have been avoiding a post about the “elephant in the room” for too long, but the beast has become too large to sidestep any longer.  While going through my email feed, I came across six different articles about a serious problem in America. I have to admit that illegal border crossings and the fight over the border wall are consuming the news cycle, so I should go with it.

            In the early morning hours of New Year’s Day, agents of the U.S. Border Patrol sent canisters of tear gas at approximately 150 people who were attempting to enter the United States illegally. The migrants in the “violent mob” were “climbing over and crawling under [the] border fence in San Diego Sector.” About 45 migrants turned back towards Mexico because of the agents’ efforts, but other “began throwing rocks over the fence at the CBP agents and officers.” 

            At the same time that agents were fighting the mob, other migrants were attempting to lift “toddler-sized children over the concertina wire and having difficulty doing so safely.” The agents were busy with the rock throwers and could not intervene with the other illegal border crossers. Most of the people attempting to enter the United States illegally turned back to Mexico, but agents apprehended about 25 migrants that included some teenagers.

            It is obvious to most Americans that too many people are attempting and often succeeding in crossing the border into the United States illegally. It is also obvious that Democrat representatives do not care. Democrat talk and actions about controlling the border are speaking loudly, and it is becoming all too clear that their “opposition to border wall funding is rooted in politics and not in reason.”

            

            Democrats appear to want President Donald Trump to lose more than they want to secure our nation.  Pelosi even says that it is “immoral” for the United States to build a wall in order to secure sovereignty. Democrats do not seem to understand that Americans have eyes to see and ears to hear and are not stupid. Blacks and other Democrats are walking away from the party steadily because they can see what is taking place. Latinos and Hispanics may also turn their backs on the Democrats because they do not “want the job and wage competition from more illegals flooding in from Mexico and Central America.” The Democrats may be stuck with no supporters if they continue to fight against national security.

            President Trump is attempting to secure the border, while Democrats want to leave it wide open to gain more liberal voters. “The president wants a wall to help secure the southern borderto protect citizens from criminal illegal aliens and to impede the flow of drugs that are killing too many Americans.” This says nothing about the human trafficking that takes place across the porous border. Democrats do not care how many Americans are killed by illegal aliens who are deported numerous or by the drugs that are doing so much damage!

            The Trump administration is doing all that they can to solve at least some of the problems caused by the lack of border security. The military is on the border to support the Border Patrol in protecting the border. Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of Homeland Security, announced recently that a “significant policy change” has been made to stop migrants from coming illegally. The department is plugging some of the loop holes in the U.S.immigration system, particularly the asylum system. 

One of the most serious problems the U.S. faces in its immigration system is that when illegal immigrants cross the border, they can claim asylum in order to avoid quick deportation. This is an especially common tactic with illegal immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and the Honduras.

            Most of these “asylum seekers” are not actually seeking asylum because less than ten percent of those seeking it actually receive it. The illegal aliens understand that their chances are not good, but they just want to get into the country where they can disappear into the sanctuary cities and states.

            The Trump administration sought ways to legally change the policies, and it appears that they have been successful. The old policy was “catch and release” with slight hope that the migrants show up for their court dates. The new policy is “catch and return” to Mexico to await their hearing in the immigration court. The fact that they are not allowed into the U.S. until after proving their asylum claim may eliminate “one of the major incentives driving illegal immigration.”    Mexico is also offering “humanitarian visas, work authorizations, and other protections to those waiting in Mexico.” Could this be the way that Mexico will pay for the border? This policy change is a good start, but Congress needs to permanently close the loopholes.

            In addition to the policy change, President Trump is threatening to close the entire border if Congress does not fund a wall. This could be the reason why Mexico is helping with the illegal immigrant situation. It would be financially devastating to Mexico and probably millions of Americans for the border to be closed. 

The U.S. runs a trade deficit with Mexico, but outside observers have said that closing the border could cause economic chaos given the amount of trade and people who legally cross the border every day.

According to a report earlier this month by CBS News, about $558 billion in goods flowed across the border in both directions last year. It found that the U.S. exported $243.3 billion in goods across the border along with $58 billion in services.

Nearly a half million people enter the U.S. each day at various entry points on the southern border, according to a Wilson Center report cited by CBS.

Duncan Wood, director of the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, told CBS MoneyWatch that shutting down the border would cost “hundreds of millions of dollars a day” or “maybe a billion.”

            It does not sound like shutting the entire border is a good thing to do. However, it may be the only thing that will get the attention of the Democrat leaders in Congress and compel them to work with Trump.

             Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador appears to be stepping up to help the immigration problem. One of his ideas is to create economic “free zones”  along the U.S.-Mexico border from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Coast and about 15 miles wide. Taxes would be slashed and minimum wage would be increased in the free zones. The United States and Mexico are also working together to develop economic growth in southern Mexico and Central America.