Gov. Kristi Noem calls southern border a ‘war zone.’ Right. Like she really knows something about war.

Along with losing the argument on the economy, Republicans have now lost their collective mind over the tragic situation at our border with Mexico. Gov. Kristi Noem’s recent visit to the border, which she characterizes as a “war zone,” is typical of Republican efforts to deflect voter attention away from the fact that the U.S. economy is in some of its best shape ever. Trying to replace economic angst with the border crisis as a major political issue has to be a top priority for the GOP.

It won’t work.

Why not? Because we’re all watching the same movie and it’s obvious that going into the November election, the GOP is desperate for an issue and is hoping that voters will blame the border situation on President Biden.  

I think voters are wise to the Republican gambit.

First off, Noem’s ridiculous and glib description of the border as a war zone is an absurdity that combat veterans like yours truly (I was a Marine Corps radioman at the DMZ in Vietnam from ‘66-’68) do not particularly appreciate. We know war, and a war this is not.

By definition, a war is an armed conflict and so far there hasn’t been anything like a military engagement in Noem’s so-called war zone.

You could say she’s speaking metaphorically, but it doesn’t work on that level, either. There really is no enemy, and anybody who characterizes hordes of people (like those detained by the U.S. Border Patrol in the public domain photo above, posted in wikimedia commons) trying to enter our country and lead decent lives as enemies needs to rethink the meaning of the word ‘enemy.’ 

These people aren’t trying to defeat the United States. They’re trying to become part of it.

Are there criminals among them? Of course, and, as that doyenne of conservative thought, The Heritage Foundation, notes, “while the majority of illegal aliens seek a better life, the undeniable link between increasing illegal immigration and crime poses a significant threat to American communities.”

But just how significant is that threat? The most recent study that I could find was published by the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank in 2019. It concluded that “opponents of immigration often claim that immigrants, particularly those who are unauthorized, are more likely than U.S. natives to commit crimes and that they pose a threat to public safety. There is little evidence to support these claims. In fact, research overwhelmingly indicates that immigrants are less likely than similar U.S. natives to commit violent and property crimes, and that areas with more immigrants have similar or lower rates of violent and property crimes than areas with fewer immigrants.”

As the Heritage Foundation acknowledges, the majority of border-crossers are desperate people who are willing to risk everything, including in some cases, their lives, in order to make a home in a civilized society. As the Dallas Fed concludes, there is little evidence that they are disproportionately more likely to pose a threat than the general population.

Fear-mongering politicians would serve the country well if they could re-direct their energy to finding a systematic way of integrating these folks into our labor-short society.  Looking at the photo above, I suspect that most employers see a pool of potentially hard-working people who would love to find steady work for themselves and their families.

The status quo is ridiculous. Given the disorganization – chaos and near anarchy, actually – that the situation has devolved into, Noem and other like-minded Republicans should be coming up with a plan to get the mess sorted out. I hear nothing like that coming from Noem, specifically, nor her party, generally. Partisan refusal to lead is bad enough, but now that a bi-partisan plan to get something done has made it through the U.S. Senate, House Republicans are fighting  it, apparently at the urging of Donald Trump. House Speaker Mike Johnson looks an awful lot like Trump’s marionette when he declares the plan “dead on arrival” at the House of Representatives.

Trump, of course, has probably lost all hope of getting any help for his presidential campaign from an economy that is in very good shape under President Biden’s watch. He needs a big issue to shore up his political hopes. Border chaos may fill that need, but as it gets more and more obvious that keeping things at the border chaotic is a Republican political ploy, that strategem may well blow up in the GOP’s collective face.

Noem’s grandstanding on the issue, with her hyperbolic claims about this being a ‘war’ and her lack of any suggestions or support for a plan that might relieve the misery down south is just part of the overall Republican game plan.  

John Tsitrian is a businessman and writer from the Black Hills.  He was a weekly columnist for the Rapid City Journal for 20 years.  His articles and commentary have also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post and The Omaha World-Herald.  Tsitrian served in the Marines for three years (1966-69), including a 13-month tour of duty as a radioman in Vietnam.