Todd Bensman writes for the Federalist about the potential impact of a border policy driven by Texas’ Democratic US Senate candidate.
James Talarico, the left-wing Democrat ahead in some polls in the Texas U.S. Senate race against Republican Ken Paxton, has staked out a guiding border security policy idea that has puzzled many voters: “Our border should be like a front porch — it should have a welcome mat out front and a lock on the door,” he has said on the campaign trail and in his online border policy page.
Whatever Talarico is signaling might matter if he becomes the first Democrat senator from Texas since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988. That’s because he proclaims on his campaign page that “Texans should be the ones to lead our country in finally pursuing comprehensive immigration reforms …” and asks voters to “imagine having a U.S. Senator from Texas who will take the charge to get that done.”
So, does Talarico’s metaphor about locking the door of Texas — owner of the longest international border of any of the contiguous states — mean he’s a hardline restrictionist who would channel Trump’s policies, which ended the worst mass migration border crisis in American history? Or does his “welcome mat” metaphor mean Talarico would start another mass migration crisis at the southern border?
The smart money is on the latter option. A careful examination of Talarico’s elaborating public statements, social media, and “commonsense border security” campaign materials demonstrates that his locked-door-welcome-mat ideas, if ever implemented, would closely replicate the Biden administration’s wide-open border and likewise induce another swamping tidal wave of humanity to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
There’s a universal principle that always determines the start or end of mass migration events. It boils down to whether American political leaders and courts allow enough illegal border jumpers to successfully enter and stay to earn enough money to at least repay their smuggling investment. If they are let in to stay, they’ll come in force because the effort is worth the smuggling money. If they’re expelled and blocked, they won’t risk the money.
