The Biden administration seems paralyzed as the disorder mounts.
Which raises a perplexing political question: Why are Republicans so eager to interrupt the Democratic meltdown on immigration by wildly overpromising what can be done at the state level, making themselves seem silly and unserious?
Gov. Doug Ducey’s recent announcement about an American Governors’ Border Strike Force is a striking case in point. The press release was chock-full of what should be embarrassing non sequiturs and flat-out contradictions.
Ducey’s strike force won’t secure the border
According to the release, the strike force will be “a partnership to do what the federal government won’t: secure the southern border.”
In reality, the so-called strike force is an agreement among Republican governors to more closely coordinate law enforcement efforts against drug cartels. There may be some benefit to that. But it will make, at most, a marginal contribution to reducing the disorder at the southern border. It is not doing “what the federal government won’t: secure the southern border.”
According to Ducey, the national effort by GOP governors will be based upon his own Arizona Border Strike Force, which the release describes as “successful.” Ducey is quoted as saying: “What we’re doing in Arizona works.” The quantities of illegal drugs interdicted are offered as evidence.
If fentanyl overdose deaths are setting records six years after the state border strike force was formed, how can it be described as “successful” and “working?” Or support the claim that duplicating it among GOP-led states will somehow “secure the southern border?”
