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The border crisis is a humanitarian disaster. Both parties are responsible. Democrats seem incapable of anything but publicity stunts, as evidenced by Vice President Kamala Harriss recent visit to El Paso, Texas. Republicans indulge in ugly nativist rhetoric, hiding behind law and order considerations when pushed. The constant partisan posturing means nobody is addressing the appalling conditions at border shelters, let alone working to rectify our byzantine immigration laws.

Piecemeal reforms wont do. We need a complete immigration overhaul. Immigration is a boon to Americans in almost every way imaginable. We should want more of it much more.

Immigration skeptics commonly make three arguments for tightening our borders. The first is increased immigration lowers the wages of citizens, which especially hurts the poor. The second is immigrants are especially prone to crime. The third is immigrants bring bad ideas, culture, and institutions with them, which will weaken economic and political institutions in the United States. None are true.

Immigrants dont lower Americans wages. The error here is looking only at one side of the ledger. Its true more immigrants means a higher labor supply, which pushes down wages, all else being equal. But all else isnt equal: Immigrants are also demanders of goods and services, which boosts wages for the workers who produce those goods and services. Even low-skilled workers, who compete most directly with immigrants for jobs, arent harmed. They may even see small wage increases. Overall, immigrant labor and native labor are complements, not substitutes. The more immigrants we have, the greater the degree of specialization and exchange. As weve known for hundreds of years, this makes countries richer, not poorer.

Immigrants arent a major source of crime. Nationalists raised this objection in the late 19th century in response to Irish and Italian immigration. Former President Donald Trumps dehumanizing rhetoric about Hispanic immigrants is just the latest case of nationalist cant. Fortunately, we have the data to refute it. Texas keeps track of the immigration status of those arrested and convicted of crimes. The data unequivocally show that immigrants are less prone to crime, including violent crime, than natives. In fact, even illegal immigrants commit less crime than natives.

Immigrants dont weaken our institutions. This is, admittedly, a serious concern. Institutions are the political and economic rules of the game that govern social life. Private property, democracy, and the rule of law are important examples. Institutions are the main cause of national wealth or poverty. Fortunately, the evidence shows that immigrants have minimal effects on institutions. In Wretched Refuse? The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions, researchers Alex Nowrasteh and Benjamin Powell conduct a thorough analysis of the effects of immigration on institutions. (Full disclosure: Powell is my boss.) Culture, productivity, and respect for law and order dont fall in the wake of immigration, and sometimes, they even increase. Defenders of freedom and equality have nothing to fear from immigrants.

Pro-immigration policies often face political hurdles. This is due to a failure of messaging. Because immigration can make America much wealthier, it just might save Americas floundering social insurance programs. Despite their popularity, Social Security and Medicare are financial messes. The political will necessary to make the books balance through tax increases just isnt there. Theres only one solution: Grow the tax base. More immigration means a stronger economy and, hence, more tax revenue.

Michael Clemens, a leading scholar of the economics of immigration, contends that immigration restrictions amount to leaving trillion-dollar bills on the sidewalk. The same worker is immensely more productive in the U.S. than in a country with poor institutions and scant productive capital. Immigration thus enables us to keep our civic promises by ensuring the elderly or infirm never suffer destitution.

When it comes to immigration, theres no trade-off between economic self-interest and moral imperatives. Accepting more immigrants is right in both cases. America was founded by sojourners and refugees longing to be free. Its time we live up to the promise of our founding and welcome those seeking a better life to our city upon a hill.

Alexander William Salter is the Georgie G. Snyder associate professor of economics in the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University, a research fellow at TTUs Free Market Institute, and a senior fellow with the American Institute for Economic Research.

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Economically and morally, more immigration is right - Washington Examiner

File: A heat relief station is set up at the Salvation Army Phoenix Citadel on 15 June 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona (Getty Images)

At least 43 migrants have died in Arizonas borderlands this summer as several US states reel under a scorching heatwave and soaring temperatures.

Humane Borders, a nonprofit that maps the recoveries of bodies in Arizona using data from the Pima county medical examiners office in Tucson, said 43 human remains of migrants were found across Arizonas border with Mexico in June, reported the Associated Press (AP).

Of the 43, at least 16 bodies were recovered a day after their death, while 13 were dead for less than a week, Mike Kreyche, a mapping coordinator for Humane Borders, told AP.

Mr Kreyche said that in the first six months, 127 bodies were recovered from the region, 31 more than the corpses recovered in 2020 for the said period. This years death toll also surpasses the earlier figure of 2017 when 123 bodies were recovered along the Arizona-Mexico border.

Exposure has been listed as the most common cause of death among the bodies recovered from Arizonas border with Mexico, approximately 400 miles long with a vast stretch of desert land.

Due to the vastness of the territory and the millions of acres of desolate desert that migrants traverse, the sad reality is that a substantial percentage of human remains will never be recovered, says the NGO on its website. They add that as of 31 December 2018, over 1,000 decedents remain unidentified.

Texas also reported an increase in the number of migrant deaths as state officials increase the number of rescue operations along its border with Mexico.

There were 36 migrant deaths in the first five months of this year, more than all the deaths reported in 2020, according to the AP report citing data from the Brooks County Sheriffs Department in southern Texas.

Flames are seen on side of the highway after a bushfire broke out, near St. George, Arizona on 12 July 2021, in this still image obtained from a social media video (Reuters)

The stretch was not always a graveyard. Fewer than five dead migrants were found in southern Arizona each year prior to 2000, according to a report by USA Today.

Numbers began to rise in 2001 as illegal immigration from Mexico to the US increased. With heightened border security in California and Texas, an increasing number of migrants are now forced to move through Arizonas treacherous terrain to seek sanctuary, said the APreport.

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The increase in the recorded deaths come as the western states endure dangerously high temperatures this summer.

An estimate of about 200 people mostly homeless, sick and old died this month in Oregon and Washington.

According to a recent report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the US recorded its hottest June in 127 years. The average June temperature across the country was 72.6F, about 4.2 degrees above normal, said the report.

To add to worries, soaring temperatures have fanned wildfires across large swathes of the US.

Firefighters battled at least 55 large fires across the country on Sunday, with 11 occurring in Arizona alone. The scale of the wildfires is so large that at least 768,000 acres of land in 12 western US states and more than 500,000 acres in Canada were burning as of Sunday.

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Heatwave: 43 bodies of migrants recovered at Arizonas borderlands amid soaring temperatures across US - Yahoo News

Shrugging off the notion that the Southern border crisis is a political attack, Gov. Bill Lee says the nation should develop a new strategy to stop a surge in illegal crossings and activity from Mexico.

After a two-day trip to review 300 Tennessee National Guard soldiers serving on a year-long mission for border patrol support, Lee said Sunday night the visit really opened my eyes to the enormous challenges the nation faces there. First Lady Maria Lee accompanied the governor on his trip.

The governor noted he wants to be part of a national conversation with border governors and the Biden Administration to reshape strategy, calling for an enormous effort to making border security top priority so the government knows who is immigrating to the United States and can control criminal activity.

Lee could not pinpoint a change from the Trump Administration policy to that of the Biden Administration that has caused an increase in the number of people trying to cross the border. But he did note Trumps consistent talk about the importance of building a wall, which Biden scuttled once he took office, in addition to the priority the former president placed on border patrol.

And one of the things you do see when you go there is the winding complexity, the difficulty from a topography standpoint of the border and how technology combined with an actual border wall or an actual facility that stops people from moving, when theres a combination there, its powerfully more effective, Lee said. So I think the strategies have been different. But the difference that weve seen is the number of people coming across the border.

Lee, who could not pinpoint a change from the Trump Administration policy to that of the Biden Administration, said he wants to be part of a national conversation to reshape border strategy.

The governor said the biggest difference between illegal activity in the last two years and traditional activity is that people from 56 countries, not just from Central and South America, are trying to enter at the border. In addition, he said illegal drug smuggling, human trafficking and sex trafficking are more prevalent.

Tennessee National Guard troops from three units, the 269th Military Police Company, 913th Engineer Company and 2-151 Aviation Battalion are providing support for the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, but are not detaining people. They are on a Title X mission, meaning the work is being paid for by the federal government, but it is up to the governor to authorize their activation.

Border activity turned into a hot Tennessee political issue in June when a Chattanooga TV station videotaped a plane dropping off a load of unaccompanied immigrant children in the middle of the night. Republicans accused the Biden Administration of trying to cover up the dissemination of illegal immigrants across the country.

Tennessees Senate and House speakers formed a study committee of Republican lawmakers to determine the impact of unaccompanied minors on the state, even though there were fewer than 100 who stayed at La Casa de Sydney.

The children in Chattanooga were housed at the Baptiste Group facility, which was operating under a federal contract with a Tennessee license, until the children could be connected with friends or family. The state revoked the organizations license after a child there told inspectors during a surprise visit that he saw one of the teens being kissed by a facility staff member. The teen later ran away.

Lee previously notified the Biden Administration that Tennessee would not accept unaccompanied immigrants from the Southern border. The governor did not discuss the Chattanooga situation during his Sunday night call with Maj. Gen. Jeff Holmes.

The governor said he met with the troops and leaders and took helicopter tours at night and day of a 25-mile stretch of the border where the most movement of people occurs. He described the complex nature of the border as winding, remote and wooded and pointed out it is difficult to control who moves across the border there.

Lee called the situation a national security threat and public safety threat and said he was struck by the amount of human exploitation going on there. Lee said he believes a strategy for border security is lacking at the national level.

I want to be part of those national conversations that go on because now that Ive seen it, I recognize that this is not a political problem. This is truly a problem for our country, and to the degree that my observations can be helpful, and that we can be a part of forming a strategy, he said.

Lee defended his decision to make the trip, saying the 300 Tennessee National Guard troops are top priority for him and calling it an important part of his job to interact with them.

We've got real problems here in Tennessee and the governor doing photo ops in Texas isn't gonna solve a single one of them. Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville

Democrats have accused Lee of turning the border situation into a political attack on the Biden Administration, especially since Tennessee National Guard troops have been there for a year.

Weve got real problems here in Tennessee and the governor doing photo ops in Texas isnt gonna solve a single one of them, said Sen. Jeff Yarbro, a Nashville Democrat. The governor needs to focus on getting Tennesseans vaccinated, back to school and back to work and spend less time just trying to get on Fox News.

Yarbro said he has not been able to discern much difference between Bidens border policy and that of former President Trump. But he noted he has been more concerned about the work of the Tennessee Legislature, which doesnt include national immigration policy.

State Rep. John Ray Clemmons, a frequent critic of the Lee Administration, also pointed out the state has plenty of issues that require the governors immediate attention, including health care, education and unemployment.

This taxpayer-funded junket was a political stunt and pit stop on the way to Iowa for an out-of-touch governor who fancies himself a candidate for the GOP presidential ticket in 2024, Clemmons, a Nashville Democrat, said.

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After National Guard trip, governor says nation needs new Southern border strategy Tennessee Lookout - Tennessee Lookout

History and a handful of issues threaten the Democrats' narrow congressional majorities in next year's midterm elections.

Even though President Joe Biden's job approval ratings remain solid if unspectacular, standing at 52.6% in the RealClearPolitics polling average and 51.3% in FiveThirtyEight's, the first midterm election has tended to go against the president's party since the 1930s. But Democrats are facing major headwinds beyond past precedent as they seek to hold on to their 50-50 split in the Senate only Vice President Kamala Harris's tiebreaking vote gives them control and nine-vote margin over Republicans in the House.

Democrats lost seats in the House last year as Biden rolled up 51.4% of the national popular vote and took the Senate only by sweeping both Georgia runoff elections in January. Since taking unified control of the elected branches of the federal government, several problems have emerged that could make 2022 even more difficult including some familiar ones that set back Democrats for a generation after the 1970s.

Rising crime

The drop in violent crime that began in the 1990s appears to be coming to an end. In fact, it may have been over in 2014. Homicides are spiking in major cities, and gun deaths reached their highest total in two decades last year.

A recent poll found that 54% consider violent crime a major crisis, while another 37% view it as a major problem short of a crisis, both greater than the percentages who say the same about the pandemic. Only 9% said crime was a minor problem or not one at all, the smallest percentage of any of the 14 issues tested in the poll.

KAMALA IN CRISIS

This has historically been a difficult issue for Democrats, although the above poll does show the public trusts the party on crime right now. But top Democratic operatives believe causes like "defund the police" hurt them against Republicans last year, despite Biden's attempts to disavow the movement. The GOP is poised to seize on continued violence, which has traditionally been a winning formula.

"We now have 24/7 news, so that even people who are not affected by rising crime may feel affected," said a policing researcher at a conservative think tank.

Inflation

Consumer prices have seen their biggest year-over-year increase since 2008 as even some Democratic economists, such as former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, worry about massive new spending overheating the economy. A New York Federal Reserve Bank survey found inflation expectations hitting a new high.

An Economist/YouGov poll also found that 42% of adults consider prices of goods and services to be the most important economic indicator, compared to 25% who picked unemployment and jobs reports. This is a stunning reversal from the same numbers in January.

Former President Jimmy Carter can tell Democrats what kind of impact inflation can have on their electoral fortunes. "Aside from the structural issues like redistricting, which is a massive hurdle for them in the House, inflation looms over their prospects in a massive way," said GOP strategist Matt Gorman, a former communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee. "It's essentially a tax on the middle class. Combine that with actual taxes they want to raise, and you have a recipe for an uphill climb in 2022."

Border crisis

Shortly after Biden took office, a migration surge overwhelmed federal authorities at the border. Apprehensions were higher in February than in January, higher in March than in February, higher in April than in March, and higher in May than in April. By March, the number of people attempting to enter the country illegally hit a 20-year high.

While conceding their policies offered "hope" to migrants that had been missing for the past four years, the Biden White House noted that the surge had been building in the final months of the previous administration. But the numbers are now worse, and there has even been a new uptick in migrant children five months into the Biden administration.

Consequently, some of Biden's lowest job approval ratings concern his handling of immigration and the border. A late June Fox News poll in which 53% approved of Biden's performance overall concluded that just 41% approved of how he was doing on immigration, compared to 54% who disapproved.

A Harvard/Harris poll found that 43% consider illegal immigration a serious problem, and another 37% labeled it a somewhat serious problem. Immigration ranked as the third most important issue behind jobs and the economy, followed by the pandemic in this survey.

Wokeness

From the backlash against the teaching of critical race theory in public schools to polling on politically vocal companies, Republicans are hopeful that today's censorious liberals can be a winning campaign issue for them.

Some Democratic strategists agree, with longtime Bill Clinton adviser James Carville calling wokeness a "problem" and the party's "kryptonite." "It's hard to talk to anybody today and I talk to lots of people in the Democratic Party who doesn't say this," he told Vox. "But they don't want to say it out loud because they'll get clobbered or canceled." Democratic data guru David Shor determined in his 2020 autopsy report that this was among a cluster of issues that drove conservative-leaning nonwhite voters, especially Hispanics, away from the party last November.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE IN THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Small majorities

These issues aside, the Democrats simply don't have many seats to spare. Republicans added 52 House seats in the first Clinton midterm in 1994 and 63 during President Barack Obama's initial midterm in 2010. Republicans experienced a net gain of nine Senate seats in Obama's second midterm in 2014.

This time, the GOP doesn't need a wave election. A net gain of one Senate seat and seven House seats would be sufficient for the majorities. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report estimates Republicans could pick up three to four House seats from redistricting alone.

Original Location: Democrats face these major headwinds in 2022 elections

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Democrats face these major headwinds in 2022 elections - Denver Gazette

Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger on Sunday asked fellow GOP lawmakers and "MAGA tribe" members to tell their constituents the truth about the 2020 election and stop campaigning like "zombies" desperate to get re-elected.

Kinzinger, a frequent critic of former President Donald Trump's power over the GOP, told Meet the Press on Sunday that Republican lawmakers across the country are "scared to do anything" that might upset the fanatical Trump base. Kinzinger said the fickle whims of Trump and the party were put on full display recently when "MAGA" supporters turned on former Vice President Mike Pence following the release of a book that detailed Trump and Pence getting into a fight in the Oval Office.

Meet the Press host Chuck Todd asked Kinzinger to respond to the Oklahoma Republican Party becoming the latest state to censure members of their own party for "failing to delay the certification" of the 2020 presidential election.

"It's just like Donald Trump's method, right? The biggest enemy to MAGA world right now is not even me or Liz Cheney, it's Mike Pence. Mike Pence is one of the most faithful people to Donald Trump. But if you ever turn an ounce against Donald Trump, you're out of the tribe," Kinzinger said.

"So to all of my colleagues in politics, let me say this to you: You either have to be a zombie for the MAGA belief system, whatever that is today or tomorrowit varies every day based on Donald Trump's whimsor actually stand up and tell your constituents the truth. And that's what we have to do is tell people the truth. We all know what the truth is. You guys know what the truth is. The American people and your base deserve to hear it," Kinzinger continued.

Todd said January 7 was supposed to be the "turning point" when a majority of Republicans in Congress realized "Trumpism is a virus inside the Republican Party that needs to be eradicated." But instead, he said, Trump's stranglehold on the GOP appears to have gotten even tighter, as this week's CPAC event showed.

Todd asked Kinzinger to respond to a censure resolution in Osage County, Oklahoma, where local GOP officials drafted a resolution to censure Senators James Lankford and Jim Inhofe "for failure to delay the certification of fraudulent electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election."

"That's the moment we're in," Kinzinger replied. "Just this kind of chaotic people scared to do anything, people scared of their own shadow, absolutely desperate to get re-elected, and meanwhile the innocent people in our base that in many cases have been led to believe that the election was stolen, is not hearing anything from any of the people that they trust."

A new book from Michael Bender of the Wall Street Journal details a scene that reportedly took place between Trump and Pence in the White House over an article about GOP lobbyist Corey Lewandowski. Bender writes:

"[Trump] crumpled the article and threw it at his vice president. 'So disloyal,' Mr. Trump said. Mr. Pence lost it...Mr. Pence picked up the article and threw it back at Mr. Trump. He leaned toward the president and pointed a finger a few inches from his chest. 'We walked you through every detail of this. We did this for youas a favor. And this is how you respond? You need to get your facts straight."

Trump on Friday responded to the book's claims about the fight, saying, "The story written by third-rate reporter Michael Bender, that Mike Pence and I had a big fight over Corey Lewandowski, is totally false. No such fight ever happened, it is fiction as are so many others stories written in the vast number of books coming out about me."

Newsweek reached out to Kinzinger's and Pence's representatives for any additional remarks Sunday afternoon.

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Mike Pence Treatment Shows Need to Be MAGA 'Zombie' to Stay in Trump 'Tribe': Adam Kinzinger - Newsweek