Immigration is the New Abortion

As with the abortion struggle, Republicans should be careful what they wish for

Border Wall | © Tomas Castelazo, www.tomascastelazo.com / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

For 50 years, Republicans had a built-in political advantage that provided strong headwinds for any Democratic pro-choice candidates. They always had the abortion issue to create buzz, rage, and motivation to get to the polls. That was always one of the most important unintended consequences of the Roe v. Wade decision, the fact that it created an effective mobilized movement of anti-abortion crusaders.

But it was also notable that when Republicans got power, they didn’t push too hard for anti-abortion laws. They would campaign on them to distinguish themselves from their pro-choice Democratic counterparts and rile up their base. And they would often push ideas that diminished abortion’s role in society, such as George W. Bush’s executive order to not limit stem cell research, which used aborted tissue to obtain the stem cells. But in general, there were not too many major political figures that would promote outright abortion bans.

The Roe v. Wade precedent had a somewhat chilling effect on this, as how would an abortion ban be enforced if it was unconstitutional according to this decision? Therefore, the meat of the Republican position, at least in campaigns for office, was to appoint justices to the Supreme Court that would potentially overturn Roe v. Wade, and therefore create a new national abortion reality which would be conducive to such bans.

Last year’s Dobbs decision did just that. It was a culmination of a decades-long crusade to change the rules of the game so that abortion bans could be entertained. Kudos to all the crusaders that spent a huge portion of their lives and political energy on getting this done.

How many of them are now regretful that they were successful? I would think a small portion of them are, as the Dobbs decision has now turned the tables and allowed pro-choice Democrats to claim to be the ever-lasting victims of authoritarian rule and energize their own base. The indications so far from the elections that have occurred since the Dobbs decision is that it’s a political winner to be against most abortions bans, which are no longer hypothetical.

The immigration issue has taken on a similar trajectory as the abortion issue. The one major difference is that there was no definitive Supreme Court decision regarding immigration that proved to be the pie-in-the-sky goal that can only be attained through careful decades-long planning and sniper-like targeting. Immigration as an issue is something that can be easily addressed at any time by Congress. They just need to pass laws to address it.

So imagine my personal surprise when Congressional Republicans started using the immigration issue to force the hand of supporters of Ukrainian aid. The party of “clean bills” is forcing immigration and Ukrainian aid to be tied and passed together.  In order for us to continue to help Ukraine fight off the Russian invasion, and therefore continue to significantly weaken our most consistent adversary, we must all solve the border crisis.

Uh….Okay!

Republicans have been complaining about the border, migrant caravans, illegal aliens, immigrant invasion, etc. etc. for the last few decades. They have also been the sole party in power a few times during that span and got done literally nothing on the subject. They have also been involved in bipartisan immigration negotiations in which they would not compromise, thereby also producing no tangible results.

Immigration has been a great tool for them to campaign on, just like with the abortion issue. It is arguably even more effective, as it provides fear-mongering of immediacy. Abortion is more of a moral issue, and the dangers to the existing population are abstract, not facially apparent.

Immigration on the other hand, is a perpetually real-time issue that could literally kill you at any moment…..if you believe that we are letting ready-made terrorists and rapists just walk across the border and into your living room.

All hysterics aside, immigration seems to be a legitimate problem. Most Amercians want some immigration, and want it to be legal and follow a process in order to weed out the worst elements and allow the best to prevail. Most Americans want it to be reasonably easy, or reasonably difficult, for aspiring immigrants to cross the border and live and work in our country.

There does seem to be too much side-stepping of immigration laws and illegal crossing at the border, and something has probably needed to be done about it for many years now. It would be  great if Congress could get together and negotiate a bipartisan immigration bill that could help to solve some of these problems.

But by forcing the hand of Democrats, or any Ukrainian supporter in Congress, they have put their own campaign ace card on the table and risked gambling it away. If the border crisis is actually solved or somewhat abated by a negotiated deal, they took away much of the fear-mongering they would normally want to rely on in their campaigns for office, just as the 2024 election is approaching.

On the other hand, if the problems still exist, Democrats will be able to say at least they tried in a bipartisan fashion, and therefore largely neuter any potential Republican fear mongering on the subject.

The net result will be to help Democrats win more offices, as the border crisis will either be completely off the table, or will now be a bipartisan issue, not just one that makes Democrats look bad.

This is one of those situations that calls for the old cliche to be conjured: Republicans, when it comes to the border crisis, “Be careful what you wish for”.