My sister, a smart if feisty woman who I plead guilty to using on Ethics Alarms like as William Saroyan used his bartender,  was annoyed at my statement in a recent post that the Democratic Party, or which she is a member, though perhaps not quite as proud a member as she once was,  had become the party of open borders. She’s a lawyer, and combining that with the increasing tendency on the left to deny the elephants behind them (“Elephant? What elephant?”) whenever the metaphorical beast starts to stink and squash things, she’s pretty good at blurring such issues. On this one she says, “Obviously the Democrats don’t support open borders. Nobody has ever proposed open borders. We will never have open borders. Obama deported a lot of illegal immigrants.”

All true, and all deceitful. The policy advocated by Democrats and the rhetoric they use in the process creates a modified open borders policy, if an astoundingly stupid one. An open borders policy of any kind for a nation like the United States is suicidal in the long term, destructive in the short term. Progressives and Democrats resort to hilariously consistent talking points when confronted on their hypocrisy and dishonesty: “The system is broken, and we need comprehensive immigration reform.” Quiz them on what that pat phrase means, however, and you get humming. Yes, the system is broken. Democrats, for one illicit reason, and business interests, aka Republicans, for another, broke it long ago, and both have intentionally tap-danced, lied, and intentionally muddied the issue to keep it broken. Now, if my sister objected to my labeling of the Democratic Party as the party of open borders by a arguing that it is unfair to  leave the GOP out of that box, okay, I’ll concede the validity of that in part. The problem is that the Republicans have a President in office who is unequivocally opposed to open borders, to say the least, and who is trying to end the nonsense. Democrats, not Republicans, are blocking him.

The totality of Democratic party and progressive conduct and rhetoric equals a desire to keep out southern borders porous, which means “open” in reality, if not political double talk. Among them, in no particular order since I am rushed and want to get a pots up before I have to do a 7:30 am tech check here in San Diego:

1. Creating incentives for illegal aliens to come here. Among them:

• Not eliminating the automatic citizenship that accrues to the children of illegal immigrants, a true Constitutional loop-hole, since it was written before the US had illegal immigrants;
• DACA, which makes it worth breaking the law for foreign parents who want their children to grow up in a better country than the one they are in, as well as giving children who grow up here as perpetual law-breakers the fuzzy feel-good label of “Dreamers,” and
• The Obama policy that breaking the immigration laws doesn’t count as long as an illegal immigrant doesn’t break any other laws of substance.

2. Sanctuary cities, all Democratic party governed, that interfere with just enforcement of the immigration laws and send the message that restricting immigration is immoral.

3. Intentionally blurring, in speech and through the news media, the material distinction between legal immigration and illegal immigration, and thus encouraging the belief that there is no difference, or should be no difference.

4. Advocating the abolishment of ICE. True, the Democratic Party as a whole has not endorsed this position, but only Democrats argue for it.

5. The position that enforcing immigration laws is racist.

6. The propaganda put out by Democratic news media—that is, almost all news media—romanticizing illegal immigrants and their families, celebrating their courage,  fawning over their quest for a better life, and painting as heartless villains those who would be so mean as to force these wonderful, loving people to pay the consequences for violating our laws to get here.

7. Local laws in Democratic run states and cities that allow illegal immigrants to become licensed attorneys (California),  legally drive automobiles (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia)—yeah, a Republican state snuck in there; must be a Mormon thing….and, a rising threat, vote in local elections.

8. Using sentimental and emotional attitudes toward children to demonize efforts to  apprehend illegal immigrants using their children (or other children) as a form of human shields against law enforcement.

9. Habitual references to the poem on the Statue of Liberty as the established national position regarding immigration, though the poem was only relevant to its period (The 19th Century), when there were no restrictions on immigration.

10. The opposition to Trump’s “wall.” I have no idea whether a wall of any kind will be effective; during the 2016 campaign, I thought it was a ridiculous proposal, more symbolic than serious. Now I think the symbolism is enough to justify it, specifically because the Democratic rhetoric encourages illegal immigrants to break our laws. Democrats are saying, and loudly, “We really want you here, if you just want a better life. We’re a nation of immigrants! We admire you! As long as you won’t break any more laws, then welcome! And, of course, we expect you to vote for our candidates once we find a way to get you amnesty, right? Right?” In other words, our borders are open if you’re courageous enough and want to come here badly enough, and you’re a good illegal immigrant! It’s like college hazing, I guess. What a disgraceful, idiotic way to handle border security and citizenship: make it a contest.

The wall, whatever it costs, will be valuable if all it does is say, “You’re not welcome, no matter what you hear the open borders Democrats saying.”

There are more, but ten is a nice number for a list, and I’m out of time.