The people who come to the U.S.-Mexican border requesting asylum (or at least temporary refuge until they can go home) are fleeing for their lives. Their family members have been killed. Their homes and businesses have been destroyed. They have received death threats. They have been attacked with bombs and machine guns.
Yet to hear immigration hardliners tell it, migrants and refugees are an “invading” force. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, running for the U.S. Senate, has issued a legal opinion claiming that the state is under “invasion” and is therefore permitted, under the Constitution, to “engage in war” against smugglers and cartels. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has enacted a series of anti-immigrant measures that include “increased military activity” on the border.
These politicians are also upset about President Joe Biden’s plan to end Title 42, the pandemic-era public-health rule that has allowed the government to expel migrants and refugees immediately, regardless of circumstances. Arizona, Louisiana and Missouri are suing to keep the administration from ending the program.
