Ever read a column so batty it gives you whiplash? This one did that for me.
“This is occupied territory: Status could have severe psychological implications,” reads an editorial headline on myRGV.com.
It gets better (read: worse).
“The Rio Grande Valley is occupied territory. It’s a fact we can’t deny. South Texas is now under the control of a hostile military force: Our own state and federal government,” reads the lede.
“The invaders they are ready to fight, apparently with deadly force, include family members of many Valley residents, who want nothing more than to live in peace.”
The rest of the column continues with the same hyperbole, likening federal and state law enforcement presence at the border to a tyrannical force akin to the Revolutionary era’s redcoats.
It’s so typically fraught with projection about stress, anxiety, and other psychological issues allegedly caused by this increased presence.
Mind you, ignore the fact that there were many in those border communities who for years have clamored for the government to step up its border enforcement and hit back at the drug cartels’ operational control of the border.
We’re still a ways off really tamping down on the illegal activities that come on top of illegal border crossings. Our country, and especially our state, is struggling mightily with the border problem.
Ranchers are dealing with no-go zones on their land and are finding dead bodies strewn about. Average citizens have to cope with additional petty and more serious crime in their communities. And the services in those areas are stretched to the brink.
Surely, there’s more to do than simply ramp up law enforcement presence at the border. But that’s the start. Nothing can improve unless the tide of illegal immigration is stemmed.
Many of these people coming are searching for a better life in this country, but that negates neither the criminal element that takes advantage of them nor the struggle it tosses into the laps of these communities.
There is nothing wrong with a country asserting and securing its borders. That’s a foundational element of law and order.
Further, if this editorial is part and parcel of the Democrats’ response to the butt-kicking they took back in November, they haven’t learned their lesson. Border security loomed large, and voters sent a mammoth-sized message that the Democratic Party writ large did not appreciate the severity of the problem. South Texas moved wildly toward Donald Trump.
You simply can’t argue with the numbers.
Maybe myRGV.com will one day recognize this. They’re better positioned to than anyone else. All they have to do is go outside and speak to their neighbors.