Open Borders Have Brought America to Its Knees

This commentary was written by Don Huffines exclusively for The Telegraph and published here.

The fundamental starting point of any foreign policy is always the same: borders. To survive, a country must have a firm, settled understanding of its territorial demarcation. Everything from national security and environmental balance to life and death depends on this.

Borders also define something else very special, perhaps the most special thing for a country: sovereignty.  

But in America today, borders and state sovereignty no longer seem important to the ruling class. They instruct us that limiting human beings’ free movement and determination is morally wrong. America is large and prosperous, they intone: come one, come all.

And this is precisely the failed policy many of our politicians and presidents have intentionally adopted for decades. Today, the results of this ruinous way of thinking are flooding in quickly and destructively.

The 19,312 kilometers of Texas border, 64 percent of the US border with Mexico, is wide open. A historic record-breaking number of illegals pass through each day – hundreds of thousands per month. The illegal aliens coming across our border represent over 150 countries. It is estimated that illegal aliens cost Americans close to half a trillion dollars a year, with a disproportionate share burdened on Texas taxpayers. We are truly under invasion.

This is not the place to debate why some Americans, particularly the Biden administration, tolerate and invite such an erosion of state sovereignty and jeopardization of national security. But we should wonder why the federal government and some well-known figures in Texas politics are uninterested in fixing this problem. It is hard not to conclude that this is anything short of a coordinated effort with the Mexican government to change the political makeup of Texas and ensure the Democrat party never loses the presidency.

But a few days ago, something interesting happened in the Lone Star State. The Texas House, following the Senate, passed SB 4, legislation that creates a new state crime for illegal border crossings by a foreign national. Breaking into America will become a Class A Misdemeanor. Offenders will be ordered to return home – with some help from Texas officials – to their country of origin. Failure to comply will result in a State Felony. Texans will, in a very real way, have taken charge of our constitutional right to sovereignty.

For me, all of this is uncontroversial and long overdue. Texans are finally being empowered to secure our borders. Over time, we may look forward to stabilizing our strained healthcare and education systems, curbing cartel-backed drug flows, and redirecting our waylaid tax dollars to more pressing domestic issues.

But what’s really telling is the response from Mexico. While recognizing “the sovereign right of a country to determine the public policies that are implemented in its territory,” the Secretary of Foreign Affairs stated that Mexico “categorically rejects any measure that allows state or local authorities to detain and return Mexican or foreign nationals to Mexican territory.”

Going further, the López Obrador administration added that they were “ready to respond to any violation brought about by authorities in the state and will explore supporting strategic litigation to safeguard their human rights.”

That Mexico issues direct threats when faced with the prospect of receiving back its citizens whom they encouraged to cross over to America illegally is troubling but predictable. No country has done more to undermine our sovereignty than Mexico.

Almost just as predictable is that the Biden administration will do everything within its power to stop Texans from securing the border. The Justice Department has already sued Texas for installing floating border barriers along the river. It is hard to believe they will tolerate even for a second this round of self-determination from Texans.

There is one thing of which I am sure: Texans are about to begin a new, very important chapter in our history; and this time, we are not asking permission – from Mexico or the federal government.