RFK Jr. on Border Solution: Seal Border but Encourage Legal Immigration
On August 3, 2023, Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched a short documentary film "Midnight at the Border" about his trip to the southern U.S. border last month, highlighting an issue few other Democrats have dared to touch. He says at the conclusion of the documentary that he has learned that the current U.S. border policy is just a way of funding “a multibillion-dollar drug and human trafficking operation” to benefit the Mexican cartels. He promises, if elected, to use "Tall Fences and Wide Gates" meaning seal the border while encouraging legal immigration.
Key Talking Points:
- In 2022, $13 Billion is the estimated Revenue from Human Trafficking.
- Robert Kennedy Jr. speaks to border patrol at the Southern US Border at Yuma.
- He asks Chris Helm, a Retired Chief Border Patrol Agent at Yuma, 'if he was President how would he stop this immigration crisis'?
- Helm responds that he would finish the wall where it makes sense, and notes that mother nature protects West Texas. In other difficult areas, you can use technology to help agents and police control areas.
- Helm also notes that “tall fences and wide gates” is a good policy: a metaphor for safe access with policed protection and a legal pathway for those that seek it.
- Kennedy notes that it was an extraordinary trip for him as he witnessed an uncontrolled flow of desperate humanity, crossing the world and converging at the US border.
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- Kennedy blames the misbegotten policy of high levels of US leadership.
- He notes that we can represent ourselves better to the rest of the globe.
- After visiting the border, Kennedy states that the open border policy is just a way of funding a multi-billion dollar drug and human trafficking operation for the Mexican cartels.
- As President, he will secure the border, end control of the cartels drug trafficking economy, and will build wide doors for those who wish to enter legally.
- Kennedy wants the United States to lead the world where diversity and culture make us all great.
Key Data and Evidence Points:
- Monthly encounters at US-Mexican border are near record levels.
- Biden's Border Crisis Is the Worst in American History.
- The absence of border security, in conjunction with nonexistent interior enforcement, has made the U.S. a fertile breeding ground for human trafficking.
- Human trafficking also increased massively in the last fiscal year. Arrests rose 50%; convictions soared by 80%. The vast majority, 72%, of those trafficked in the U.S. are immigrants. Most of them are here illegally.
- Human Trafficking is on the rise.
- US is a top Human and Child trafficking destination.
- Fentanyl seizures along the U.S.-Mexico border have continued to rise, with 14,104 pounds of fentanyl being seized along the Mexican border in fiscal year 2022.
- While many countries have fairly relaxed immigration laws or remain part of multinational conventions allowing free travel, “no country in the world has a deliberately open border policy” or has borders “truly open to all.”
- Immigrants in the United States fuel spending and spur economic growth. They comprise “approximately 1-in-7 residents, 1-in-6 workers and create about 1-in-4 of new businesses” in the United States.
