There are two very different mindsets in America today. The first is held by members of the fake news and liberal elites they speak for who spend all their time obsessing over President Trump and who waited with bated breath for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s meaningless testimony this week.
Then there is the mindset held by the vast majority of Americans who don’t care about Robert Mueller or the now debunked “collusion” witch hunt, but they are begging to see their elected leaders take action on real issues like securing the border.
I experienced these competing mindsets firsthand this week. On Monday, I traveled to El Paso, Texas to meet with our law enforcement personnel and to see the crisis at our border firsthand. Then, I returned to Washington to find a total media circus around the Mueller testimony.
It was a stunning contrast. On one hand, we have a legitimate and serious crisis that directly threatens the safety and security of the American people. On the other hand, we have a phony investigation that has been litigated and debated for years and has no impact on the people of our country.
This contrast also applies to what I saw at the border. I was struck by just how much the situation has been misrepresented.
Most notably, it is a crisis – plain and simple. Democrats try to pretend like the illegal border crossings aren’t a serious matter, but I watched illegal immigrants run across our border unabated. We don’t know who they are or what threats they pose, but due to our virtually open borders, they are now on the loose in our country.
To be clear, this isn’t just an issue at the border. Just this week, we heard a story from my home state of Alabama about an illegal immigrant from Guatemala sexually abusing a child. This follows a tragic incident from earlier this year when an illegal immigrant struck and killed an innocent schoolteacher in my hometown of Mobile. The illegal immigration crisis at the border is putting American citizens directly in harm’s way across the country.
Another big discrepancy relates to the border wall. I was able to see portions of our border where we have a wall, portions where we have a fence, and portions where we have no barriers. Seeing it firsthand and talking with border personnel, it was clear that walls work. While Democrats call walls “immoral,” the reality is that walls work at keeping illegal immigrants out of the country, and President Trump is right to keep pushing Congress to approve funding to build the wall.
Then there is the way open-border radicals like AOC and her “Socialist Squad” have depicted the conditions at the border. It is totally false. I saw an ICE detention facility firsthand, and I guarantee you the conditions are a whole lot better than how the national media depicts them. There were televisions, iPads, and food that looked a heck of a lot better than what I’ve seen served in some of our school lunchrooms.
Finally, nothing made me more frustrated than seeing the way extremists on the Left have attacked and slandered our brave law enforcement personnel at the border. These individuals are the utmost professionals. They are put in incredibly dangerous situations on a daily basis to keep us safe, and it is insulting and wrong that Democrats are comparing them to Nazis working at concentration camps. We have to stop insulting our brave law enforcement personnel and instead get them more resources and help so they can adequately do their job.
So, as I said, there are two very different mindsets in our country: one that is built on fantasy and propped up by the fake news media and one that is grounded by reality and held by the majority of the American people. We need to keep calling out Democrats for their lies and for their refusal to admit that the surge in illegal immigration caused by years of open border policies is fueling a true humanitarian crisis at our southern border. They need to stop trying every trick in the book to hurt President Trump and start working to solve real problems.
We need to build the wall, close the loopholes in our asylum system, send more resources to our border patrol personnel, and finally secure our border. It is time for Democrats to stop living in fantasyland and start working with President Trump to protect our sovereignty and keep the American people safe.
Congressman Bradley Byrne currently represents Alabama’s First Congressional District in the House of Representatives, and he is currently a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat held by Senator Doug Jones (D-AL).