Migration pramatic path

 In the United States, the 2016 election revealed that even a perceived increase in immigration could inspire a political backlash. Immigration advocates, for the most part, have responded to anti-immigrant sentiment by making empathy-based, humanitarian appeals. In “Open Borders,” Caplan takes a different approach. He makes a pragmatic argument about collective self-interest, expressed in terms of gross world product. His presumption—perhaps a good one—is that moral arguments will be of limited effect compared with the trillion-dollar potential of his open-bordered world.

Today’s Border Politics

The Democrats still won’t hesitate to give the Republicans a “heck of a lot” of border security whenever they ask. Even in a moment where we see images of children practically piled into a room, going days without diapers, House Democrats were willing to cut the Trump administration a blank check for border enforcement.

We’re here because the Democrats, too busy trying to make Rahm’s “down payment,” never decided for themselves what border enforcement should look like. It was up to the Republicans to decide when the border was “secure,” to which the answer would always be never.

Keeping the “comprehensive” dream alive, in this moment, is absurd — but the party doesn’t have much else to say. When Trump announced that he would delay a planned series of raids, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted “Mr. President, delay is welcome. Time is needed for comprehensive immigration reform. Families belong together.”

At least some Democrats are willing to change course. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib, the left-wing quartet in the House known as “The Squad,” has been willing to break with leadership on enforcement. Representative Marc Pocan called the Democrats who voted for the Republican border security bill the “Child Abuse Caucus,” reportedly drawing a stern condemnation from Pelosi.

From the presidential debate stage, Castro is helping the party get its act together. Although decriminalization isn’t a complete solution, it’s a start, and it says something about what we want the enforcement system to look like.

Moreover, border politics are starting to change. Republicans no longer control the image of the border in the public imagination. The television b-roll image of the border isn’t tattooed men peering through a fence anymore — it is children in cages, sleeping with their mothers on benches and concrete floors. Even Republicans have to act like they want to do something for the children.  Instead of security, border enforcement looks more like abject cruelty.

Right now, Democrats have a chance to offer an alternative vision of the border.  Hopefully they won’t blow it. Because the crisis at the border is only going to get worse, and the path we’ve been on has consistently led us toward greater and more severe forms of enforcement.

So let’s start by demanding an end to criminal prosecutions on the border. And then we’ll demand more.