The howling hypocrisy displayed by progressives and much of the media when Ron DeSantis flew illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard is dwarfed by their relative indifference to the explosion in the number of illegal immigrants who’ve died attempting to cross the border. Their indifference also stands in contrast to their professed concerns about the alleged housing of “kids in cages” by the Trump administration in 2018.
Reporters and Democratic politicians swarmed the border and immigrant detention facilities that year to highlight the issue. Photos of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sobbing at the sight of a chain-link fence were ubiquitous. Stories about the separation of children from parents abounded. Every media outlet larger than the Brecksville High School student newspaper had a substantial presence at the border.
Not so with respect to the current state of the southern border, which by every comparative measure is an unprecedented disaster. The number of border crossings has exploded from 396,579 in 2018 to a record high of more than 2.3 million in FY 2022 (not including “got-aways,” which likely increase the total by 40–50 percent). The number of individuals on the FBI’s terror watch list has risen from six in 2018 to 78 in 2022. The number of illegal immigrants entering the U.S. with a criminal record rose from 6,698 in 2018 to 10,763 in 2021.
The number of deaths among illegal aliens crossing the southern border has gone from 283 in 2018 to 748 in FY 2022. Curiously, no sign of Ocasio-Cortez weeping on site. Also, no sign of any other Democrat or member of the media (outside of Fox News). For them, border tragedies are relevant only when politically useful.
Expect the southern border to be rediscovered when a Republican resides in the White House again. Of course, expect also to discover that he or she is a racist.