(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Minimize the border between the US and Mexico? [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-06-12

I’ve been reconsidering my political views around immigration lately. For a long while now, I’ve been waffling between wanting to help immigrants, while also respecting that our country has the legal authority to enforce immigration law. I’ve generally been against allowing an uncapped number of immigrants into the US for mostly pragmatic reasons. I’ve also assumed that the range of possible solutions was pretty narrow, probably because I was taking my cues from the positions of our two political parties as the outer bounds of what is possible. These last few weeks though have shown me that I was limiting my horizons and making compromises with my own moral system.

So, I’m trying to toss my blinders aside and consider new ideas. I wrote a diary in support of open borders a few days ago while I was mulling this over, maybe as a thought experiment? I got a fair bit of useful pushback and a smattering of support, and learned quite a bit.

Some of my own lessons learned:

”Open borders” means very different things to different people. Many (most?) equate open borders to having no rules at all, zero vetting. I was of the belief open borders would involve at least a criminal background check, which was a bad assumption. So my proposal immediately got off to a rocky start due to a basic definition problem. I’ll be careful not to use the term Open Borders going forward because I actually want to propose a border that is open to anyone who passes a criminal background check. “Decriminalize the border” is also taken- that just means removing criminal charges for crossing, but does not include any kind of welcome or legal status. So: “minimize the border” is what I’ll try out next. If you have a better term I’m all ears.

Open borders raised a near panic about hundreds of millions or even billions of people moving here if we don’t maintain our current immigration controls. Reasons include financial (who will pay?) and political (they will vote in a dictator like back at home). The feeling that we will be overwhelmed by outsiders isn’t just a Republican fear- it is a strongly felt fear for the members of DK as well. I’m oddly unworried about these feared outcomes but can’t dismiss that it is a deep-seated concern for many.

I did get some whiffs of anti-immigrant sentiment. For example, worry that immigrants would bring their culture with them and marry their daughters off at 12, or even just murder them. Right or wrong, that fear exists and is certainly worse in less progressive spaces. Fear of others limits the possible political solutions- the more different a culture is the more fear of those people moving here. That fear isn’t entirely without basis, as cultures do differ. Perhaps consider this example at a very small scale: one immigrant family from a culture where girls are subjugated, with a young daughter. Is that daughter safer going to live a better life in the US as an immigrant, protected by our laws, or is she better off back home immersed in a culture that allows her to be subjugated or worse. I think the clear answer is that she is better off here, so blocking that immigrant family is choosing a path of greater human suffering for a young girl. It is a moral imperative to consider the outcome for the immigrant in question, as a human, and not just think about ourselves.

There was a broad assumption expressed in my diary that almost nobody in the US supports open borders of any kind. This assumption makes sense because open borders are routinely presented as insane by literally everyone in power: both political parties, the media, and certainly our loudmouth oligarchs. Open borders supporters have no visibility or platform. They are invisible, not non-existent. I had the exact same assumption about lack of support myself about 48 hours ago. What I’ve learned since is interesting. Polling from last October showed that 1 in 3 Democrats actually support open borders. Not 1 in a hundred, 1 in 3! Now consider what has happened since October that might increase sympathy and support for immigrants. I see a whole bunch of half US/ half Mexican flags flying at protests right now. In fact, it was those flags that led me to reconsider the possible.

So, would it be worth considering a much narrower immigration idea than simple open borders? What if we took a page out of Europe’s book and dropped as many barriers to free movement between the US and Mexico as possible? Just allow Mexican citizens to live and work here, as many as want to, and provide an easy path to citizenship for those who move here permanently. To be clear, this would probably require Mexico to do the same for US citizens so we are on an even basis. It would also require workers to pay taxes in the country they are working in, and that all workers were documented. Again, some parallels with the EU.

What would that future look like? Is that a net benefit for both countries? I’m pretty sure it would be. Consider the benefits. The US would greatly benefit from labor, both seasonal and permanent. Tax revenue would jump. Our GDP would jump. Our sky high deficit might actually come down. Perhaps more houses would be built, and the cost of building would come down, alleviating our housing crisis. Maybe retirees would appreciate better integration and more would move to Mexico for better weather and cheaper living. The human suffering involved with deporting millions of Mexicans would be ended. Least important, more taco trucks? Actually expand that thought- food prices would probably drop as a result of more farm labor, more restaurant labor, more trucking labor, and yes more taco trucks. I know I could use a break on food prices these days and that a fully criminalized border is hurting my food budget in every possible way. We already make these economic benefit arguments all day. This piece of the message is actually getting media attention nationally.

Then, there are positive cultural impacts.

We could start to destigmatize other countries. One thing the US never does is put another country on our same moral level. This American exceptionalism is a subtle poison for our culture. We aren’t really better than anyone else, we are all human. Insisting that we are better at all times on everything is not just ludicrous- it is hubris. Hubris leads to bad decisions and bad outcomes. Accepting Mexico as a partner may start to break down this exceptionalism trap. To be extra optimistic, maybe “White America” could learn to stop seeing a brown person as an invader, and instead see them as a welcome team member.

What about politically? I think this might actually be a critical moment for the Democratic party to revitalize itself. It is deeply broken right now, most of us agree on that. I think one of the deepest flaws is that we have chased toward the middle for so long that our platform has turned into a mealymouthed version of Republican-lite. Read this from the Dem election platform:

President Biden has repeatedly asked Congress for additional resources to secure our border, including increases for personnel that are critically needed to quickly deliver consequences at the border to those who cross unlawfully. Democrats believe that asylum processing should be efficient and fair, and that those who are determined not to have a legal basis to remain should be quickly removed. President Biden announced executive action that significantly curtailed asylum eligibility the President should have emergency authority to expel migrants who are crossing unlawfully and stop processing asylum claims Congress should also dedicate resources to detain and remove individuals quickly

The political consequences to mirroring the opposing party are, well… you saw how things went. How many activists and young people would read those platform positions and think YES I want to sign up to support those ideas? And if there is a set of young people who want those things, there is already a party that will deliver exactly those things and deliver them right now: the Republicans. Trying to split the baby like this leads to defeat and disenchantment.

When I watch these protests I see a huge untapped groundswell of people who are willing to fight ICE on the street, willing to put their own freedom on the line for immigrants. I see people proudly waving US/Mexican mixed flags. I see young people who are so much more progressive than I am, I had to stop and rethink my own ideas. I had to remember that decades ago I also wanted freedom of movement across the whole planet and had such disdain for solutions chosen in fear.

So, instead of open borders, would a movement to minimize the US/Mexico border succeed? Would it at least help? Would it challenge the Dems to find a spine? (cue donkeys quivering in terror meme). What if Gavin Newsom took a real stand and openly support Mexican immigration with no limits? Would that hurt or help his chances to win a national Democratic primary? Now, he is probably not the person who would actually go so far left. But I can think of someone who might- AOC. If she took this position in a national race the entire chess board would be flipped. Just a theory, but I bet that youth turnout would be DOUBLE what it was in 2024. The Dems would win seats up and down the board in a blue tsunami of young voters who are DESPERATE for change. Make the Republicans argue that Mexicans specifically are not welcome here. Make them own it.

I hear huge numbers of people begging for change who want somebody, anybody, to do something, anything, that resembles a truly new path to the future. As much as I hate Elon Musk right now, he has millions of fans because he claims to be leading us to Mars, or some other futuristic endeavor. Big futuristic ideas can win! Let me check if Harris had any truly big ideas for the youth: oh yeah, $25,000 for first time homebuyers to help with a down payment. When the median home costs $417,000, it takes $83,000 just to avoid PMI payments. Not to mention the average first time homebuyer age is 38. So the big idea was to provide middle age Americans with jobs and good credit a whole 6% of the cost of a house. And for renters? There is a tax credit payable to developers to build starter houses. Maybe that will help but good luck with the slogan. “What do we want? TAX CREDITS! Payable to who? DEVELOPERS!” ;) I don’t mean to criticize Harris too much, she is stuck in the Dem apparatus that is beholden to money over morals. Those ideas were probably the best she could get her funders to accept.

There are other possible permutations of this idea: maybe an open transfer window for anyone under the age of 30? Like free agency or something. Maybe we would negotiate with Mexico to require improved environmental standards as part of the deal. Maybe they would require that we make all all our signs bilingual. There’s a lot of room here for negotiation and improved life for both countries.

Probably this is pie in the sky daydreaming (again). But damn do I yearn to feel optimism and hope for a world where we are building a better future together, not just for only myself, not just limited to some slice of America, not even the whole of America, but between our neighboring countries. This framework would not just help us, it would help our neighbors also. Personally, I would love if Mexico was a safer more prosperous country, and if I could visit there as an ally and partner instead of a citizen of an oppressive rich walled off pseudo-Eden that insists it is the best. And, because this is for the future, this idea is especially helpful for young people who are more mobile than anyone else. This plan would be Hope and Change for real.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/12/2327546/-Minimize-the-border-between-the-US-and-Mexico?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/