The Border Is Still Open Because Politicians Want It Open

Why the Border Remains Unguarded

The border stays open because powerful people in Washington profit from the chaos, gaining cheap labor and campaign donations while ordinary Americans absorb the cost of failed enforcement, which is a will problem rather than a resource problem.

Customs and Border Protection documented more than 2.4 million encounters along the southwest border in fiscal year 2024 alone. That number does not count the got-aways who slipped past agents in the dark. It does not count the migrants who overstayed visas. It does not count the criminals who have no intention of obeying American law.

Congress has funded border walls before. It has funded technology, agents, detention beds, and deportation flights. The money is there. The authority is there. What is missing is a ruling class willing to use the tools it already possesses. Politicians issue press releases. They hold hearings. They tweet. But they do not close the border.

And the result is predictable. American workers see wages flattened by a flood of illegal labor. Small towns watch buses arrive in the middle of the night. Parents worry about fentanyl pouring across a line that nobody defends. The public did not ask for this. The public was never consulted.

The Cost Is Measured in American Lives

The price of open borders is not abstract because it shows up in morgues, emergency rooms, and bankrupt communities that cannot afford the social services demanded by a population that was never lawfully admitted, and every statistic hides a name.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported roughly 271,000 removals in fiscal year 2024. That sounds large until you set it beside the estimated 11 to 13 million illegal immigrants already living inside the United States. At that pace, it would take decades to restore the rule of law. And every year the problem grows larger.

The drug cartels understand the border better than the bureaucrats do. Fentanyl killed more than 70,000 Americans in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of that poison crossed from Mexico. The same networks that move narcotics move people. They do not respect asylum law. They respect money and weakness.

Local police departments feel the strain. Sheriffs in Texas, Arizona, and California have warned for years that they lack the resources and the legal authority to handle the fallout. They arrest the same offenders repeatedly because sanctuary policies prevent cooperation with federal agents. The bond between law enforcement and the communities it serves frays a little more each day. Honest cops know the fix starts at the ballot box.

Enforcement Needs Backing, Not Speeches

Border agents know how to secure the border, but they need political leaders who will let them do their jobs and defend them when the activists scream, because morale matters in law enforcement and right now it is low.

The tools are straightforward. Finish the physical barrier in the sectors where crossings spike. Restore the Remain in Mexico policy so that asylum claims are heard on the southern side of the border, not in American communities. End catch-and-release. Require employers to verify legal status through E-Verify. Punish sanctuary jurisdictions that obstruct federal law.

None of this is radical. It is the immigration system that existed before politicians decided that enforcement was cruel. And enforcement is not cruel. Letting people die in the desert is cruel. Letting cartels control the border is cruel. Letting American citizens compete with exploited labor is cruel.

The agents who wear the uniform understand this. They see the human toll up close. They rescue migrants abandoned by smugglers. They seize drugs before they reach school parking lots. They work overtime while politicians second-guess them from green rooms. They deserve better than the current arrangement.

Voters Must Demand a Sovereign Nation

This November, Americans have a chance to remind the ruling class who pays the bills, because a sovereign nation has the right to decide who enters and who stays, a principle older than the Constitution and more important than any party.

The question on the ballot is simple. Do you want a country with borders and laws, or do you want a continent-sized hiring hall run by cartels and NGOs? There is no middle ground. Half measures produce the same results we see today. They produce more crossings, more debt, and more broken communities.

The Alamo Post stands for the plain right of Americans to govern their own land. That right is exercised through enforcement. Not sentiment. Not slogans. Enforcement. If Washington will not provide it, then the people must replace Washington.

The border is not a natural disaster. It is a policy choice. And it can be fixed the moment the people with power decide that American sovereignty matters more than their own comfort. That moment is long overdue. Voters who stay home this November are voting for more of the same. There is no neutral position on a nation's survival.