"Rather than making them, of talking about putting up a fence, why don't we work out some recognition of our mutual problems, make it possible for them to come here legally with a work permit, and then, while they're working and earning here, they pay taxes here? And when they want to go back they can go back, and cross. And open the border both ways, by understanding their problems. This is the only safety valve they have right now, with that unemployment, that probably keeps the lid from blowing off...And I think we could have a fine relationship." - Ronald Reagan (during a 1980 Republican primary debate.)
In my lifetime there has never been a better presidential candidate than Ronald Reagan. Somehow in words, if not always in deeds, he managed to articulate the moral high ground and never relinquish it to his opponents. No matter how significantly I might’ve disagreed with his policy, in the moment, with soaring rhetoric, his ideas and relentless optimism always moved me. The quote above is but one fine example.
Ronald Reagan established the moral high ground for Republicans. Sadly, the current Republican leadership has abandoned this standard. There is no compassion for the poor people struggling to survive on our southern border, no call for an “understanding their problems,” no common sense solutions calling for “recognition of our mutual problems,” only anger and condemnation.
“Build a wall and make them pay for it!” says Donald Trump, and given the chance he would punish all the Mexican people for the perceived wrongs they have inflicted upon us. The existing 650 mile wall cost 7 billion, estimates for Trump's wall range between 10 and 12 billion.
For twenty-six years I have regularly crossed the border to build houses with Baja Christian Ministries. We can build a three bedroom “A” frame in a weekend for about $7,000. We have now built over 2,000 homes for families that survive on the prevailing wage of a dollar an hour. They are decent, hard working, humble people who would gladly live in Mexico if it were possible to come here legally with a work permit and “go back” to their own communities.
This is particularly true for someone returning to his own home and family. Instead of promoting “family values” designed to keep those families intact, we as a nation incarcerate parents for being illegal separating them from their children. This is nothing less than oppressing the poor. What we do is not only unjust it is, as President Regan pointed out, bad policy. We are not the only ones angry about the relationship between our nations. Mexican nationalism is on the rise. Stoking the flames of anger across the border is dangerous to our national security. ISIS has proven that poor people consumed with hatred are more than a serious threat. Equally ruthless drug cartels and gangsters terrorize the Mexican people and destabilize their government. Mass executions of political opponents and other rivals are common occurrence in Mexico, carried out with firearms purchased in the United States. ISIS is nothing less than gang terrorism with a consistent ideology of anger inspired hatred. Islamic terrorism is not the only evil to ever threaten our nation. Kamikaze pilots were the first suicidal bombers we dealt with, and radical jihadists won’t be the last.
We’ve had one big advantage over the terrorists on the other side of the globe, we can get to them a lot easier that they can get to us. This is not true of Mexico, or the other 300 million people living in squalor to the south of us. There’s a land bridge connecting us that no wall, regardless of height and width, will ever defeat. Fortunately the vast majority of these people share our core values deeply inspired by our common Christian heritage. Let us who are still strong enough to act provide and care for the poor, the widowed, and the orphaned - the least of our brothers and sisters, the least of all of us. We must build houses not walls. We must show compassion not anger and reason instead of foolishness. If we can’t do it simply because it is the right thing to do, at least do it to keep the lid from blowing off.