US & World

Journey To The U.S.-Mexican Border: Week In Review 6/3/2023

A first-hand look at an escalating crisis …

If you followed our coverage this week, you know special projects director Dylan Nolan and I took a trip to the Yuma sector of the U.S.-Mexican border earlier this week – spending several days on the front line of America’s ongoing illegal immigration crisis.

This edition of the Week In Review is the first of many upcoming reports detailing what we saw on our trip – and what we heard from people who have been living this issue for many years.

I’ll be honest: Misconceptions pushed by the mainstream media (and by fire-breathing ideologues at points all along the political spectrum) abound as it relates to the situation at the border. On the far left, radical progressives are eager to dismantle any and all barriers to entry into the United States. On the (very) far right, some xenophobes want to throw all of the “Mexicans” out of America – even though the vast majority of migrant border crossers are not Mexican nationals.

Sadly, such emotional perspectives unfortunately underpin much of the debate in this country about what we should do about our southern border.

Our goal in covering this issue? It’s the same goal for any issue we cover – to “seek and speak the truth while engaging in an open and vibrant marketplace of ideas.”

(Click to view)

Coils of razor wire on a fence in front of the U.S.-Mexican border in San Luis, Arizona. (Will Folks/ FITSNews)

At its most basic level, I believe this crisis is two-fold …

First, there are hardly any consequences or disincentives at the moment to entering the United States the wrong way – a climate of porous permissiveness which has invited an unprecedented wave of illegal crossings (and the crime and dependency that come with them). Drug cartels are systematically exploiting this climate – creating an ongoing humanitarian crisis at the southern border.

Second, legal immigration into this country has become hopelessly mired in politics and bureaucracy – creating a bottleneck which is fueling the first crisis. Former Yuma border chief Chris Clem – one of the experts you will hear from in this episode – said it best when he told us America should be a nation of “tall fences and wide gates.” Tall fences for security … and wide gates to allow those who truly want a better life (and legitimately want to contribute to our nation’s economy) to enter in an orderly, secure fashion and coexist with citizens in a fundamentally fair way.

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Unfortunately, as of this writing America has become a nation of broken fences (or no fences) – and chokepoints instead of gates. And things on all fronts are getting worse, not better. The are becoming less fair. More politicized – and more dangerous.

As I noted in the video, the amount of information we received during our visit to the border was nothing short of overwhelming – and is going to take a long time to process. Additionally, the amount of information I have sought out from other sources – progressive, liberal, Democratic, Republican, conservative and “MAGA” – is even more voluminous.

As we continue to engage this issue, I want to make sure anyone reading or watching our coverage who has an intelligent perspective they would like to share with our audience knows they can avail themselves of our longstanding open microphone policy at any time.

In fact, I believe we already have one or two opinion-editorial submissions related to the border issue in the works … so stay tuned for much more on this topic moving forward.

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SHOW NOTES

BORDER CRISIS

U.S. Border Chief Steps Down As Crisis Escalates
States Sue To Block New Biden Border Rule
Henry McMaster Dispatches National Guard Troops To Southern Border

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks (Brett Flashnick)

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.

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10 comments

So many laughs June 3, 2023 at 8:40 pm

Please!

Can we trade just one immigrant child for Welfare Will Folks?!?

Welfare Will wouldn’t last a single week in Mexico.

No welfare for the 7 kids. No free, taxpayer funded loans to prop up a floundering gossip blog. (Wonder who paid for this pointless trip? It wasn’t FitsNews).

Thus blog provides so many laughs. Go with the conservative-parody site angle. People would buy that!

Reply
Chump Change Vacations June 3, 2023 at 9:22 pm

You know this “donor” paid trip was sold as a great family holiday to the Folks’ brood.

Shows how cheap it is to pay off these “conservative” bloggers.

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Mina Harrington Top fan June 4, 2023 at 1:35 pm

This is a good start, Will. The border issues are MANY and are very complicated. There is one point I strongly disagree with you on. There are some VERY good people who are independent reporters — both in Mexico and the USA who are sharing all aspects of the immigration problems, including the severe humanitarian issues. In one instance, I witnessed them crying on their live video feed concerning a woman in Mexico who wanted to immigrate because of what the Cartels had done to her family, because they were farmers. It is more than just human trafficking and drugs — there is also a crop issue, especially Avocados.

Reply
lol June 4, 2023 at 2:02 pm

Ah, the descendent of immigrants to America is in a tizzy over immigrants coming to America.

Republicans are so stupid and lacking in any self-awareness whatsoever.

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The Colonel Top fan June 4, 2023 at 8:00 pm

Good report Will. Sadly nothing will wake the useful idiots decrying the decrying of the border disaster.

Close the border now!

Reply
Original Border Patrol June 4, 2023 at 8:25 pm

And which indigenous Nation do you belong to, “colonel”?

Are you scared that today’s immigrants will be as evil and genocidal as the Europeans?

Reply
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The Colonel Top fan June 4, 2023 at 9:48 pm

Not sure what your point is but Scotch Irish, Cherokee and generic mutt. Generations back to 1810 buried in the family plots

Reply
Original Border Control June 5, 2023 at 8:54 pm

The stupidity is super strong with this failure.

Thanks for proving my point, boy.

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William David Sweatt Top fan June 5, 2023 at 1:29 pm

Will,

Do I understand that your visit to ther border confirmed that many or most of the ILLEGAL crossings of the border are indeeed ILLEGAL?!!!

Are you indicating that you don’t like the laws of the US?

Or that like the fact that the laws of the United States being ignored by the Biden government?

Please be clear. You are entitled to your opinion. Just tell us.

Thanks,

David Sweatt
Greenville,SC

Or that you LIKE thr fact that the curren predident is not enforcing the law?

Please be clear!

David Sweatt
Greenville,SC

Reply
Bond, James Bond June 5, 2023 at 3:19 pm

You signed the same comment twice and you’re asking Will to be clear?

Reply

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