Congress almost passed a bill this past May with significant ways to combat the immigration crisis. Trump killed it.
It was a good, hard-nosed, border security bill that would have reduced, if not eliminated that crisis. The last comprehensive immigration reform bill was enacted almost four decades ago, during Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
This spring, in a rare bipartisan move, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Shumer (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) instructed a bipartisan group of senators - Democrats and Republicans - to sit down and negotiate a tough, border security bill to protect Americans.
They did their job, overcoming the objections of Democratic progressives and MAGA Republicans as they wrote The Border Act of 2024 (S. 4361). It added “emergency supplemental funds for border security and combating fentanyl for the fiscal year ending in September 30, 2024, and for other purposes.”
America’s been in a “devastating opioid epidemic.” ”Fentanyl smuggled into the US across the border with Mexico caused “200 American deaths every day in 2022.” By then, more than a quarter million Americans had died from fentanyl overdoses since 2018.” No demographic was immune from the devastation. The crisis cut “across state lines, impacting rural and urban areas.”
The bill had enough votes to pass. But as soon as Trump found out about it, he knew it might jeopardize his chances to win the 2024 presidential election because it would benefit Democrats. So this twice-impeached, criminally convicted former president, sitting in Mar-a-Lago, his plush Florida mansion, contacted key Republican legislative leaders and ordered them to kill the bill.
Trump put his own personal interests before the interests and safety of this nation. Not all Republicans approved of his blatant, selfish, political move, cheating the nation of immediate, added border security. Some were furious.
Trump blackmailed fellow Republicans in Congress threatening to fight against their re-election if they did not bow to his will and kill the bill. Trump single handedly destroyed the Border Security Act of 2024 because he believed its benefits would help his Democratic opponent in this November’s presidential election. Even though it left Americans in danger, Trump wanted to make immigration one of his major talking points so he could vow a huge fight against immigration, charging his opponents with doing nothing about it.
That leaves us with important questions to ask ourselves as we consider our votes in November’s presidential election.
Do we want a president who ignores the safety of everyday Americans?
Do we want a president who puts his personal fortunes first no matter how it hurts the nation?
And how many Americans have died from illegally transported drugs into the U.S. since Trump killed the 2024 Border Act?
Jodie Sinclair is an award-winning writer who holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and resides in Bandera, Texas.
