President Donald Trump, only a few weeks into his second term, has almost sealed America’s borders. Illegal border crossings have dropped by 90 percent as Trump has directed his agencies to enforce existing laws.
How difficult was that? Why couldn’t former President Joe Biden or his border czar, Vice President Kamala Harris, do the same? Because they chose not to. It’s really that simple.
But what about legal immigration—the different visas that allow foreigners to work, study, travel, and marry Americans?
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Immigration is not an all-or-nothing issue. Contrary to what the media and some Democrats believe, legal and illegal immigration are not the same. It’s akin to the difference between leaving a grocery store with a bag of groceries after paying and leaving without paying; one is simply feeding yourself or your family, while the other is stealing.
In my home state of Colorado, ski resorts hire foreign students, often from the Southern hemisphere, during their summer break, to work in hotels, restaurants, and operate ski lifts. They receive seasonal visas, employer-assisted or funded housing, and return home at the end of the ski season. This represents legal immigration, albeit temporary, for seasonal workers.
Think about those who enter America illegally, lacking any vetting of their criminal background or health status, and without a job or stable living situation. They may commit crimes at the expense of taxpayers, all thanks to the deep state and American citizens.
FEMA lacked enough funds for hurricane relief in North Carolina, and Elon Musk uncovered the reason. It appears that President Trump still has some swamp-draining to accomplish. Illegal immigration was prioritized over legal immigration.
The @DOGE team just discovered that FEMA sent $59 million last week to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants.
Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the president’s executive order.
That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high-end hotels for illegals!
If crossing America’s border illegally is so easy, why is it so hard to do it legally? For residents of many countries, obtaining a visa is necessary.
Tourist visas, referred to as B1 or B2 visas, are designed for non-U.S. residents who want to visit the U.S. for business purposes, attend professional conferences, visit family, or enjoy a vacation.
Residents of 41 specific countries can obtain a visa waiver, enabling them to stay in the U.S. for 90 days for business or tourism without needing to apply for a visa.
These countries are mainly first-world European nations, with some in Asia and Oceania. Notably missing are nations from the Middle East, Africa, or South America.
The visa waiver program does not include 150 countries from which most residents simply want to visit friends and family during the holidays, or travel to and spend money in cities like New York, Las Vegas, or Miami. How can they reach the U.S.?
To obtain a travel visa, you must interview at a U.S. embassy or consulate. This process should be easy and straightforward, but it is anything but, turning into a nightmare for visa applicants.
In some countries, the wait time for a visa interview at a U.S. consulate may only be a few days, while in others it can take years.
According to the U.S. State Department, the current wait times for a visitor visa interview are 433 days in Abu Dhabi, 429 days in Hyderabad, 333 days in Lagos, and 262 days in Mexico City.
Ironically, last year, one could take a bus or train from Mexico City to the Texas or Arizona border and be in the U.S. within a few days.
Corporate media shows little interest in visa delays, instead condemning anyone who advocates for border security as racists or xenophobes. The Wall Street Journal, in a rare moment of journalism, did weigh in a few years ago. Since then, there’s been silence from both elected officials and corporate media.
The State Department has been struggling to keep up with visas since 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closing of U.S. consulates around the world, bringing the application process for entry into the country temporarily to a halt. Two and a half years later, some consulates are still offering only emergency appointments.
Though visa issuance has mostly rebounded to prepandemic levels, demand for visas is so high that appointments for anyone looking to apply are often booked months or even years out, and the Biden administration has faced mounting anger from business groups, Silicon Valley companies, universities, hospitals and the travel industry over the delays.
COVID is long over, but the excuses persist.
There are examples of how these delays affect visitors. A semi-retired Australian businessman received an invitation to a friend’s wedding in Seattle with 160 days of advance notice.
He learned that he would need to wait between 216 and 300 days for a visa interview. As a result, he could not attend his friend’s wedding, despite having spent a decade traveling around the world, including the U.S., for business.
A woman from Lagos, Nigeria, married to an American man, cannot visit her husband in the U.S. without a visa, despite being legally married. After the U.S. State Department gives preliminary approval of her visa application, a one-year process, she must still wait almost a year for an appointment at the U.S. embassy in Lagos to receive her visa. Forcing married couples to live apart for years is insane and abusive.
A family from Bogotá, Colombia, hoping to visit Disney World, will wait 700 days for their visa appointment. A surgeon from Mumbai, India, wishing to attend the annual meeting of the American College of Surgeons will not receive an appointment for 444 days, well after the medical conference has ended.
The irony is that if the same physician, family, or woman reached the Southern U.S. border, they could easily cross over. If they were apprehended while crossing, they could claim political persecution, request asylum, and gain entry into the U.S.
They would also receive a welcome basket filled with goodies, including food stamps, Medicaid health insurance, Social Security income, and various forms of assistance, such as free education for their children.
Will the State Department address this? Certainly, they have important issues to handle in the geopolitical arena, but they can also multitask effectively.
The left may equate all immigration, both legal and illegal, as the same thing in their efforts to label Trump as a racist, xenophobe, or even Hitler, but we should not fall for their gaslighting.
In the justified zeal to stop illegal immigration, let’s not dismantle the entire system, including legal immigration for workers, visitors, and spouses.
Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a physician and writer. Follow me on Twitter @retinaldoctor, Substack Dr. Brian’s Substack, Truth Social @BrianJoondeph and LinkedIn @Brian Joondeph.
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