We need to define the threat, if any, of immigration

Immigration across our borders is at a 28-year low, even with a recent crossings surge.

There is a seasonal movement northward through Mexico of refugees from the violence in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Their number is not reliably defined but alleged to be at least a thousand.

The usual hysterical characterization of these refugees is that they bring crime, drugs and terrorists which is used by some in the political space for their own purposes. We need to see credible numbers, including the percentage of the crossers identifiable in each of the three categories.

The import of fentanyl, however, is alarming. But I’ll bet that far more fentanyl and other drugs come from China through the U.S. Postal Service than in the backpacks of crossers. We need to see real arrest numbers of terrorists crossing the borders of the four southern states. The refugees are at great risk. The drug culture in Mexico has played havoc with civil society and public safety. Migrants have been plundered, raped and murdered by the hundreds over the past few years. Many of these refugees turn themselves in at our border in hope of security.

Many former immigrants, both illegal and legal, want to come back to the USA because of the broken society in Mexico and Central America. The refugees are not a military invasion and they aim only for ways to earn economic well-being for themselves and their family.

John Watson