The US cites the ‘wisdom’ of historical immigration policy. But nation states in the Americas have spent more time with open borders than closed
L
ate last year, Donald Trump’s White House published a new National Security Strategy (NSS) outlining its vision for the world. At the time, the plan raised alarm for dismissing European alliances (now largely confirmed after Trump threatened Nato allies over Greenland), previewing interventions in Latin America (also largely confirmed by recent military action in Venezuela), and aligning closely with the priorities of the Kremlin.
The document also demonizes immigrants. In one widely cited passage, it even claims that “unchecked migration” has gotten so out of control that Europe is facing imminent “civilizational erasure”. On these grounds, the plan makes ending “The Era of Mass Migration” a top priority for the US.
It is one of the great marvels of our time that, in a world where governments spend more on border security than ever before, build more miles of border fencing than ever before, deploy more military-grade technology to stop migration than ever before, spend more on detention and deportation than ever before, and knowingly cause thousands of preventable deaths every year by cutting off safe routes to migrate, people in power can look at the disastrous consequences of this system and unironically proclaim: “You know what our problem is? Open borders!”
