Did you hear there is a border crisis??? A CRISIS!!! EVERYBODY PANIC THERE IS A CRISIS AT THE BORDER!!!!
Actually, that’s not true. Illegal border crossings are actually down 70% at the southern border since the end of Title 42 in May. It turns out that when you give people a legal way of crossing the border they stop having to do it the illegal way.
Its worth noting that we could have had the same benefit if we had dropped Title 42 a year ago. Alas, our immigration policy continues to be designed to appeal firstly to the xenophobic prejudices of the very worst people in America.
Meanwhile, the same New Hampshire Republicans who believe that local police departments should never ever be involved in enforcement of federal firearms laws now also believes that local police departments should be deeply involved in enforcement of federal immigration rules. And they are trying to spend $1.4 million to make it happen.
I am referring to the “Northern Border Alliance Program,” which is a proposal by Governor Sununu to spend on state and local cops for police training, equipment, and overtime to assist federal agencies with border patrol.
Overtime! As in, time-and-a-half overtime! To chase away immigrants who probably aren’t even out there!
Great use of public resources there, Governor.
When this budget item came before the New Hampshire house, a solid majority of Representatives voted to take it out of the budge, That was part of a well-executed, bipartisan negotiation that achieved through good-faith give and take from both left and right.
That Democratic good faith was clearly wasted, however, as the Norther Border Alliance Program was put back into the budget when the Republicans got to it the Senate.
I’ll say this does nothing but reinforce the dim view I take of the value of bipartisanship. Why should Democrats continue to reach across the aisle to a party that never does anything to deserve a modicum of trust?
I digress. Back to my point.
If the Republicans are so really eager to spend money on police, I wish they would do it in a way that actually enhances our public safety. As a local City Councilor, my suggestion would be to take that $1.4 million and put it into a pool that understaffed police departments can draw upon to spend on hiring bonuses.
A resource like that might really be helpful in filling out the ranks of the police department in Keene, for example, which is currently nine officer's short. The labor market for police officers has been tight, and city police departments across the state need all they help they can get in finding good new people for the job.
Of course, it would also help if city departments didn’t have to compete for officers with small departments that can offer super-easy overtime, like patrolling the northern woods for imaginary undocumented immigrants on the taxpayer’s dime.