Keegan D. / Colorado

The State of Texas and its governor, Greg Abbott, have recently sparked a federal crisis so severe that other states are beginning to take sides, and some have even deployed National Guard troops to support the Texas governor. The cause for this crisis: immigration. It has long been a conservative myth that the root of the decline in American society for the working class is somehow the fault of near-powerless immigrants.

In an attempt to stop immigrants from crossing into Texas, the state installed substantial amounts of razor wire across the southern border. The Biden Administration sued Texas for this and eventually the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Administration 5-4, ordering Texas to take down the wire. The reason given was that it is the job of the federal government to secure the border, not the job of the states.

Joe Biden, it cannot be forgotten, is himself deeply reactionary toward immigrants and has upheld several Trump-era policies with regards to immigration. Biden’s terrible record on immigration has not been enough for conservatives to support him, as they insist that he still has not done enough to limit immigration. Texas has vowed to disobey the federal order and maintain their own border, and 24 other Republican governors have signed a joint statement to support Texas against the Biden Administration. In addition, organized reactionary groups have also begun to send members of armed militias from other states to help secure the border. From this situation we can draw two major conclusions: first, that neither bourgeois party is able (or willing) to correctly analyze the causes of immigration, and second, that reactionary and openly fascist groups are highly organized.

Americans often have an incredibly idealistic perspective when it comes to immigration. Natural citizens are led to believe that the reason for immigration to this country is because the United States is a land of unique opportunity. This thinking both elevates our country as an especially “good” one, and distances us from any causal relation to the disrepair of countries that immigrants are coming from. Much to the dismay of American liberals, immigration’s cause is not our egotistical and unjustified sense of greatness as a state.

American capitalism has for over a century exploited Latin American countries as sources for the extraction of raw materials and cheap labor. To ensure access to these resources and labor, the United States has actively been involved in suppressing the labor and political movements that aim to improve the material conditions of the proletariat in Latin America. For example, in Chile the US intelligence apparatus funded the overthrow of the social democrat Salvador Allende, backing the tyrant Augusto Pinochet who maintained access to Chilean markets and resources for American capitalists. Similar backing of right-wing reactionaries to ensure the interests of American capital took place in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. The United States has also maintained blockades for decades against countries like Cuba and Venezuela who have been successfully able to take control of their own industry.

The constant meddling of imperialist powers, primarily the US, and the internal struggle against their own national bourgeoisie, are what drive the instability within these countries. This instability is to blame for the scale of immigration to the United States from Latin American countries, not our mythologized land of opportunity. Neither Democrats nor Republicans will admit that American imperialism is the causal mechanism behind immigration at the southern border.

The science of Marxism-Leninism enables us to understand that the only way to stop the global exploitation of labor and the planet is through the proletarian revolutionary movement. It is the responsibility of the American working class to liberate itself from capitalism and rid the world of US imperialism. The answer to the immigration crisis is Socialism.

The other key takeaway from these recent developments is to acknowledge the organizational readiness of American fascists. The ability for reactionary groups to raise funds and send forces to crisis areas like this should be a call to all anti-capitalists and workers to join the revolutionary movement. The Democrats will do nothing to protect the working class from these dangerous reactionaries and only offer, at best, shallow condemnations. The working class must organize and unite against these forces to protect itself. We have no other option. 

Categories: Immigration, U.S. News