This article was originally published by The Epoch Times: Solving the Border Crisis
Commentary
It’s not about open borders or closed borders. It’s not about left or right. It’s about the fact that while some posture and others protest, real people are being destroyed, exploited, abused—and all the while, drugs flow freely through the same routes.
I don’t fit neatly into a political box on immigration. I’m a wife to a man who came here illegally at age 16, and I’ve taken legal guardianship of an unaccompanied minor, folding him into my family. I work in both hospitality and agriculture—industries that rely heavily on immigrant labor. My views on the border defy party lines.
The United States needs labor. That’s not up for debate. We’ve raised a generation of young people unprepared for hard, uncomfortable work—especially those who came of age during the pandemic. I’ve overseen up to 350 employees at a time in my businesses, and in just a decade I’ve watched our workforce change dramatically.
For the record, I do not believe a border wall is racist. A wall—whether it’s a fence or a locked front door—carries no inherent moral weight. Strong borders make for good neighbors. Yet let’s face reality: The southern border is secure already—just not by us. It’s secured by the Mexican cartels.
Each person who makes that journey pays roughly $10,000 to $13,000 to smugglers—not counting the predictable robbery and extortion that happens along the way. We are literally funding this. Our labor shortages have become a massive revenue stream for these criminal organizations.
Critics often scream “Come legally!” But what does that mean for a Mexican family desperate for work? Mexicans have almost no practical legal pathways to immigrate or claim asylum in the United States. Unlike many Central American nations, we offer no easy asylum process for our immediate neighbor, Mexico. We effectively prioritize other countries over Mexico, and that makes no sense. We should prioritize Mexico first, then Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.
The humanitarian crisis isn’t what the headlines suggest. The real horror happens before people even reach our border. Women and children are abused, trafficked, and disappear in cartel-controlled territory. These are not distant statistics—these are human lives. It’s the young man who hasn’t seen his mother in 20 years, or the woman with children on both sides who may never reunite with them. These stories live in my heart and in my community. My own husband didn’t see his mother for 12 years before coming to America.
Yes, America is a melting pot. Yes, we welcome the tired, the poor, the longing. But we cannot take everyone. That is not sustainable. Pretending otherwise only deepens the pain.
Let’s propose a solution: a 10-year low-skill work visa. It would cost $10,000—money that currently lines cartel pockets. Workers would be allowed to come and go freely, visit family, and live with dignity.
There would be conditions: employment must be maintained (no more than 90 days of unemployment), and applicants must have no criminal history. The visa would not lead to citizenship (not even through marriage), and at best could provide a path to a green card without voting rights. Workers would pay taxes and contribute $10 per paycheck to Social Security (benefits they’d never claim). After 10 years, the visa could be renewed once—or the worker could return home.
We would prioritize this visa for Mexico first, and then for Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras—because a strong, stable neighbor is a form of national security. If your neighbor’s house is on fire, your own home is at risk. A strong, thriving Mexico makes for a safer America.
But before any of that, the first step has to be: close the border.
We are not a country without a border.
Until we take back control from the cartels and enforce clear boundaries, no immigration reform will work. We cannot fix a system while it’s being actively exploited from all sides. Compassion without order is chaos. And the American people—and the migrants themselves—deserve better than chaos.
Meanwhile, one side of the aisle yells “we don’t want them”—yet quietly enjoys the literal fruits of immigrant labor. The other side hollers about “racism” and “humanitarian crisis”—and does nothing meaningful, even when in power.
I believe there is a solution that upholds our integrity—for our border, our businesses, our families, and our neighbors. So why isn’t it happening? Why are our leaders settling for this broken, gray status quo? What do they gain from a system that only brings drugs, rape, murder, and chaos into our communities?
And to everyone posting on Instagram or marching down the street with a clever sign, let me ask you something: How many people have you actually helped get their papers? How many children have you sponsored or brought into your home? Have you created legal work visa programs for your employees? Have you opened your door to even one refugee?
If the answer is no, then to me, your outrage rings hollow.
If you haven’t been paying attention to this issue for years—if you haven’t gotten your hands dirty trying to be part of a real solution—then maybe take a moment before assuming your cardboard sign gives you moral authority.
I’ve spent much of my adult life engaging with this issue—personally, professionally, and politically—and I find it fascinating how easily the public can be whipped into a frenzy, with so little interest in actual solutions, in security, in cultural preservation, or in supporting the immigrants who truly uphold our economy.
This is a complex issue. It cannot be solved with a viral post or a hashtag. It requires dedicated commitment, long-term thinking, and real compromise. I’m encouraged that so many people seem to care now, but I have to ask: Are you really committed, or are you just caught up in the latest manufactured outrage?
If you’re interested in hearing my plan, I laid it out last month in an article titled “Defund the Cartels: A Smarter Plan for the Border.” I’m interested in real partnership, real people, and real solutions. This is close to my heart.
Because this system—this chaos that both parties pretend to manage—isn’t just ineffective. It’s abusive. It’s killing migrants and bankrupting our moral credibility. It’s feeding trafficking networks, flooding our communities with drugs, and leaving entire families in legal and emotional limbo.
This isn’t a broken machine. It’s an abandoned one—rusted, rigged, and run by people who benefit from our silence.
So I’m asking you to stop pretending hashtags are enough. I’m asking you to step off the protest stage and into real responsibility. Because if you really care, it’s time to do more than shout. It’s time to show up and help build something better.
Not just for Americans. For everyone caught in the middle of a system designed to fail them.
We deserve better. So do they.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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