May 2, 2023
The insecure U.S. southern border allows thousands of unknown people to enter the country daily. Mexican cartels continue drug trafficking, human trafficking, and criminal entry into the country. These people kill Americans through direct violence, and through bringing in deadly fentanyl and other drugs.
“The number of migrants apprehended by U.S. immigration authorities after crossing the Mexican border without authorization increased by 25 percent in March as the Biden administration prepares for a major policy shift next month,” CBS News reported last month. It’s good that apprehensions increased, right?
In February, U.S. Border Patrol recorded 130,000 apprehensions of illegal entries between the official ports of entry. However, in March that number grew to 162,000. We do not know how many entrants escaped capture, but we know that this year’s March apprehension number was less than in March of 2021 and 2022, despite the fact that the number of those trying to get in illegally grows in the spring.
And from the CBS News report, there is this: “Absent any major policy pivot, the Department of Homeland Security is preparing for up to 13,000 migrants to cross the southern border per day, about 400,000 each month, once Title 42 lifts in early May, according to internal projections. The Trump-era order is set to lapse once the national COVID-19 public health emergency expires on May 11.”
As recently as last month Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas continues to claim that the border is secure. “It is my testimony that the border is secure and we are working every day, day and night, to increase security,” he said in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on April 18.
However, anyone with eyes and an open mind knows this is profoundly untrue. That includes Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, who said basically the exact opposite of Mayorkas. Ortiz has said that five of the nine sectors along the southern boundary were not secure, and neither was one sector of the northern border.
When asked whether he disagreed with Ortiz, his top border expert, Mayorkas said he did: “I respectfully do in that regard,” he said.
The border is not secure, and Mayorkas’ performance is disgraceful, and creates a dangerous and unacceptable situation.
With this horrible and humiliating performance by our government at the borders, the Biden administration has it focus elsewhere.
Rather than strengthen the border with more Border Patrol agents and adding barriers to slow illegal entry, President Joe Biden wants to hire more IRS agents. From Townhall.com: “The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) plans to place special gun-carrying agents in all 50 U.S. states.”
“According to the agency’s website, the Criminal Investigation (CI) division is looking for IRS employees authorized by law to carry and use firearms, which are responsible for investigating financial crimes, money laundering, tax-related identity theft, and terrorist financing efforts.
“The ‘major duties’ listed for the position say that agents will be trained to ‘follow the money’ and prosecute any financial crimes.
“’No matter what the source, all income earned, both legal and illegal, has the potential of becoming involved in crimes which fall within the investigative jurisdiction of the IRS Criminal Investigation. Because of the expertise required to conduct these complex financial investigations, IRS Special Agents are considered the premier financial investigators for the Federal government,’ the website reads.
“Additionally, agents must carry a gun and be prepared to protect themselves from physical attacks without any warning. The description for the role also cautions that the agent may face life-threatening situations forcing them to use a firearm.”
The IRS seeks to fill 360 positions in 249 locations, with at least one agent in each state, the job posting notes.
“The IRS role is to help the large majority of compliant taxpayers with the tax law, while ensuring that the minority who are unwilling to comply pay their fair share,” according to IRS.gov.
Most of the work of the IRS involves income taxes, both corporate and individual, and collecting taxes owed to the government is obviously an important function.
But is the current state of taxation and taxes collected more important than the number of illegal entrants to the country, and the violence and death to American citizens that occur daily because of the disgraceful situation at our southern border?
And isn’t the primary function of collecting taxes dependent upon agents who help tax payers with questions about their tax returns, and review tax returns for accuracy, as the IRS website states? Does the IRS really need an armed law enforcement division, and 360 new employees?
If there are really problems with tax collections warranting hiring a division of armed agents to deal with them, there is likely a simpler, safer and less expensive way to fix it: Change and simplify the tax code.
The tax code is contained in two volumes totaling 2,652 pages. And it is ridiculously complex. At 450 words per page, the tax code is well over 1 million words.
We need a low and universal tax rate, say 10 to 15 percent, and only a few deductions, for dependents and for charitable and other beneficial donations. And, obviously, some low-income people should not be taxed.
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