Grand Strategy Must Begin with Homeland Defense

Foreign policy experts have been debating which of America’s geostrategic interests in Asia, Europe, or the Middle East should take precedence. But recent polling tells us that the American people have a totally different top priority. They want our leaders to focus more on the security of our U.S.–Mexico border.

Both the former President Donald Trump and Vice President Harris have a track record on border issues. Trump increased border protections and reduced the inflow of illegal aliens. He is credible when he promises a strong border and massive deportations of illegal aliens. The Biden-Harris administration caused and encouraged the current invasion-like 10 million border encounters with people from over 160 countries. As border czar, Harris did nothing to address this emergency. Her only border plan is to revive a proposed bill that failed to pass the Senate and was rejected by the speaker of the House. 

It is clear what caused America’s border problem. Right after the inauguration, the Biden-Harris administration stopped the construction of the Trump border wall and announced a complete reversal of his border policies. Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) put it well during the vice-presidential debate: “We have a historic immigration crisis because Kamala Harris started and said that she wanted to undo all of Donald Trump’s border policies. Ninety-four executive orders suspending deportations, decriminalizing illegal aliens, massively increasing the asylum fraud that exists in our system, that has opened the floodgates.” 

The problem is multi-faceted and grave. It affects the safety of Americans. Just last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement admitted that as many as 425,000 illegal alien criminals are currently in the United States. Over 60,000 have been convicted of assault and16,000 of sexual assault. Nearly 57,000 are guilty of crimes involving dangerous drugs.

Because of the collapse of order at our southern border, our border agents are spending their time processing the relentless flow of illegal aliens instead of stopping the flow of illegal drugs. As a result, fentanyl from Mexico has caused the death of over 100,000 Americans and can be rightly viewed as a weapon of mass destruction wielded against our fellow citizens.

The FBI thinks that a large number of public safety and national security threats are at elevated levels all at once. Topping the list are a terrorist attack and cartels pushing fentanyl “into every corner of our country.” 

These risks and others are exacerbated when millions of illegal aliens are released into the country without proper background checks. Just last month, a report by the House Judiciary Committee documented that “during fiscal year 2024, Border Patrol has encountered tens of thousands of illegal aliens nationwide from countries that could present national security risks, including 2,134 Afghan nationals, 33,347 Chinese nationals, 541 Iranian nationals, 520 Syrian nationals, and 3,104 Uzbek nationals.” Even worse, the report also reveals that “the Biden-Harris Administration released into the United States at least three illegal aliens with potential ISIS ties after the aliens used the Administration’s CBP One app to arrive at a port of entry and be processed into the country.” In this environment, there is an increased risk of another 9/11-type attack. 

The immigration problem also has a prosperity downside. There is ample evidence that adding to the workforce large numbers of low-skilled immigrants reduces the wages of working class Americans. In the 1990’s, Milton Friedman remarked, “You cannot simultaneously have a welfare state and free immigration.” Today’s immigration crisis proves him right when illegal aliens are a net fiscal drain and a heavy burden on social services like schools and health care. Furthermore, Americans have to pay more to buy a home because the housing demand by the millions of illegal aliens has pushed up prices.

In a seminal article entitled “The Return of Peace Through Strength,” the former National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien argues that President Trump’s purposeful and decisive foreign policy advanced peace for America and the world. He contrasts this with the Biden-Harris administration’s weak policies that encouraged bad actors to start hot wars in Europe and the Middle East, and to sharply increase tensions in Asia. The weak border policy is just par for the course: “The Biden administration’s inability to secure the southern U.S. border is perhaps its biggest and most embarrassing failure.” 

America needs a second Trump presidency to implement urgently a decisive and comprehensive border security plan. Among the actions to be considered should be the following.

First, restart comprehensive work on the wall because walls are effective. Numerous countries around the world have reached the same conclusion. The Biden administration itself begrudgingly approved limited wall construction in Texas and Arizona. Even Harris herself flip-flopped on building a wall and is now in favor of it. 

Second, reinstate the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy that the Biden-Harris administration recklessly abandoned. Asylum claimants who illegally cross the southern border should not be paroled into the U.S. and given a court date in several years, as the Biden-Harris administration has been doing. They should be processed at the U.S. border and asked to wait in Mexico for action on their asylum claim. This policy would discourage those who are not legitimate asylum seekers seeking protection from persecution but simply economic migrants trying to game the system. Government data show a success rate as low as 15 percent for those claiming asylum.

Third, the United States should take the fight to the Mexican cartels. These criminal organizations are increasing their wealth and power by smuggling into our country people and drugs, especially the deadly fentanyl. The stronger the cartels are, the more they harm the security and prosperity of the American people.

Proposals in the House and the Senate would designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations. There are many issues to consider in this matter, but arguments in favor outweigh those against. Importantly, it would give the U.S. government tougher monitoring and sanctioning tools.

Trump declared his willingness, if asked by Mexico’s president, to get the U.S. military involved in fighting the drug cartels. He observed that “the cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army.” He tweeted, “If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these monsters, the United States stands ready, willing & able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively.” This would be a repeat of the successful Plan Colombia of the early 2000’s during which the United States helped the Colombian government financially and militarily to defeat its drug cartels.

Some believe that the U.S. must go further and attack the cartels even without permission from the Mexican government. They argue that these narcoterrorist groups are more like ISIS than like the American mafia. Because they are killing Americans with their drugs, we should confront the cartels as national-security threats, not manage them as a law-enforcement matter. If in the 1990s the U.S. had taken this approach with Islamic terrorists like Al-Qaeda, we might have prevented 9/11. We cannot afford another such mistake. Action in this direction is a joint resolution proposed by Reps. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) and Michael Waltz (R-FL) giving the president authority to use the U.S. military against Mexican cartels trafficking in fentanyl.

The chaos at our southern border and the resulting grave harm to the American people must move to the top of the list of national security concerns for the next U.S. president. Getting results will take toughness and persistence. Whom do you trust with this job, Trump or Harris?