Editor's notebook: Drugstore cowboys and the Alamo – Tennessee Lookout

I typically don’t answer phone calls from unrecognized numbers and thought twice one night last week when a local, but unidentified number, popped up — until I noted it was tagged, ‘robocall.’ 

In an election cycle, you can’t be sure which politicians are calling, so I picked up to hear Tennessee’s senior senator in a cheerful recording: “Hey there! This is Sen. Marsha Blackburn. Today, I’m hosting a live telephone town hall . . .  we’re going to talk about the crisis at the southern border, rising inflation and threats we face from America’s adversaries.”

Did I want to click one to participate? Oh, you bet I did. 

The majority of the callers wanted to ask questions about security at the U.S.-Mexico border; they weren’t what I would have asked, but there’s no shame in asking. 

There is, however, shame in being a U.S. senator perpetuating stereotypes for fear and exploiting the status of immigrants for the sake of politics. 

In one of three polls Blackburn ran during the call, she asked, “Do you believe our nation’s veterans should wait at the back of the line while the VA  (Veterans’ Administration) prioritizes illegal immigrants?”

As in most falsehoods, there’s a grain of truth, which Blackburn managed to inflate and contort.

In July, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement provided its annual analysis to Congress of the health care costs for migrants and asylum-seekers in detention. The report provides data on health issues identified and treated in ICE detention centers — tuberculosis, influenza and pneumonia, COVID-19, pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and mental health conditions.

The VA, however, has nothing to do with treating any of those and according to the report, only processing medical reimbursements for ICE.

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t think we need a better mechanism for managing immigration but the problems extend far beyond the border, as we need to improve and expedite how migrants are processed legally and how they’re treated. That’s long been the case, no matter which party is in the White House.

But practical immigration reform is not what Blackburn’s talking about. Instead, Blackburn and other Tennessee Republicans use immigration policies and immigrants to whip up fear and outrage without strategizing about humane solutions. It’s a blatant play for votes. 

During the 2018 midterm elections, then-President Donald Trump talked of migrant caravans converging on the U.S. in what he labeled an “invasion.” The predicted “invasion” didn’t materialize, and as a 2023 report from the Baker Institute of Public Policy notes, most migrant caravans that started after 2020 haven’t made it to the U.S. 

As Mark Twain said, never let facts get in the way of a good story — Blackburn isn’t the only Tennessee Republican guilty of hyperbole on the subject of immigration and the border. 

Several Tennessee lawmakers were compelled to make statements of support for Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott after a Jan. 22 U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing the Border Patrol to cut razor wire placed in a small stretch of the Rio Grande by the Texas National Guard to deter migrant river crossings. Placement of the wire actually impeded border agents from patrolling the area. 

Gov. Bill Lee joined other Republican governors in signing a statement accusing the U.S. of “attacking” Texas and asserting the state’s “constitutional right to self-defense.”  

Not to be outdone, House Republican Caucus Chair Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, made an impassioned speech on the House floor and followed with a tweet invoking the Tennessee statesman David “Davy” Crockett, who left the Volunteer State only to lose his life at the Alamo.

Citing a historical incident that ended in the death of every American participant might not be the best analogy. And talk of states’ rights superseding the federal government? We went down this road less than 200 years ago and that ended with the deaths of more than 600,000 Americans. 

Even the most gracious and welcoming of us realize the need for policies to manage the flow of immigrants into the U.S. But razor wire and allowing migrants to drown is inhumane, and in reality, it’s impossible to imagine how to fund or build a physical wall across the nearly 3,000 acres that constitute our southern border — much less hire enough border agents to secure it. 

Like many of the country’s serious issues, managing the border and creating better immigration systems require serious analysis and complex solutions. Adding nothing to the dialogue are Tennessee’s drugstore cowboys whooping about the Alamo and states’ rights — especially when so many Tennesseans lack services to which our lawmakers continually turn a blind eye.