Amid all the turmoil in Washington about what President Trump did or didn't do – and whether it's grounds for impeachment – a good number of people are considering how all this is tearing the country apart.
I've heard from many people of all political persuasions that we are losing what has made the United States great.
It's not only the hateful rhetoric aimed at Donald Trump and his administration. It's also the snide remarks tearing down all aspects of the country that are having a real detrimental effect on our unity.
Think back to the divisiveness concerning the Korea War and then the hatred for our role in Vietnam. The 1960s were a time when everything that represented tradition and history were targets for derision. That's in the past, but the remnants are still with us, and in my opinion, it's getting worse.
Nowhere is that clearer than in the situation with our border with Mexico. There was a time when the border was barely marked by a wire fence, and while the Border Patrol kept an eye on it, it was not the dangerous scene it is today.
Not only is the border a target for people from across the world who want "in" on all we have to offer, it is penetrated regularly by the powerful, well-funded and armed drug cartels who move millions of dollars of illegal drugs into this country.
Northern Mexico faces horrific battles between the cartels in their ongoing competition for territorial control. It's estimated that in the first six months of this year there were 17,000 murders there. And the number is expected to total more than 32,000 by the end of December. The deaths include cartel members as well as innocent people. Note the horrific murder of nine Mormon Americans living in Mexico. The six children and their mothers were attacked by gunmen, assumed to be cartel members.
At this point, it appears that the Mexican government has lost control of the situation, and the United States must deal with the effects on our side of the border every day.
The Washington Examiner reported federal figures show the Border Patrol on the Mexican border took 851,000 people into custody.
That's the highest number since 2007.
These numbers do not include border crossers along the Canadian border or on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
For example, agents apprehended 24 migrants and a wanted felon at a New Hampshire checkpoint. Seven of those migrants had been previously deported and were rearrested for illegal re-entry and could face 20 years in prison.
The 24 came from seven different countries: Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Russia. They were turned over to ICE for deportation.
Keep in mind that the apprehension was in New Hampshire! It is far worse along our Southern border, which appears to be out of control.
The situation is not helped by the growing number of so-called "sanctuary cities," the American jurisdictions that declare themselves safe havens for illegals.
Keep an eye on a trial in February in San Francisco challenging that city's sanctuary policy. The case is being brought by the conservative government watchdog Judicial Watch. If it prevails, it would create a model for more litigation to help end such sanctuary policies across the country.
The case in question is the killing of Kate Steinle by a five-time deported illegal alien, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez. He was found not guilty of murder but guilty of being a felon with a gun. The city released him, ignoring an ICE immigration detainer order because San Francisco is a sanctuary city.
Just last week in Texas, agents arrested a Guatemalan national with a previous rape conviction in this country after he illegally re-entered with 11 other people. Note that after his rape conviction in Indiana, he was sentenced to five years in prison. Upon his release in January 2019, he was deported to Guatemala.
By December, he was back.
It's a revolving door and it's getting worse.
A four-time deported illegal alien from Mexico, 39-year-old Jose Fernando Andrade-Sanchez was re-arrested in this country again, this time in Nashville, Tennessee. As reported by Breitbart, his arrest followed a standoff with police. An unsealed federal indictment against him shows a history of charges of child abuse, domestic violence and multiple deportations as well as criminal impersonation.
If it's not bad enough that this country must deal with the criminal element swarming our borders, we're faced with the diseases some bring with them. Statistics released just last week show that measles is spreading across the world, killing thousands of people. Mumps is another disease we've seen brought into the country, with more than a thousand cases this year.
Add to that cases of chicken pox, influenza, tuberculosis, scabies and others, all of which, the CDC says, can spread rampantly among our population, often with deadly results.
Through all of this, from the president on down, are demands for a wall on the border. But where? How big? And when? All questions not fully answered. In fact, in places where sections have been built, illegal aliens manage to get over, under or around them.
In fact, a new portion of border fence at Otay-Mesa was just breached by aliens, as evidenced in a video clip. A rope ladder on the Mexican side allowed the person to get to the top of the 18-feet high fence and slide down on the U.S. side. It was a 14-mile stretch of fence with a budget of $150 million. So far, not too effective.
We are left with de facto open borders.
It’s estimated there are upwards of 25-30 million illegal aliens in this country, living among us as though they are citizens. Unless we figure out a way to control this and put an end to it, we're on the verge of losing not only our country but our very citizenship. If they are here illegally and often voting, then what is the value of the vote or of the Constitution?
Think about it.
Follow Barbara Simpson on Facebook.