"But last year there were 540,000 people, roughly, detained coming across the border illegally. Forty-five thousand of them came from countries other than Mexico, demonstrating the fact that Mexico itself now is a pathway into the United States for people all around the world, and we don't know what their intentions are"
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Cornyn’s line isn’t really about arithmetic; it’s about turning a policy problem into a suspense plot. The opening numbers (540,000; 45,000) are doing the classic political job of laundering anxiety through specificity. They sound concrete enough to feel incontrovertible, but they’re also strategically incomplete: detained where, under what standards, and how do those figures compare year to year? The vagueness isn’t an accident. It keeps the statistic portable, ready to be deployed as proof of “crisis” without the burden of framing.
The pivot phrase, “demonstrating the fact,” is rhetorical sleight of hand. A statistic about “other than Mexico” becomes evidence that Mexico is a global “pathway,” shifting attention from regional migration dynamics to an image of a border as an international breach. That move widens the implied threat radius: it’s not just about Mexico, it’s about “people all around the world,” a phrase that invites the listener to fill in the blanks with whatever foreign menace is top of mind.
Then comes the line that does the real work: “we don’t know what their intentions are.” It’s an appeal to uncertainty as danger, a permission slip for suspicion. By emphasizing unknowability, Cornyn sidesteps the harder questions of asylum law, labor demand, and enforcement capacity, and instead offers a simpler moral: ignorance equals risk, and risk justifies tougher measures. The subtext is clear: border policy becomes national security theater, and the audience is asked to choose control over complexity.
The pivot phrase, “demonstrating the fact,” is rhetorical sleight of hand. A statistic about “other than Mexico” becomes evidence that Mexico is a global “pathway,” shifting attention from regional migration dynamics to an image of a border as an international breach. That move widens the implied threat radius: it’s not just about Mexico, it’s about “people all around the world,” a phrase that invites the listener to fill in the blanks with whatever foreign menace is top of mind.
Then comes the line that does the real work: “we don’t know what their intentions are.” It’s an appeal to uncertainty as danger, a permission slip for suspicion. By emphasizing unknowability, Cornyn sidesteps the harder questions of asylum law, labor demand, and enforcement capacity, and instead offers a simpler moral: ignorance equals risk, and risk justifies tougher measures. The subtext is clear: border policy becomes national security theater, and the audience is asked to choose control over complexity.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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