Am I talking about the border wall (Unauthorized migration) or Brexit? Yes. Sorry.
Unauthorized migration
Erica Werner, Damian Paletta, and Seung Min Kim, “Shutdown looms as border talks break down over immigration enforcement,” Washington Post, September 10, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/border-talks-at-impasse-as-shutdown-looms-friday-officials-say/2019/02/10/aa8ef08c-2d36-11e9-813a-0ab2f17e305b_story.html
Jazmine Ulloa and Taryn Luna, “Gov. Gavin Newsom to pull National Guard from California’s border with Mexico,” Los Angeles Times, February 11, 2019, https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-gavin-newsom-california-national-guard-withdraw-immigration-20190211-story.html
Brexit
I think I now see only one way for this to play out: A hard Brexit. Too many people are clinging to their delusions for way too long.
The honest thing would be to go to the people. Brexiteers should confess that 1) they did not anticipate the difficulties of the Irish border, and 2) that these difficulties are real.[1] Remainers should admit 1) that they’ll probably lose even though the deal Britain is getting is worse than the one it presently has, and 2) that the deal Britain got with the European Union was and may well continue to be unsatisfactory for a substantial portion of the electorate, even if for both legitimate (economic-left, economic-right) and illegitimate (xenophobic or racist) reasons. And Theresa May should admit 1) that she can’t get her plan or—I’m betting—any plan through Parliament, and 2) that it is time for the United Kingdom to dissolve in favor of an independent England, Scotland, Wales, and, perhaps tentatively, northern Ireland.[2] Don’t hold your breath.
Peter Walker, “May rejects Corbyn’s offer as businesses warn of Brexit cliff edge,” Guardian, February 10, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/10/brexit-mps-will-have-another-say-by-end-of-month-says-minister
- [1]Henry Farrell, “The Irish Question: The Consequences of Brexit,” Foreign Affairs, June 28, 2016, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ireland/2016-06-28/irish-question; Peter Foster, “EU rejects Theresa May’s Brexit Irish border solution as doubts grow over whether UK can leave customs union,” Telegraph, April 19, 2018, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/04/19/exclusive-eu-rejects-theresa-mays-brexit-irish-border-solution/; Paul Hannon, “Ireland Rules Out Bilateral Deal With U.K. for Brexit,” Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/ireland-rules-out-bilateral-deal-with-u-k-for-brexit-1481883968; Conor Humphries and Amanda Ferguson, “How Brexit has suddenly made the prospect of a united Ireland thinkable,” Independent, July 3, 2016, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-what-it-means-forthern-ireland-united-eu-referendum-result-irish-passport-a7117166.html; Philip Jenkins, “How Brexit is Turning into a Disaster for Ireland,” American Conservative, December 13, 2017, http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-brexit-is-turning-into-a-disaster-for-ireland/; Peter O’Dwyer, “Good Friday agreement ‘can stop hard Brexit,’” Times, February 26, 2018, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/good-friday-agreement-can-stop-hard-brexit-khlw9gfrx; Alanna Petroff, “New legal challenge to Brexit from Northern Ireland,” CNN, August 12, 2016, http://money.cnn.com/2016/08/12/news/brexit-legal-cases-lawsuits/; Steven Swinford, “DUP threatens to bring down Theresa May’s Government if it crosses Customs Union red line,” Telegraph, April 26, 2018, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/04/25/dup-threatens-bring-theresa-mays-government-climbs-brexit/↩
- [2]Fintan O’Toole, “How Brexit Broke Up Britain,” New York Review of Books, November 13, 2018, https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/11/13/how-brexit-broke-up-britain/↩