From Sanctuary to Surrender: The True Cost of Open Borders
Where ICE is locked out of schools, cartels control neighborhoods, and American law no longer applies.
As Trump calls for the National Guard at the border, LA spirals into chaos. Anchor baby funding scams, fentanyl flows, and foreign flags fly where U.S. sovereignty used to stand. This isn’t immigration. It’s surrender.
I just returned from Italy. Stunning country. Culture, history, architecture—it’s everything. But I’d never overstay a visa. It’s illegal there. You break their border laws, they throw you out. And rightly so. Yet in America—our laws, our borders—are being violated daily without consequence. Why?
Because we’ve become a nation pretending that illegal is legal. An estimated 11 million undocumented people live here. (Some very respected reports stating as high as 16 to 29 million). That’s not immigration—it’s invasion. And while legal immigrants jump through hoops—paying $3,000 in USCIS fees, medical exams, interviews, background checks—they watch rule-breakers waltz in and receive the same benefits without paying a dime or pledging loyalty.
Cost? Start with the economic: The Congressional Budget Office projects 8.7 million unlawful immigrants entering from 2021 to 2026 will cost $1.15 trillion over their lifetimes—nearly equal to Social Security and larger than the entire defense budget. That’s taxpayer money diverted into schools, healthcare, welfare—while our veterans wait.
Mass deportation? It would cost $315 billion upfront—$89 b to arrest, $168 b to detain, $34 b for legal—then $88 b annually for ten years. So we pay either way—apologists don’t have a plan. Just as we’re addressing the abhorrent abuse of our American economy and budget, we’re also grappling with the overwhelming influx of illegal immigration. Naturally, this situation is causing chaos.
What about security? Fentanyl pours in across the border every day. Cartels smuggle people and drugs. In Los Angeles, MS-13 and foreign-run grow operations now dominate entire neighborhoods. Schools and hospitals in L.A. are walled off from federal enforcement—even ICE agents on welfare checks are blocked. All because school districts depend on anchor-baby revenue tied to sanctuary policies.
We say we’re a nation of immigrants—but only if you do it legally. Skilled, educated, lawful immigrants pay fees, pledge loyalty, pass background checks. They go through the system. They don’t break laws. They don’t bring drug cartels. They don’t refuse to fly our flag.
Which brings up another glaring point: why are people waving Mexican flags at U.S. protests and not American flags? Why are people throwing rocks randomly? Why are they burning cars? Because many of them are the criminals we’re actually worried about. These aren’t the diehard Americans coming here to contribute. They’re illegal takers who didn’t want to go through the hard work of earning the ability to be in this country—and they all have to go. Justice can’t be discretionary. It just has to be justice. If it becomes discretionary, everything falls apart. And we don’t do that for the minority. We are a collective group of Americans who care about security and consider the right of the American dream to be the greatest privilege in history.
They do it to signal tribal allegiance—not unity under our laws. It’s a rejection of American sovereignty and a refusal to assimilate. In Los Angeles, protests against ICE raids feature Mexican, Honduran, and Salvadoran flags exclusively. Where’s the red, white, and blue? Why isn’t it a blend of flags?
They say it’s pride or solidarity—“This is how we show we matter.” But optics aren’t just optics. They shape identity. Flying another flag in American civic spaces is a statement: “We’re still outsiders.” It’s strategic—and divisive.
Look at France. After decades of uncontrolled immigration—particularly from Muslim-majority countries—no-go zones have appeared in its cities. Entire districts where French law isn’t enforced and Western values are mocked. That’s the consequence of importing people who don’t integrate and refuse to swallow the narratives of secularism, gender equality, and tolerance.
We’re racing down that same path, only with weaker institutions and zero will to resist. Here, we say it’s xenophobic to demand assimilation. We criminalize anyone who notices rising crime in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods or points out the literal state takeover by foreign gang factions. We cancel dissent—but congratulations to them, because you cannot build a nation with no borders, no loyalty, and no law.
Let that sink in: legal immigration is a sacrifice. It costs in time, money, vetting. Illegal immigration costs the country $1 trillion-plus, fuels drug cartels, kidnappings, human trafficking—and deliberately rejects assimilation. No shock that criminals cross unvetted—crowds at the border include violent gang members and foreign nationals.
Everyone’s soul has the same merit and weight of a feather. No one is better than anyone else in this great country—and it’s rare. You don’t get to steal it illegally. But if you want to come in and earn it through merit and legality, we love you and we welcome you. That’s America.
But if you can’t? Then you’re just going to have to get the hell out. We’ve got a country to save.
This is not compassionate conservatism. This is national suicide. Trump didn’t invent this crisis—he inherited it. And he told the truth: secure the border, enforce the law, deport criminals. If waving another country’s flag is more important than flying ours—then shame on us for welcoming them.
Borders are not walls. They’re lines drawn around a contract: obey this country’s rules and be welcomed. Cross illegally—and you break the contract.
We need to reclaim our sovereign right to decide who becomes Americans. Until then, our nation bleeds—and no flag-waving optics will patch what illegality has already torn.
Judd Dunning – Biography
A host of Unapologetic with Judd Dunning on KABC AM790, a Co-Host of BulletPointNation with Fox’s Michael Loftus, and host of his own show Unapologetic with Judd Dunning, Judd Dunning is a political author, host, pundit, and producer. Over Judd’s three-decade political journey from liberal to conservative activist, he has created and hosted a multitude of political media projects. Judd is a Newsmax regular guest commentator and has his own Newsmax Insider column Bullet Point Nation. As an author, he also wrote the bestselling Humanix/Newsmax book 13½ Reasons Why NOT To Be A Liberal: And How to Enlighten Others. He is presently in production on his next book, 13½ Reasons to Love America: How to Stop the Angry Woke Left and Preserve the America We Love. Judd is represented by Karen Gantz Literary Management (www.karengantzliterarymanagement.com) and for radio & public relations by Sandy Frazier (www.SandyPundits.com).
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