There’s a common argument in anti-immigration politics that claims undocumented immigration is a burden on social services and the public — or, as President Trump put it in his final, desperate messaging in the lead-up to the midterm elections, it “undermines public safety, and places enormous strain on local schools, hospitals and communities.”
It’s a message that can resonate, given the lack of affordable housing in US cities, outrageous health care costs, crumbling infrastructure, and schools deprived of funding. But it’s also a calculated misdirection, because anyone concerned about these issues shouldn’t be worried about asylum-seekers stuck at the border — the source of these problems is much closer to home.
Though it may not feel this way to its many inhabitants who struggle to get by, the United States is a place of plenty, not scarcity. One illustration of the country’s wealth is the number of golf courses it boasts. There are, astoundingly, 14,794 golf courses in the United States, according to the National Golf Foundation — more than twice the number of the roughly 6,000 individuals currently in Tijuana seeking asylum.
Yes, there are enough golf courses in the United States for every adult and child asylum-seeker in Tijuana to have their own entire course — and there would still be nearly 9,000 left over.
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