There is a human cost to permitting our borders to be open. There is the terrible loss of American life, as exemplified by the murders of Laken Riley and Rachel Morin, among others. There is the assimilation problem, as exemplified in Springfield, Ohio, where a town of 60,000 residents was flooded with 20,000 Haitian immigrants. And there is the gang problem, which is now exemplified by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TDA) taking over an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado.

TDA isn’t only active in the Colorado sanctuary city. In fact, Aurora is but the tip of the iceberg. According to The Wall Street Journal, “Tren de Aragua members are suspects in the shooting of two New York police officers, the killing of a former Venezuelan police officer in South Florida, and crimes from Chicago to Texas, law-enforcement authorities said. In all, there are now more than 100 investigations in the U.S. involving suspected members of Tren de Aragua, said a high-ranking Immigration and Customs Enforcement official.”

In El Paso, Texas, authorities had to shut down a hotel that had been enabling the criminal activities of the gang. The hotel was the catalyst for 693 police calls for crimes ranging from drugs to dealing with an assault carried out by a hatchet-wielding maniac.

Another transnational gang, MS-13, is thought to be controlling a lot of the migrant trafficking at the southern border, but TDA — which is known for its viciousness and willingness to dismember rivals — is expanding. It has its hooks in Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and more.

TDA has even embedded itself in New York City, another sanctuary city, where gangbangers don’t even have to bully small Venezuelan businesses for protection. They can make bank by stealing from local retailers and reselling the stolen items on the street. A TDA member also recently shot two cops in NYC.

The Democrats, citing the FBI, happily claim that violent crime has gone down under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. However, this claim is misleading because the FBI doesn’t have all the data, particularly from the deep-blue states. Some states, including New York, have slow-walked giving crime data to the FBI.

Venezuelans are fleeing the oppression and terrible economy inflicted upon them by radical left-wing dictator Nicolás Maduro. TDA has used this as cover to spread into other countries, including the U.S. The United States doesn’t have diplomatic ties with Venezuela for obvious reasons, but this has become a significant handicap for Border Patrol agents, who have no way of knowing if the Venezuelans entering the U.S. have criminal ties. What would be a sane solution? Close the border, and don’t admit Venezuelans without rigorous background checks.

TDA is a consequence of bad border policy. Just like the mafia came to America following a wave of immigration, TDA has followed the gravy train all the way to the U.S. and found the gates wide open. Who opened them? Biden and Harris. Who could close them? Biden and Harris. They don’t need more authority or laws to enforce what is already on the books. Their politically motivated border policy has impacted all American communities for the worse. It is not merciful or compassionate to infuse immigrants into American society who refuse to assimilate. We have no sovereignty as a nation if there is no border.

Do we want four more years of the same? More deaths of innocents? More opioids killing Americans? More crime? More economic malaise via the downward pressure of illegal immigrant workers? The answer for any sane citizen is an emphatic “No.”