Some of the most significant moments in modern history are synonymous with iconic images.

The Communist Chinese government’s iron-fisted domination of its people was captured by Tank Man. The euphoria at the end of the long, grueling Second World War was perfectly summed up by the sailor’s kiss in the V-J Day in Times Square photo.

A picture can truly be worth a thousand words.

We now have our indelible image of the border crisis currently plaguing the United States. Border Hawk News correspondents recently got video of a small group of people living in or entering the country illegally on the American side of the Rio Grande posing together with a smartphone for a selfie. As the reporters explained, it has now become common for those who just crossed our border illegally to take such photos and post them on social media for friends and family in their home countries.

Some may look at that image and see a celebration upon escaping a country where grinding poverty is a fact of life. For those who value the importance of secure borders, however, the image is a sad statement on a lawless, chaotic America that is undeniably trending downward, due largely to the sinister, self-serving agendas of the corrupt ruling class.

Thanks in large part to our warped sense of noblesse oblige and nonstop propaganda by corporate media and anti-borders activists, the American public’s perception of immigration has been turned upside down. As the beacon of freedom and prosperity, America once could pick and choose the most talented, hard-working people from around the world to begin a new life here. Those arrivals largely sought a new identity here as proud Americans, and fully expected to reach prosperity through their own hard work.

Today, the U.S. has become, as Ann Coulter famously said, the battered woman’s shelter of the world. Any victim of oppression, whether it is real or fabricated, now has the de facto right to enter the United States illegally after agreeing to become chattel for a human trafficking cartel in Mexico.

Once stateside, they can reap a multitude of cradle-to-grave welfare benefits provided by preening sanctuary cities and the federal government. It is also not necessary to renounce allegiance to one’s native country, as evidenced by the flags of other nations proudly displayed by those who break our laws to come here, as if by a conquering army. Assimilation has become a dirty word in 2024 America.

While the illegal border crossers include those who possess some of the virtues of previous legal immigrants, along with them come too many with shady pasts and dangerous intentions in their new home. Among them would be 22-year-old Basel Bassel Ebbadi of Lebanon, who was arrested while illegally entering the U.S. near El Paso. When asked by Border Patrol agents why he came to the country, Ebbadi replied, “I’m going to try to make a bomb.” Ebbadi also admitted he trained with the terrorist group Hezbollah for seven years and served as a member for four years.

For all the potential valedictorians we were promised by anti-borders politicians, there is a deluge of reports almost daily on incidents of rape, manslaughter, drunk driving, drug dealing and other offenses allegedly committed by those in the country illegally. Is everyone crossing our borders illegally committing such crimes? No, but too many are, and there is no sense of obligation, much less urgency, on the part of those in power to do anything about it.

Another misrepresentation – i.e., lie – by our social betters is that those coming across our borders illegally are largely unsophisticated campesinos who are needed here mostly to perform jobs Americans just won’t do. Migrants, as former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi ham-handedly once said, are needed here to “pick the crops.” Yet the reality shows us that the same migrants are tech savvy enough to operate the CBP One phone app, paid for by U.S. citizens of course, and take selfies to post on social media platforms.

While images like Marines planting the flag at Iwo Jima and Neil Armstrong taking one giant leap for mankind once projected American ascendancy, the scene of illegal aliens on social media flexing over gaming the U.S. immigration system is a sign of America’s deterioration. The decline will worsen until we begin to treat border security and immigration with the seriousness they demand.