Between 2021 and 2024, an annual average of 2.4 million immigrants flowed into the United States, constituting the largest surge of immigration in our nation’s history. The majority of the newcomers arrived illegally, highlighting the pressing need to make our border great again. Part of making the border great is to value its importance and honor the people who protect it. For that, we should look to the India-Pakistan border ceremony.
On a warm Saturday in late November, I had the honor of joining Indians as they celebrated peace, patriotism, and culture on their border with Pakistan. Following the partition of the two nations in 1947, millions of people lost their lives when they were forced to cross that border. Hindus and Sikhs living on the “wrong” side of the border moved east to India, and Muslims migrated west to Pakistan. Among the refugees was my father-in-law as a child. Now an elderly man, he sat with us in the audience of the grand colosseum last month.
During the ceremony, which has occurred every evening during peacetime since 1959, the border security forces of India and Pakistan open their respective border gates, march in unison, and lower their flags together.
On the Indian side, the event felt like a concert. The energy in the crowd was nothing short of electric. Vendors circulated the stadium selling ice cream, sodas, and popcorn. Just outside, people offered to paint the Indian flag on the faces of attendees for a minimal fee. Parents purchased hats for their children that read, “I love my India.” Flowing into the stands, Indian patriots of all ages were wrapped in their nation’s flag and chanted mantras for “Hindustan,” a name originally coined by Persians to represent the country.
When the ceremony began, teenage girls wearing school uniforms took turns running their nation’s flag back and forth in front of their countrymen as music played and the crowd cheered. Before the border gates opened, an MC energized audience members, who collectively rose from their seats and danced as they waved Indian flags of various sizes and chanted “BSF” for the people who protect their border.
The nearby attendees were gregarious and included me, one of the only white people there and clearly a foreigner, in their celebrations. To my fellow Americans, the only way I could really describe this event, which is one of my favorite memories of my family’s tour of Northern India, is to say that it was like a free concert on the Fourth of July where the crowd is euphoric and full of life. The most surprising thing is that the Indian Border Security Forces host this grand event every evening in a celebration of peace and a strong border.
Following the multiyear invasion at our porous southern border under the Biden administration, we would do well to take a page out of India’s and Pakistan’s playbook and ceremonially celebrate a secure border.
Being a Border Patrol agent is a dangerous job. According to data from the Cato Institute, the annual chance of a Border Patrol agent dying in the line of duty from 2003 to 2023 was about one in 6,553. Additionally, agents are at constant risk of encounters with Mexican drug cartel members and other nefarious elements, such as members of the notoriously violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, who are crossing the border illegally. The mental health toll that the job takes is also palpable. In 2022, for example, 15 Border Patrol agents took their own lives.
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The Biden administration’s border policies made the job of our brave Border Patrol agents exponentially more difficult. They understandably have been highly critical of President Joe Biden’s border policies. Not surprisingly, the Border Patrol union endorsed President-elect Donald Trump in the November election.
As a new era unfolds this January with Trump’s inauguration, we should take time to remember the importance of our border and honor the men and women who protect it. The pomp and circumstance in celebration of patriotism, security, and peace at the Attari-Wagah border ceremony is admirable and worth replicating in the United States.
Stephanie Lundquist-Arora is a contributor for the Washington Examiner and the Federalist, a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, an author, and the Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women’s Network.