Marshall Gregory, 10th grade, Marshall County High School
During this current COVID-19 pandemic there is a controversial topic being thrown around about restricted mobility between states and even closer: retail stores and businesses. Almost all state governments have shut down an opinionated list of what they think are “non-essential” businesses. Therefore, this has many residents scrambling to find food, yes, food and other items. Many states are shutting down borders and stopping anyone who does not have an essential worker pass. Closed borders should be extinguished because it goes against federal law and recommendations.
State border control is not new, but it is very new to this generation. Years ago states had different currency and laws. This caused harsh travel restrictions because citizens could not use Kentucky currency in Alabama, for example, and this applied to almost every state. Therefore, the federal government got extremely tired of dealing with this and opened travel through all state borders and made a universal U.S. currency. This stopped all states from being able to control non-residents from using the state’s benefits. Therefore, federal law stopped closed borders from states and, until said otherwise, that is how it has stayed. There is no reason to close state borders for a virus. People who are willing to leave the state will leave it and there is no federal law stopping them as of now.
Another argument that has been relevant is the fact that people own property in other states and need to maintain it. Personally, this is true because my family has property in West Virginia that needs care multiple times a year. Property owners should be without worry as of now due to Article VI of the U.S. constitution that states, Federal law has precedence over state.” Therefore, if the federal law says that state borders are open, then there should be no problem crossing into the next state. Multiple state governments are setting up police roadblocks at high trafficked borders, which is wrong. This is overall a waste of our law enforcement because we still have criminals running about and governors want to stop law-abiding citizens.
Many citizens are arguing that there is no point in leaving the state they reside in. These same people are also stating that the CDC (Center for Disease Control) recommends a minimum of six feet of distance between people to avoid the spread of COVID-19. This counteracts their argument because every state is practicing “social distancing.” Therefore, no matter where we go in the country, what the federal government is mandating is being used. On the contrary, the federal government is not mandating state border control. This is because the same social practices are in place throughout the entire country. This is because, as said previously, the federal government presides over the states. Therefore, there is nothing a state can do to prevent crossing between borders.
To conclude, closed borders should be extinguished because it goes against federal laws and recommendations. Federal law presides over state law and is set in stone by the Constitution. Therefore, travel is open to anyone as of now because federal law is not stopping us. We should not bypass law because we are concerned about our own state’s citizens; everyone is in this together and working together is going to solve the problem, not separating everyone.