Biden thinks he has the border crisis solved
Before his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden was reportedly drafting a slew of executive actions designed to reduce the number of migrants illegally crossing the southern border. But as media coverage of the border crisis has waned, and illegal crossings fell in January as they always do, Biden has reportedly abandoned all plans to restore order to the immigration system.
“They’re in that pretty classic mode of nothing is on fire right now,” one immigration advocate told reporters.
Biden is no longer feeling political pressure to improve border security, but Democratic officials across the country burdened with the realities of the border crisis he created don’t have that luxury.
“The opportunities are over,” Andres Carrera, a Denver official, can be heard telling a roomful of newly arrived immigrants in a video broadcast by local news last week. “New York gives you more. Chicago gives you more. So I suggest you go there.”
So much for, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
“We have received too many migrants and that is why we ran out of resources,” Carrera continued. “If you stay here you are going to suffer.” Carrera then offered the immigrants free bus tickets to any city in the United States, rather as Greg Abbott, the much excoriated governor of Texas, does. Carrera even offered to bus immigrants to the Canadian border. There were no takers.
Denver is not the only community begging migrants to keep migrating. The pain of the crisis is being felt in neighborhoods everywhere.
“They’re sending us people who are starving the same way blacks are starving in this country,” Chicago activist Vetress Boyce told reporters. “They’re sending us people who want to escape the conditions and come here for a better lifestyle when the ones here are suffering and have been suffering for over 100 years. That recipe is a mixture for disaster. It’s a disaster just waiting to happen.”
These are not the voices of Republican voters, but of Democrats. Gracie Martinez, of Eagle Pass, Texas, also told reporters, “It’s horrible. It’s tons and tons of people and they’re giving them medical and money and phones.” Martinez voted for Democrats before but now says she plans to vote for former President Donald Trump, all because of immigration.
According to the latest polling from the Associated Press, she’s not alone. Among all adults, 68% now disapprove of how Biden is handling border security, including 40% of Democrats, 55% of black people, and 73% of Hispanics. Separately, Gallup has found that immigration is the issue adults are most likely to raise unprompted when asked to name their top concern.
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Almost 190,000 migrants were encountered at the Mexican border in February, 110,000 fewer than in December. But the 301,982 encountered in December was a record high. The 189,922 in February was a record for Februaries. Every year Biden has been president, there has been a decrease from December to January. And every year, the numbers pick up again during the spring.
Biden is fooling himself if he thinks illegal crossings will not rise again. When they do, we are going to see more videos of Democratic officials begging immigrants to move on and leave their cities, and more Democratic activists calling Biden’s policies a disaster. Biden can end the crisis he created. He just needs to find the political will to do so.
