Joe Biden’s Immigration Calamity The collapse of his border policy is on full and painful display.
Scenes from the Biden Administration’s immigration policy:
• More than 10,000 illegal migrant apprehensions on Tuesday, a record for a single day.
• Emergencies are declared in El Paso and other border cities, but also in Democratic-run New York state and Chicago, far from the border. Shelters and emergency-bed capacity are overwhelmed. New York City may create migrant tent shelters in Central Park.
• Tens of thousands more migrants from all over the world sit across the border in Mexico, waiting for the right moment to walk or swim to the U.S.
It’s important to recall how we got here. Democrats campaigned against the Trump Administration’s policies as cruel. Upon taking office, President Biden ended such Trump-era policies as Remain in Mexico.
The signal went out to migrants that the border was essentially open. If you entered the U.S. and claimed asylum, the chances were good you would be admitted with a future date for an asylum tribunal you may never have to show up for. Millions of migrants took the hint and came in record numbers.
Now that Title 42 is expiring, the Administration is scrambling to make this human deluge more orderly, though not to stop it. It’s sent 1,500 U.S. troops to the border for paperwork to free up more border agents. It’s opening 100 more “processing centers” throughout the Western Hemisphere to hear asylum claims there and encourage migrants to avoid trekking to the border.
On Wednesday the Homeland Security and State departments also said they will now enforce Title 8 authority that allows for easier deportation for those who “do not have a legal basis to remain.” This is essentially an admission that the Trump enforcement regime was useful to deter unchecked migration.
The Administration could have done this months or a year ago, as the migrant crisis built. President Biden could also have spent political capital to negotiate an immigration compromise when Congress was under Democratic control. Instead he tagged Vice President Kamala Harris to address the “root causes” of migration in Central America. Yes, she really did try that one.
All of this is depressing enough for its human and other costs, but also for those who believe the U.S. needs more legal immigration. Even pro-immigration Republicans aren’t going to support more legal visas until the border is all but closed. A deal to legalize the Dreamers brought here illegally as children looks to be more distant than ever.
The only way to stop the migrant deluge now is to radically change the incentives to come. Send the message that if you are caught arriving illegally at the border, you will be deported and put on a banned list for legal entry. No exceptions. Once the flow subsides, it might then be possible to rebuild enough public trust for a bipartisan immigration compromise.
The tragedy is that Joe Biden has done more to undermine public support for immigration than Trump adviser Stephen Miller ever imagined he could.
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