COMMENTARY: Biden’s circular border logic

In December 2020, the southern border was secure right before Joe Biden took office. Donald Trump’s border policies worked. While all gained criticism and garnered controversy, the beginning of the construction of a border wall, the “stay-in-Mexico” policy, and the ending of “catch and release” were just some highlights of a mostly successful border policy.

After taking office, Biden attempted to dismantle many of these successful policies. Among other things, he halted the construction of the border wall, reinstated “catch and release,” and ended the remain-in-Mexico policy. When he ordered work stopped on the border wall, Biden stated that his goal in immigration policy is to have “a comprehensive and humane immigration system that operates consistently with our nation’s values.”

Note the lack of specific, positive actions. It seemed it was enough to remove Trump’s effective policies and return to what hadn’t worked.

And they still didn’t work. According to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, “In February 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered 100,441 illegal immigrants at the Southwest border.” That was a 28 percent increase from January and a 174 percent increase over February 2020. In December 2023, encounters with migrants crossing into the United States from Mexico hit a record high. Crimes committed by migrants are surging. Schools are becoming overrun. Many communities do not have the resources to withstand the surge of migrants entering daily.

Neither the president’s “border czar,” Vice President Kamala Harris, nor the president has gone to the border for anything more than photo ops. It took the governors of Texas and Florida shipping migrants to deep-blue vacation spots such as Martha’s Vineyard to get the media to focus even a little on the crisis.

Biden eventually realized this was a significant political problem. So what did he do? He blamed Congress for not doing many things the president himself has the authority to do — such as closing the border — but won’t. But that tactic is as old as the republic, and many presidents have blamed a “do-nothing” Congress to excuse the failure of their policies.

As the 2024 campaign rolls on, polls show that the border is a top issue for many voters. Immigration has topped Gallup polling for multiple months in a row for the first time. With people paying attention to immigration more than ever, Biden must also be paying attention to how people in swing states are viewing the immigration problem.

A recent New York Times battleground state poll shows that 69 percent of Americans think the immigration system needs to be torn down entirely or undergo significant changes. Only 24 percent of voters think Biden would make those necessary changes, whereas 70 percent think Trump would. Forty-three percent of voters think the changes Trump would make would be good; only 24 percent think Biden would make good changes. The bottom line is that the people who will decide the presidential election agree with Trump’s policies on border security.

How did Biden react to the supposed inaction from Congress after seeing polls that not only are people paying attention to immigration now more than ever but that they are agreeing with Trump’s policies over his? He took executive action(!) “to bar migrants who cross our southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum. These actions will be in effect when high levels of encounters at the southern border exceed our ability to deliver timely consequences, as is the case today.”

“Well, it’s a slow day, so come on in …” isn’t much of a policy. Since this action, we have learned that many of these orders are empty with many exemptions and exceptions, but at least on paper, many of these proposed orders echo Trump’s policies on the border.

Trump’s border policy worked. Biden’s doesn’t. After being elected, Biden reversed many of the Trump border policies in the name of fairness to immigrants. Now, reeling from bad poll numbers, the president has cynically attempted to put back in place many of the same policies that he criticized. But it doesn’t matter why he’s reinstated them. It just matters that they’re back and that he’ll let them have teeth. In that way, no matter who the president is in January, the border can become more secure.

James Fitzpatrick is the director of the Center to Advance Security in America. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.