March 22, 2021
Contrary to the denial by the Biden administration, the situation at our Southern Border is not just a “challenge”, it is a five-alarm crisis. In February alone, Border Patrol apprehended more than 100,000 migrants illegally crossing over the Southern border into the U.S. For context, that number was 34,000 for all of last year.
However, the Biden administration’s refusal to depict the situation as a crisis is not surprising. Undoubtedly, if not for President Biden’s rhetoric and numerous executive actions, which rolled back almost all of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, there would be no “challenge” at the border.
Before Biden took office, America’s borders were secure. On Fox News Life, Liberty and Levin, Tom Homan, former Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, stated that under President Trump the border was the most secure he had ever witnessed in his 35-year career with birder enforcement.
Thanks to an agreement between the Trump administration and Mexico, known as the Migrant Protection Protocols or “Remain in Mexico”, “Catch and Release”, was effectively ended. Under this agreement, the Mexican government agreed to allow migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. to stay in Mexico until adjudication of their case by U.S. immigration courts.
The wait for an asylum hearing is multiple years-long. Historically, many disappear into the U.S. and never show for their hearing. Moreover, approximately 90% of asylum seekers do not have a legitimate claim under U.S. law. According to Homan, less than 3% of those ordered deported, ever leave the country. The Trump administration’s successful negotiation of the Migrant Protection Protocols put an end to this exploitation of the loophole in our immigration law.
On Biden’s first day in office, he terminated the Migrant Protection Protocols. Biden also ended the “Safe Third Country Agreement” negotiated between the Trump administration and the Northern Triangle countries, which required migrants to apply for asylum in the first safe country they passed through- how asylum is supposed to work.
Further, Biden placed a moratorium on almost all deportations, stopped construction on the Border Wall, and ended the Trump-era public charge rule. The public charge rule made it difficult for immigrants, dependent on taxpayer-funded welfare benefits, to obtain legal status.
Lastly, Biden exempted minors and most family units from the Trump-era public health policy known as Title 42. To prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, Title 42 allowed U.S. Border officials to expel all foreign nations who did not have prior permission to enter the U.S.
No honest person can deny that Biden’s actions combined with his rhetoric on the campaign trail invited the rush to our Southern border. Reminder during one of the presidential debates then-candidate Biden declared:
“What I would do as President…I would ..surge to the border all the people seeking asylum…we’re a nation that says if you want to flee…you should come.”
Biden also declared that he supports providing illegal immigrants U.S. taxpayer-funded health insurance and legalizing the 11 million (most believe this number is significantly higher) illegal immigrants residing in the U.S. It is also well known that children of illegal immigrants are entitled to free healthcare, free education, free meals, and other services supported by taxpayer funds.
The result- foreign nationals hoping to gain entry into the U.S. have logically assumed that this is the time to come to the world’s most generous welfare state.
Making it clear that the current president affected their decision to come to the U.S., many migrants have appeared at the border wearing t-shirts with Biden’s name emblazoned on them. The President of Mexico even mockingly referred to Biden as the “Migrant president”.
Incredibly Nancy Pelosi, and others on the left, blame the former Trump administration for the catastrophe at our border. In a ridiculous inversion of the truth, both Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki claimed that Trump “dismantled” the U.S. immigration system leading to the situation at the border.
Reality- the immigration policies implemented by then-President Trump shut the door on illegal immigration, while Biden’s rhetoric and roll-back of the Trump administration’s immigration policies effectively placed a welcome mat at the border.
However, it is not just impoverished migrants looking for economic opportunity entering the U.S. According to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who was at the border a week ago, migrants from Turkey, Sri Lanka, Yemen, and Iran have gained entry into our country from the Southern border. Alarmingly, Axios reported that four people arrested at the border this fiscal year are on the FBI’S Terrorist Watch List.
How many terrorists, drug smugglers, and other criminals have made it into the U.S. undetected while border agents were preoccupied with processing and taking care of illegal border crossers? Using groups of migrants to distract border agents is a well-known tactic of drug smugglers.
The greater the number of migrants in need of processing means fewer agents available to enforce the border. Rep McCarthy observed the reassignment of 120 border agents from protecting the U.S. border, to care for the unaccompanied children. Astoundingly, more than 14,000 migrant minors are in U.S. border detention facilities.
All of the detention facilities are at or beyond 100% capacity, forcing the administration to open up numerous new emergency shelters throughout the country. Reportedly, because of the over-crowding, many of the children are held in facilities with no windows, forced to sleep on concrete floors, and only able to shower once every seven days. However, the true conditions are uncertain because the Biden administration, unlike the Trump administration in 2019, has refused to grant the press access to these facilities.
It is undeniable why an unprecedented number of unaccompanied minors have surged to the border immediately after Joe Biden assumed the presidency. The Biden administration announced that EVERY unaccompanied migrant who self-reports (how many come with proof of identity and age?) to be under 18, will immediately be granted entry into the United States.
No doubt U.S. policy to admit every unaccompanied minor has also been a boon to the business of human traffickers and the drug cartels. As proof that migrants are paying smugglers, many unaccompanied minors are wearing wristbands used by smugglers and cartels. According to Matthew Dyman, a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection:
“Information on the bracelets represents a multitude of data used by smuggling organizations, such as payment status or affiliation with smuggling groups.”
Interestingly, most of the media has omitted in their reporting that 75% of the unaccompanied minors are males ages 15 and 17. Is there proper vetting of these young men? How many gang members are among them who will soon be placed into American schools? Further, many of these minors have missed years of schooling and do not speak English. Their education will consume significantly more taxpayer-funded resources than the average American student.
Ironically the Biden administration’s new “humane” policies incentivize minors to make this dangerous trek to the U.S., encouraging separating children from their parents.
However, the Biden administration is lying when they claim that most family units are expelled under title 42. According to Custom and Border Patrol data, of the family units illegally breaching our border, almost 60% are processed into the country. Former Trump aide Stephen Miller told Fox News’ Maria Bartoroma that according to his sources within Border Patrol, 80% of family units are admitted into the U.S.
Incredibly, not all migrants are even Covid tested before being granted entry into the U.S. Those that are, are testing at an incredibly high positivity rate. Texas Governor Abbot has reported that more than 10% of migrants detained in the Midland, and Carrizo Springs holding facilities in Texas, have tested positive for Covid. Even more concerning, it is unknown what variant of Covid these migrants may now be spreading into the U.S. Covid positive migrants have even been placed on planes and busses, courtesy of the American taxpayers, to destinations throughout the U.S.
More than 2 million migrants are on pace to illegally breach our southern border this year. Active Border Patrol Agent Brandon Judd believes that the prediction made by Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas that there will be more border crossings this year than in the past 20-years is an understatement. During a Fox News appearance on Friday, Judd stated:
“We are on pace to apprehend more.. individual people in the history of Border Patrol and we don’t have the capacity to manage…”
In light of the disaster at our Southern border, you would think that Democrats would be working to deter or eradicate the flow of illegal immigrants. However, they are doing just the opposite.
On Thursday, the Democratic-led House passed two Bills -one offering citizenship to the more than 2.5 million so-called Dreamers, as well as the hundreds of thousands granted temporary refuge in the U.S., and another which gives legal status to the one million farmworkers in the U.S.
The truth is border security is of no importance to the Biden administration and their fellow Democrats because impoverished immigrants ensure that there will always be a dependent underclass, helping to sell the big-government redistributionist policies of the Democratic Party. It is safe to assume that every illegal immigrant allowed entry into the U.S. is a probable future Democratic voter.
Shamefully, by not securing the border President Biden and Democratic lawmakers make clear that amassing power for their political Party takes precedent over the national security, public health, and economic well-being of the American people.
