We all know that the border crisis was intentional. Illegal immigrants knew they’d be able to come in without a problem and surged to the southern border at unprecedented levels. They knew. And for years, the Biden administration denied that there was even a border crisis. It wasn't until public opinion indicated that his immigration policies were jeopardizing his chances for reelection that he conceded that there was a crisis. Sure, he thought he could get away with blaming Republicans and Donald Trump for it (that strategy failed miserably)–but it was still progress that he was acknowledging it.
Seemingly.
It’s become clear in recent weeks that his recent mentions of wanting to secure the border were all for show. After reportedly being open to executive actions to bring illegal immigration under control, the Biden administration no longer considers it a priority.
“Administration officials are still weighing new actions, including restrictions on asylum, particularly as border crossings are expected to surge in line with seasonal migration patterns later this spring, according to three people familiar with the administration’s thinking," Politico reported recently. "But inside the White House, aides do not feel a sense of urgency like they did before, even as the issue of immigration remains a chief concern for voters."
The administration could still move forward unilaterally in the weeks or months ahead, a White House official said, adding that no specific action that was previously under consideration has been confirmed or ruled out. But the elongated time frame reflects a newfound belief that the president now has some space to deal with the matter.
Does this sound like an administration that wants to secure the border, or an administration that just wants to appear like they want to secure the border when it is politically necessary to do so? Of course it's the latter. Team Biden appears to be under the impression that the rejection of the bipartisan border deal and the impeachment of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have “allowed them to neutralize the political backlash Biden was facing.”
In other words, they’re treating it like a political issue, not a national security issue.
And, on top of that, it seems like they’re only looking at polling that tells them what they want to hear. For example, they’ve clearly missed the poll from Newsweek that found that “Americans who voted for President Joe Biden in the last presidential election miss former President Donald Trump's immigration policies.”
Exclusive polling conducted for Newsweek by Redfield and Wilton found that more Biden voters support the construction of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, 38 percent, than oppose the idea, 34 percent. A quarter of those voters said they neither support nor oppose a border wall. At the same time, 67 percent of Trump 2020 voters support a border wall and 54 percent of all respondents said the same.
That’s how bad the immigration issue has become. Biden voters want a border wall. That’s quite telling.
"Decades of our elites—on both sides of the political divide—either ignoring or attempting to finesse this issue without honestly confronting it now translate into a crisis that can no longer be side-stepped," Peter Skerry, a political science professor at Boston College, explained to Newsweek.
Related: Biden's Big Fix for the Border Crisis Should Surprise No One
"Immigration is clearly going to be one of the dominant, if not the dominant, issues in the 2024 election," he added. "As we move into spring and summer, there is no reason to believe that border crossings will diminish, on the contrary—unless the Biden administration implements some drastic policy initiatives, which it appears unable or unwilling to do."
Unwilling, Mr. Skerry. Unwilling.
