Back in October when Republicans began to talk about tying funding for border security with funding for Ukraine, the White House dismissed the idea.
Today, in order to get his funding bill for Ukraine passed in Congress, Joe Biden is going to have to bite down hard and accept the prospect of limits on the U.S. accepting asylum claims.
“I’ve made it clear that we need Congress to make changes to fix what is a broken immigration system, because we know, we all know it’s broken, and I’m willing to do significantly more,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “But in terms of changes of policy and to provide resources we need at the border, I’m willing to change policy as well.”
That's a long way from refusing to even talk about border security in the same breath as Ukraine aid.
“Republicans think they can get everything they want without any bipartisan compromise. That’s not the answer. And now they’re willing to literally kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield and damage our national security in the process,” Biden said.
“I am willing to make significant compromises on the border,” he added. “We need to fix the broken border system. It is broken. And thus far I’ve gotten no response.”
That's not true. He knows exactly what Republicans want. He'd just rather not make the deal.
Swallow hard, Joe.
The White House would be open to heightening the standard for initial asylum screenings, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, requesting anonymity to discuss the talks.
The Biden administration also would entertain some form of a "safe third country" provision that would deny asylum to migrants who pass through another country en route to the U.S., the source said.
Another possible point of agreement could be expanding a fast-track deportation process known as "expedited removal." The authority would be employed nationwide instead of its current application at the border, the source said.
A bipartisan group of senators trying to reach a deal are also discussing a numerical limitation on asylum claims, the source said. The Biden administration position on such a cap remains unclear.
White House spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez said Biden has made it clear "the border is broken" and that Congress should take action to fix it.
Make no mistake. These are significant concessions by Biden to asylum rules. The "safe third country" policy was initiated by Trump as was "expedited removal."
Numerical limitations on asylum applicants would be a fine goal, but Biden would never be able to get Democrats to go for it. Open borders advocates and immigration proponents are already screaming bloody murder about the possible concessions.
But Biden is getting killed in the polls because of his border policies.
So far, no one seems satisfied. Democrats have seen their advantage over Republicans on border and immigration issues vanish. NBC News polling shows the GOP now holds an 18-point lead when it comes to handling immigration. During Donald Trump’s presidency, the Democratic edge hovered between 4 and 6 points.
New polls suggest that Trump is eating into Biden’s lead among Latino voters. A survey conducted for UnidosUS and Mi Familia Vota showed Biden leading by 18 points among Latino voters. That margin shows considerable slippage since the 2020 election, when Biden won the Latino vote by 33 points, according to exit polls.
Rep. Dean Phillips, the Minnesota Democrat challenging Biden for the Democratic nomination, said that during his trips to the border, he found "an unmitigated, embarrassing, inexcusable disaster.”
I don't think Biden's flip-flop on the border will help him with most voters who see the border crisis as one of the major issues of the campaign. It's far too little and far too late. And the radical left open-border crowd won't let him go too far in reforming border or immigration policies.
Biden's downfall could easily be attributed not just to his border and immigration policies, but also to his entire morally smug attitude towards the border, a smugness that looks ludicrous now.
