The White House claims that the current surge of migrants at the border is a "seasonal" surge and nothing to be concerned about.
"What we’re seeing here at the border, the increased migration flow, certainly, it ebbs and flows," press secretary Katherine Jean-Pierre said. "And we’re at a time of the year where we’re seeing more at the border. And it’s not unusual. This is an immigration system that has been broken for decades. And the president has taken this very seriously to try to do more. That’s why we have the comprehensive immigration policy legislation that the president put forth on day one."
Aside from the fact that the last three months have all set records for the number of "border encounters" with 10,000 arrests made every day, there's nothing "unusual" at all.
Move along... move along...
The 8,000-10,000-migrant caravan that began moving on Sunday is already showing signs of petering out. A 1,000-mile walk is a long way for small children and the elderly. The New York Times reports there are now no more than 2,000 people still walking toward the Southern border.
But that doesn't mean the rest have gone home. Many of the walkers end up catching a bus or hitching rides to the border.
A U.S. delegation, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas, and intelligence officials, spoke for two hours with Mexican officials, including President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
They accomplished nothing.
“President López Obrador highlighted the commitment of President Biden to pursue regular, orderly, and secure migration. He stressed the need to continue the diplomatic and political engagement with all countries in the region, as well as investing in ambitious development programs throughout the entire hemisphere of the Americas,” the communique wrapping the meeting said.
“The two countries reaffirmed their existing commitments on fostering an orderly, humane, and regular migration,” the joint statement said, vowing to reinforce “our partnership to address the root causes of migration, such as poverty, inequality, democratic decline, and violence, and for the two countries’ initiative for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.
“Ongoing cooperation also includes enhanced efforts to disrupt human smuggling, trafficking, and criminal networks, and continuing the work to promote legal instead of irregular migration pathways. Also, both delegations agreed on the importance of maintaining and facilitating the vital bilateral trade at our shared border.”
The statement also noted US and Mexico officials “discussed the benefit of regularizing the situation of long-term undocumented Hispanic migrants and DACA recipients, who are a vital part of the US economy and society” — suggesting the Biden administration might take another run at trying to legislate a pathway to citizenship for both adult illegal immigrants and those brought to the US as children.
Even whispering "amnesty" would start a stampede to the border. Anyone in the administration who's fool enough to bring up that possibility needs to be fired.
The meeting was entirely unproductive. It was so bad that even the usual pablum about shared goals and hope for the future was mostly absent. As long as Lopez Obrador uses migration as a safety valve for his failed economy, and the drug cartels benefit through human trafficking, there will be no let up in illegal border crossings.
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