Wolf & Carafano: Biden border crisis – incompetence or part of president's plan?
Biden's executive orders and administration public comments have fueled the crisis
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}There is an unprecedented flood of illegal crossings at the U.S. southern border. Those in the media not obsessed with canine evictions at the White House or the Meghan-Harry interview are starting to ask if this is President Biden’s border crisis.
But that’s the wrong question. Clearly, the president "owns" this crisis. His executive orders and his administration’s public comments have enabled and encouraged the mad rush to our borders.
The only real question is: Is this mere incompetence, or is it all part of Biden’s plan?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}TOM HOMAN: BIDEN'S BORDER SURGE – HERE'S HOW PRESIDENT'S TEAM HAS CREATED A CRISIS IN RECORD TIME
So far, the administration has done a great impression of Sgt. Hans "I know nuzzink" Schultz when questioned about what’s happening on the border. They’ve resisted calling the tsunami of illegal crossings a crisis.
The president’s press secretary even claims they didn’t know how the number of daily illegal entries – as though the White House doesn’t know what the Department of Homeland Security knows. (Spoiler alert: illegal crossings have soared to about 6,000 per day, six times the level that the Obama administration considered to be a crisis.)
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There is no question this mass influx stems from the reversal of policies implemented by the previous administration. Those policy changes clearly signaled that Team Biden is not serious about border security or enforcing present immigration laws.
It is hard to believe that the administration did not foresee that their actions would spark a run to the border. Perhaps, the surprise has been how fast and how voluminous it has been.
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Clearly, Homeland Security has been overwhelmed at the border. The department has put out a call to muster additional resources for the border surge and is devising "reception centers" to quickly process and release illegal migrants.
This approach differs dramatically from how previous administrations responded to chaotic border conditions. Rather than rushing to secure the border, the Biden team appears to be sending processors to the border for the purpose of moving illegal immigrants into the U.S. as quickly as possible.
They do so knowing two important facts. First, that eight out of 10 Central Americans seeking asylum do not qualify for asylum and/or will fail to show up for their immigration court hearings. Second, since FY 2012, fewer than 2% of all families ordered to return to their home countries have actually done so.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Biden strategy entails tremendous risks, starting with the fact that facilitating illegal immigration only encourages more illegal immigration. Moreover, illegal immigration fosters all kinds of human and civil rights abuses.
The current flood also creates an unprecedented public health challenge: as many as 25% of those entering illegally are COVID-positive.
The current flood also creates an unprecedented public health challenge: as many as 25% of those entering illegally are COVID-positive. Illegal crossings also pour cash into the cartel coffers.
The "coyotes," human traffickers who charge their victims thousands of dollars smuggle them into the U.S., use that money to buy the precursors for fentanyl from China, then dump their manufactured drugs into American communities. Mexico is now quite concerned with how greatly Biden’s policies have encouraged illegal migration and empowered Mexican drug cartels.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Meanwhile, the fiscal burden of illegal migration is transferred to neighborhoods across America that have to pay for increased education and other social services. For those communities already struggling with lockdown-related unemployment and rising needs among their fellow citizens, an influx of illegal immigrants competing for jobs and services can be crushing.
Why wouldn’t an administration rush to stop the suffering, rather than compound it? In part, the answer could well be this: It’s been their plan all along.
The administration has proposed giving millions of illegal immigrants not only amnesty, but an automatic path to citizenship.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}You can see how this would play out. If the Biden Plan comes to fruition, it will irrevocably change the face of the American polity forever.
The real challenge before us is that we must deal with two problems: the border crisis itself, and the Biden Plan to leverage the crisis into an electoral pot of gold.
What’s happening at the border is not in the best interests of all Americans. It is unfair to taxpayers. It makes our communities less safe and, it adjures the rule of law, making everyone who waited their turn to come here legally just a sucker.
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Stopping this approach starts with Americans telling Washington we know what they are up to and we think it is just plain wrong.
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James Jay Carafano is vice president of foreign and defense policy studies The Heritage Foundation. Follow him on Twitter @JJCarafano.