More money or more enforcement: Biden and GOP debate border fixes
Haisten Willis
Video Embed
The Biden administration and House Republicans are pointing fingers at each other over immigration, with money a key sticking point.
Title 42 ended Thursday night, with news stations running images of immigrants amassed at the southern border. While Republicans say the White House is to blame, administration officials claim their hands are tied.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN’S MORTGAGE ADJUSTMENT PLAN BRINGS CRITICS HOME
“They didn’t do it. They made it harder,” President Joe Biden said of Congress after he asked them for more Border Patrol funding. The president added that more asylum judges and personnel are needed, “and I’m trying to do as much of that as I can.”
Members of the GOP and immigration hawks argue that’s a red herring at best.
“All that this or any administration needs to secure the border is the will to enforce the current laws of Title 8 as they were intended,” NumbersUSA CEO James Massa said. “If the administration simply follows the current law and makes it known to those surging the border that the United States is following the current law, then the border surge will be slowed dramatically.”
The number of judges and personnel is already sufficient, he added. It’s a similar stance to that of House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-PA), who says border agents told him they don’t need additional money to secure the border but rather a wholesale shift in federal immigration policy.
“They’re willing and able to do the job,” Perry said. “They need a president and a secretary of homeland security who will enforce current law.”
The White House has sharpened its own messaging over the issue, seeking to tie immigration policy to the raging debt ceiling debate.
The administration claims the Republican Limit, Save, Grow Act that would raise the debt ceiling is itself a threat to border security, calling it the “biggest vote to defund law enforcement in American history.”
“They signaled to the whole country that they are willing to give fentanyl-pushing drug cartels a pass, hamstring the Border Patrol, and emaciate the budgets of local and federal law enforcement officers on the front lines of fighting violent crime,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.
Of course, House Republicans point the finger right back.
Just as the House passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act to address the debt ceiling, it has passed the Secure the Border Act along party lines to address immigration. Both bills face long odds in the Democratic-controlled Senate and would likely meet a swift Biden veto.
That impasse has only fueled the messaging war.
“Joe Biden’s continued lies must stop,” House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said. “The American people are smart and know Joe Biden is directly responsible for the crisis at our border, which has turned every district into a border district and every state into a border state.”
Like the debt ceiling debate, the two sides seem dug in at the moment. Comprehensive immigration reform has not taken place since the 1990s.
The lack of guidance and updates to the law is what led Title 42 to become so important in the first place, argues Syracuse University political science professor Elizabeth Cohen. The policy was enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to slow the spread of the virus.
“Title 42 is only the most recent of a long history of using health concerns as a justification for free movement restrictions,” she said. “For example, it was only in 2010 that restrictions were removed on the entry of persons who are HIV positive.”
She argues that more judges are indeed needed as wait times have increased and said immigrants have a very high rate of attending their hearings.
Even with Title 42 in place, the number of border crossings surged once Biden took office. He ended the policy known as Remain in Mexico on day one, and border crossings set new records in both 2021 and 2022. More than 6.3 million illegal immigrants have crossed the border since Biden entered the White House.
While Republicans often say the Biden administration actively wants more migrants because Democratic voters don’t care about border security, White House officials spent much of the last week talking tough and telling would-be immigrants to stay away.
“The border is not open,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Thursday. “People who do not use available lawful pathways to enter the U.S. now face tougher consequences, including a minimum five-year ban on re-entry and potential criminal prosecution. Together with our partners throughout the federal government and Western Hemisphere, we are prepared for this transition.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Mayorkas called on Congress to effect change.
“Our current situation is the outcome of Congress leaving a broken, outdated immigration system in place for over two decades despite unanimous agreement that we desperately need legislative reform,” he said.