President Joe Biden’s decision to end Title 42, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s pandemic-era border directive, continues a trend in which Biden must either demoralize his base or anger the broader electorate.
Just weeks into his tenure in the White House, Biden made good on a campaign promise and rolled back many of the Trump administration’s immigration policies. However, that led to a historic surge in migration in 2021.
MAJORITIES SEE BIDEN’S LATEST BORDER ORDER AS A MISTAKE
Republicans capitalized on the misstep and highlighted the White House’s refusal to address how its policies contributed to the new border crisis. With Title 42 set to roll back in just over a month, they are joined by a growing number of centrist Democrats, many of whom represent border states, in decrying the administration’s handling of the matter.
The Department of Homeland Security is currently predicting that as many as 18,000 asylum-seekers could be apprehended by the United States each day at the southern border once the policy change goes into effect, and polling indicates that the majority of the public, including 23% of Democrats and nearly half of all independents, opposes Biden’s timing.
Arizona Democratic Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema introduced legislation in April that would block the Biden administration from ending Title 42 for at least 60 days while the federal government puts together a “comprehensive plan” for dealing with the coming surge.
“The Biden administration was wrong to set an end date for Title 42 without a comprehensive plan in place,” Kelly, who is up for reelection in 2022, said in a statement. “We need a secure, orderly, and humane response at our southern border and our bipartisan legislation holds the Biden administration accountable to that.”
“Arizona communities bear the brunt of the federal government’s failure at our border, so we’re stepping in and protecting border communities by ensuring the Administration works hand-in-hand with local leaders, law enforcement, and non-profits to put a comprehensive, workable plan in place before lifting Title 42,” Sinema added. “I’ll continue pushing for transparency and accountability from the Administration to help secure the border, keep Arizona communities safe, and ensure migrants are treated fairly and humanely.”
On the other hand, despite the executive orders signed in early 2021, Biden has been pressed by liberal activists to take more direct action to reform the immigration system.
Liberals at large have been disappointed with a perceived lack of action from Biden on core promises he made on the campaign trail. That list includes social spending programs, green energy policies, combating the coronavirus pandemic, and granting DREAMers and other nonlegal residents a pathway to citizenship.
Just Monday, Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of the most prominent left-wing voices on Capitol Hill, wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times, “To put it bluntly: if we fail to use the months remaining before the elections to deliver on more of our agenda, Democrats are headed toward big losses in the midterms.”
“Time is running short,” Warren continued. “We need to finalize a budget reconciliation deal, making giant corporations pay their share to fund vital investments in combating climate change and lowering costs for families, which can advance with only 50 Senate votes. Other priorities can be done with the president’s executive authority.”
Unfortunately for the president, any action he takes to appease the Left will only squeeze his poor approval rating overall.
The Biden administration’s economic policies drew praise from the Left for adding a historic number of jobs to the economy in 2021 and making needed investments in the nation’s infrastructure, but the Right blamed skyrocketing domestic prices on this spending. Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of voters view the economy and inflation as top issues heading into the midterm elections.
Similarly, the White House announced Monday evening that the Transportation Security Administration would no longer be enforcing mask requirements on airplanes following a court injunction, news cheered by conservatives and jeered by many liberals.
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Still, Biden and the White House are diligently moving forward with a plan to crisscross the country in 2022 to try to sell the president’s agenda as wins for all of America. Biden touted his efforts to ease gas prices at a bioethanol plant in Menlo, Iowa, last Tuesday and lobbied for his manufacturing plan in Greensboro, North Carolina, two days later. He will travel to New Hampshire later Tuesday afternoon and has two West Coast trips on the schedule to round out the week.
