It wasn’t that long ago that someone with no political experience ran one time for president, largely on a promise to seal the southern border, and, against all odds, succeeded. Does any Republican in Congress remember that happening?
Politico reported Thursday that some Texas Democrats representing areas along the battered Mexican border are getting sweaty over a push by President Biden to overhaul the immigration system. From the story:
“Our party should be concerned. If we go off the rails, it’s going to be bad for us,” Gonzalez said. “Biden is going to be dealing with a minority in Congress if he continues down some of these paths.”
What Gonzalez means by “some of these paths” is what’s expected from a Biden-backed proposal that, among other goodies, will fast-track citizenship for illegal immigrants residing in the United States and raise the number of visas we grant to foreigners from every other country.
This is happening as border cities buckle under the weight of migrants illegally crossing into the U.S. at rates that have returned to pre-pandemic levels. “In January, U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested 7,260 people traveling as families, compared with about 4,500 in December,” the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. “The last time so many migrant families were arrested was in December 2019.”
There are still more on their way, coming by the tens of thousands from Central America, all of whom expect a warm greeting from the Biden administration. Of course, Biden spent the 2020 campaign promising there would be a porous border on his watch, so this was entirely expected.
And yet, the only Republican paying attention to immigration seems to be Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and he’s not proposing anything that would secure the border. No, his major contribution in recent weeks was to pair up with Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois on a bill that would give citizenship to the group of illegal immigrants known as “dreamers.”
I know former President Donald Trump left office on a low note, but even some Democrats are acknowledging he was right about the border. Do any Republicans?
