Every action and inaction by President
Joe Biden
sends a message. Unfortunately, itâs often the wrong message, leading to disastrous consequences. His seeming disinterest in and abject failure to address the devastating southern border
immigration
crisis, for example, have wreaked havoc on our country and signaled to the rest of the world that we canât be bothered to protect our own sovereignty.
This crisis began when, during his presidential campaign, Biden promoted illegal immigration by
telling
foreigners that âyou should comeâ while criticizing restrictions and promising to eliminate deterrents such as the border wall.
Caravans
of immigrants wearing Biden T-shirts headed to our border immediately, as though they had been personally invited by him. Two years later and the caravans are still arriving. Just this month, a crowd of more than 1,000 migrants aggressively
rushed
an El Paso entry point to enter our country forcibly.
Biden ended his second year in office with
record
-high monthly southern border encounters: 251,487 immigrants. And those are just the recorded encounters. U.S. border agents report an estimated 1.2 million â
gotaways
,â or illegal immigrants who entirely thwart our immigration processes, since Biden took office.
Meanwhile, Biden has
removed
eight of the 12 surveillance blimps used to monitor parts of the border that cannot feasibly be patrolled. One canât help but wonder how many terror watchlisters were among the 1.2 million âgotaways,â especially considering that 98 were
arrested
at the southern border during fiscal 2022 alone.
Bidenâs indifference toward enforcing our federal immigration laws sends the message that Americaâs laws donât matter. Cartels and criminals are taking full advantage, with
human
and
drug
trafficking hitting record highs. Millions of immigrants illegally enter our nation under the misguided assumption that illegal immigration is no longer a problem. They believe that if they can just get here, they will become Americans and enjoy all the rights, privileges, and opportunities this great nation has to offer. This sets them up for failure when they find that they remain illegal immigrants without those rights, privileges, and opportunities afforded to American citizens.
The effects this crisis has on American industry cannot be overstated. Illegal immigrants must continually subvert American laws in order to remain in the country. Sometimes they create their own employment opportunities by forming illegal contracting companies that thwart the legal employment requirements that citizens must follow, including taxes, employee rights, and workplace standards. American businesses are subsequently undercut and outbid by these illegal operations.
As an assistant state attorney with the Florida prosecutorâs office, I have also seen firsthand the damaging effects of illegal immigration on our justice system. In Florida, noncitizens are ineligible for a driverâs license, so they must drive without a license or insurance. If they are arrested, county governments have a difficult time determining the best course of action since the federal government refuses to pick up most detained illegal immigrants. With jails already near capacity, Florida taxpayers cannot afford to expand them to hold noncitizen violators of state laws.
The effect is that there is now a lesser standard of justice for illegal immigrants. According to 2020 research by the
Cato
Institute, for example, Texasâs criminal conviction rate of illegal immigrants is almost 50% lower than for native-born Americans â and that was before Bidenâs illegal immigration crisis. Crimes committed by illegal immigrants have since
surged
.
America has long been a land of freedom and opportunity for all, and legal immigration is a major contributing factor to the success of our melting-pot nation. But the blatant America Last messaging and damaging priorities of the Biden administration cheapen those values that make our nation great.
We must close our border and put an end to the illegal immigration crisis to safeguard American greatness for all who legally seek it. Congress can and should change immigration law if necessary, but in the meantime, Americans should not be forced to sit by and watch their president refuse to honor his constitutional obligation to enforce our laws.
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Keith Gross is a conservative businessman and attorney from Panama City, Florida. He is the executive director of Advancing Florida, an organization founded to advocate freedom the Florida way.
