Confronted with the facts of an illegal border crossing surge, now ranging from 1,000 to 4,000 crossings a day, the new head of the Department of Homeland Security last week denied it was a crisis.
“I think that the, the answer is no. I think there is a challenge at the border that we are managing, and we have our resources dedicated to manage it,” said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
So overwhelming is the “challenge,” that over the weekend, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted he’s launching “Operation Lonestar” — a deployment of “National Guard + DPS Officers + air, ground, marine, & tactical border security assets to deny Mexican Cartels & smugglers the ability to move drugs & people into Texas.”
Under the previous administration, the border crisis had abated significantly.
John Ratcliffe, former director of national intelligence, said, “This was a situation where the by the administration was so eager to want to declare Trump policies cruel at the border that they that they took away policies that were clearly working and they reversed agreements that we had with Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, and with Mexico to stop the traffic in Mexico southern border, and they invited this crisis, they created this crisis, and so I think it’s important now that they own this crisis.”
Democratic Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin said, “This cries out for the fact that we really do need comprehensive immigration reform. … We need to have a policy that reflects the values of America, we certainly do not want to see divided families that occurred under the previous administration.”
Comprehensive immigration reform remains elusive because of the closely divided Senate, leaving U.S. border policy to wild swings as Trump-era executive orders give way to President Biden’s. The shift symbolized by former President Donald Trump’s unfinished wall, where construction has stopped in areas frequently crossed.
“We have about 250 miles left to build. That’s already in the contract. If you cancel those contracts, the American taxpayer will still be out the billions of dollars,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said, “I just got back from the border, they’re changing every policy of Trump that worked. So we’re going to be dealing with, as a nation, out of control immigration. … And by the summer, you’re going to have a million people coming into this country illegally, all because the liberals can do it.”
The new policies have greatly worsened the single greatest problem Democrats railed about during the Trump years — the plight of unaccompanied minors.
On March 2, the Washington Examiner reported Biden was presented a policy document that forecast 117,000 children will arrive at the U.S.-Mexican border without a parent or guardian in 2021.
Whether it’s termed a crisis or a challenge, the surge in border crossings may lead to a long-term payoff for Democrats. Their bill, HR 1, would greatly relax voter ID requirements in every state, enabling anyone to vote without an ID or address verification, potentially ensuring a Democratic majority for years.
