For those of us who suffered the mundane music era of the 1970s, Thursday’s news that President Joe Biden is going to extend building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border might bring memories of the famous disco song “Do the Shuffle.”
In a surprise move, the Biden administration made a stunning reversal of the administration’s previous stance that not another piece of former President Donald Trump’s border wall would be built. Amid surging illegal migration into the U.S., the Biden administration is bypassing 26 federal laws, including environmental restrictions, to build a new section of the wall in South Texas near the Rio Grande.
As an excuse for changing course, Biden is trying to say that a 2019 law passed by the Republican Congress is the reason the new section of the wall is being built. He said he had no choice because Congress did not agree to cancel the funding approved in the 2019 law.
When questioned by reporters, White Houe press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre weakly commented that “we have to comply by law to get this done.”
So, the funding was passed in 2019, and the Biden administration simply refused to expend those funds then. But now, the “law” requires that they must?
Let’s deal in some truth here. The American people have always been concerned about fluid border protection, and many border communities and states have been begging for help in controlling the huge influx of illegal migrants for decades. President Trump promised to build a wall, which Mexico would pay for – but isn’t, to help control the surges.
Along with the wall and other immigration policy changes under Trump, a process for migrants arriving at the southern border to seek asylum was set up. It’s unclear whether Trump’s policies actually helped the U.S. deal with the backlog of migrant cases.
When the COVID-19 pandemic started, a public health rule known as Title 42 blocked more than 1.7 million attempts to cross the border. The Biden administration announced that rule would be suspended, and thousands of migrants headed to the border in May this year.
The Biden administration has been impotent in dealing with these surges due to their preferred open border policies.
Just this last month, news outlets have been reporting on the thousands of migrants apprehended daily by the U.S. Border Patrol. The U.S. Border Patrol made 181,059 apprehensions along the southern border in August — up from 132,648 in July, according to the latest Customs and Border Protection data. Across the Southwest, migrants were arrested or detained more than 232,000 times, the most since last December.
Americans know this is unsustainable, even those in Democrat-run big cities, which have been seeing their own problems with these surges. In the past, it has primarily been the border states having to deal with this. But, now that the more liberal or “sanctuary” cities are also facing this crisis, there seems to be more of a sense of urgency.
Biden still says he doesn’t believe a border wall will work. However, he is obviously getting pressure from big city Democratic mayors demanding more engagement from the president on this issue.
A wall alone probably isn’t the only solution. However, as we all know, it is past time for the U.S. to deal strategically and logically with our southern border.
It’s has been and continues to be a complex and long-term issue that will require more border security, better coordination and policies with neighboring countries, a streamlined asylum process, and other collaborative processes, among other things
But, Biden’s reversal on the wall will strengthen Trump’s and the GOP’s stance on border security
Cindy Allen 