David Bossie: Biden's border crisis – here's what it should mean for his 'immigration reform' plans

The Biden administration’s response to the escalating crisis at our southern border has been an unmitigated disaster. 

Not only did President Biden create the crisis with his irresponsible executive orders, now he refuses to answer questions about it or even allow his administration to admit what everybody knows. It’s a crisis.   

The number of migrant children in the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) custody has tripled over the past two weeks. While schools and businesses remain closed or severely restricted, DHS has been forced to open the temporary holding facilities on the border to 100% capacity. COVID-infected migrants are being released into border communities. 

SEN. JONI ERNST: BIDEN MUST OWN BORDER CRISIS AS EMERGING NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT TO US

Presidents are supposed to fix problems, not create them – all of this was avoidable.    

Border officials have been demoralized and handcuffed by Biden and left without the resources they need to do their jobs protecting our southern border. Even Texas Democrats warned last week that their communities are "weeks, maybe even days, away from a crisis."  

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The Biden administration will soon be forced to spend valuable political capital to deal with this catastrophe. And there’s no sign that the surge of migrants will be abating any time soon. Because why would they stop coming – unless President Biden ordered them to stop – which he could do.    

In a highly publicized series of day one executive orders, Biden overturned Trump-era immigration policies like the Migrant Protection Protocols. He attempted to institute a 100-day moratorium on deportations – a senseless move that was eventually struck down by courts. The new president also ordered a broad review of DHS and ICE practices, with the goal of reversing the practices and rules instituted by President Trump.   

Trump’s America first strategy on the border prioritized the security of the American people. Instead of recognizing the obvious successes of his predecessor, Biden bowed to his radical left-wing base and allowed the border to erupt into chaos.   

The truth is that the border storm was already brewing by the first day of Biden’s administration. For weeks and months prior, everything Team Biden did on the campaign trail and during the transition sent a message that if and when they take the White House, Trump’s wall will stop being built and our borders will open. 

During a primary debate, Biden actually raised his hand when asked who supports free health care for illegal immigrants. Then-candidate Biden spoke about "pathways" to citizenship, which is Democrat-speak for rewarding illegal behavior and granting mass amnesty for millions of undocumented immigrants. 

All of this was being paid attention to in Central and South America, and they got the message loud and clear – if we come to the border under a President Joe Biden, he’ll let us in. The current surge we are seeing now was, in some ways, inevitable given the rhetoric of the President Biden, Vice President Harris and their open borders team. 

The administration has repeatedly and falsely insisted that this is not a "crisis," but a "challenge."

But the rush to overturn President Trump’s border accomplishments once in office only accelerated the problem. Immigration was always going to be a policy focus of a Biden administration, but instead of making sure border communities had the resources they need, the foolish insistence to "reverse Trump" left vulnerable border communities scrambling. Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead.    

Now, Biden and the liberal Democrats desperately want their massive left-wing immigration reform package to quickly move through Congress. Open borders, amnesty for untold millions, sanctuary city protections, free health care and COVID-19 vaccines – you name it, it will all be in there. But the mess we’re all seeing on television is having an adverse impact on Capitol Hill.    

After this self-inflicted political debacle, how much precious political capital will the Biden administration have left to get vulnerable, centrist or border Democrats on board with their larger illegal immigration protection initiatives? No one wants to be responsible for more chaos at the border or an agenda that puts America last.   

As more and more images from the growing humanitarian crisis at the border emerge, can some Democrats afford to be pictured as complicit? As border communities and immigration enforcement officers grow frustrated with the White House’s refusal to tackle the situation and provide critical resources, how will the administration remove doubt that their plans for mass amnesty won’t cause a larger crisis in their region? 

The administration has repeatedly and falsely insisted that this is not a "crisis," but a "challenge." Disregarding the hypocrisy of the media in refusing to hold this administration accountable while proclaiming crises after crises under Trump, Biden’s approach to this issue is to deny reality. 

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But vulnerable Democrats in border states and those who represent more moderate constituencies – like Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, and Jon Tester of Montana – will have to confront this reality. They will not be able to isolate themselves from the truth on the ground by hiding out in Washington, D.C. At some point, they’ll need to return home and explain any role they had in fueling this crisis.  

Biden’s immigration reform legislation should be in trouble – and rightly so.   

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