Climbing border numbers are 'staggering to see': Jonathan Line
Yuma County, AZ., Supervisor Jonathan Lines discusses the impact of the border crisis on Arizona farms and its threat to food security.
With a new Congress, America’s most ignored problem should once again be up for resolution.
After not even visiting the border for years, President Joe Biden finally took a brief tour. The Republicans are flagging the millions of illegal crossings and the American people are upset that there has been no bipartisan resolution of the problem. Republicans get in, up goes a wall. Democrats get in, down goes the wall. That is not what Americans view as progress.
The Democrats escaped the immigration issue in the midterms, but they’ve been out of step with public opinion for a long time. Americans used to give Biden the benefit of the doubt.
A split photo of Joe Biden and migrants lining up to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol in Yuma, Arizona July 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky | Allison Dinner/AFP via Getty Images)
In March 2021, a slim majority of voters thought the Biden administration was just trying to enforce immigration laws more humanely, according to the Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll. But by October 2021, a majority of voters were saying that Biden’s policies have created an open border. That result held in the December 2022 poll too.
Sixty-seven percent of Americans also think Biden’s executive orders have encouraged illegal immigration, and 57% think they have increased the flow of drugs and crime into the U.S.
Americans would be even more concerned about the border if they were fully informed. Voters actually vastly underestimate the scale of illegal border crossings. Sixty-four percent knew that illegal crossings have increased since Biden took office, but only 6% knew the extent – between 2-3 million in the past year. The median voter underestimated the number of illegal crossings by a factor of 10.
President Joe Biden signs an executive order on immigration at the White House, Feb. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Democrats have contributed to and benefited from this lack of knowledge. Biden visited the border once and keeps saying he has more important things to do. Vice President Kamala Harris only visited once – in 2021 – even though immigration is one of the few substantive issues in her portfolio.
Giving people the facts on immigration made them want change more. When told that over 2.75 million people illegally crossed the border in the past year, 67% of voters, including 53% of Democrats, wanted Biden to enact new, stricter policies to reduce the flow of migrants. It turns out stricter immigration reform is a bipartisan issue.
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Extending Title 42 also receives bipartisan support from 80% of Americans. Title 42 allowed the government to turn away large numbers of illegal migrants due to COVID-19 concerns, and its pending expiration is bringing the crisis to a head. Now it’s estimated that in its aftermath over 10,000 people could cross per day, which would overwhelm the American infrastructure.
Biden and Congress can’t wait for comprehensive immigration reform anymore. When illegal crossings were a relative trickle, they could hold out for a sweeping package that would change immigration policy at every level. But now it’s a flood. Whether by extending Title 42 or enacting other restrictions, the country must stem the tide here of migrants, gang members and drugs.
Immigration reform will take compromise. Americans are not totally hardline, especially when it comes to children. Over 60% of voters want children who entered illegally to have a path to citizenship and support strengthening DACA protections, according to a recent Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll. And over 70% of voters think adult immigrants should at least have a chance to work here, if not also a path to citizenship.
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The extremes will never agree on immigration – it will take sensible moderates on both sides to craft lasting, serious, bipartisan solution.
There is no question that American see this as a crisis. The question is, will Congress and the president step in and overcome the extreme factions on both sides and finally reform the system? It is doubtful, but if Democrats and Republicans want to begin to restore the trust of the American people, they will tackle this issue and hammer out a compromise.
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