OPINION:
President Biden, who came to office two years ago with some of the lowest levels of illegal immigration in modern history, largely ignored the historic border crisis he created by devoting only a few lines to it in his State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Nevertheless, he attempted to shift the blame, saying problems will not be fixed until Congress acts. But what is Congressional action in the eyes of his open-border speechwriters, policy puppeteers, and the rest of the Democratic Party? Amnesty for millions.
The American people won’t be fooled.
When you look at the numbers, they’re staggering. In FY2020, 400,000 illegal aliens were encountered at the southern border – a total that has been frequently eclipsed, even in a period as short as six weeks.
Other than a laughable call for additional manpower (to simply process migrants) and equipment to ‘secure’ our borders, Mr. Biden said nothing about his failed policies that have resulted in more than a quarter of a million illegal aliens breaching our borders in a single month.
At the same time, he reiterated his call for a mass amnesty that will serve as yet another magnet for even greater illegal immigration in the future.
Remember, this is all by design. On day one, Mr. Biden began dismantling border security and immigration enforcement, and, to the great detriment of the American people, he has largely succeeded in his clear mission.
Two years into his presidency, we are approaching 6 million illegal entrants, the vast majority of whom have been released under the pretense that they will be removed sometime in the future. We all know they won’t.
Even worse, Mr. Biden sought to portray his flagrantly illegal abuse of parole as an effective border enforcement strategy.
With no statutory authority, he has created a parallel immigration system that allows 360,000 otherwise inadmissible aliens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to enter each year, all while boasting that he has cut illegal entry by citizens of those countries by 97%. That is like raising the speed limit to 150 mph and bragging that you have dramatically reduced the number of drivers cited with speeding tickets.
Subtly but unmistakably, the Biden agenda has effectively abolished statutorily mandated border and immigration enforcement and replaced it with border and immigration management.
No longer do the American people and their elected representatives get to determine who or how many people settle in this country and under what conditions. Under the Biden Immigration Doctrine, circumstance dictates who and how many, and the role of our government is simply to manage the flow as best as possible.
The goal of U.S. immigration policymaking under the Biden Administration is clear: Open borders for all who want to settle here, and amnesty for everyone who is already here illegally.
Enforcement is out, and endless accommodation is in.
• Dan Stein is president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)
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