OPINION:
President Biden is taking a fresh approach to the harmful impact of illegal immigration. Through the power of redefinition, unchecked immigration is no longer a problem; it’s a benefit. Border protection is being exchanged for a welcome mat, resulting in an intentional transformation of American society.
Migrants unwilling to wait their turn have rushed by the millions from every corner of the world to the United States during Mr. Biden’s 30-month tenure, ferrying across treacherous waters, scaling imposing barriers or trekking desert wasteland along the southwestern border.
Americans aren’t convinced that this is a benefit in any reasonable sense of the word. Some 72% of respondents to a July Gallup Poll view the situation as a crisis or a major problem. Only 22% consider the problem a minor one.
Undaunted, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last week claimed success in administration efforts to impose order at the border. Encounters with illegal immigrants have diminished by 65% since Mr. Biden took office, he said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection put the figure for June at just under 100,000.
Mr. Mayorkas didn’t mention that more than 40% of a cohort of unlawful entrants caught and released under the Biden “parole” program this spring never bothered to register with U.S. authorities, as required.
Moreover, there is an ominous flip side to the purported reduction in apprehensions: Immigration officials are ushering in a monthly throng of 43,500 illegals. New arrivals now have a government-issued smartphone app called CBP One to book appointments for their unauthorized entry. The daily offloading of foreign travelers by the busload in U.S. cities is evidence that the eligibility test for approval is easy to ace.
Even Mr. Biden’s allies are starting to feel uncomfortable with the northbound open-borders policy that’s turning every community into a border town. On Thursday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced, “There is no more room in the city,” which contrasts sharply with his past boasts about the Big Apple’s status as a sanctuary jurisdiction.
Officials have begun evicting illegal immigrants from New York’s crowded shelters, where 90,000 have been housed since last year. Further, they plan to distribute flyers at the border, urging entrants to “please consider another city.”
The quickening inflow of illegal immigrants subverts the Department of Homeland Security’s fundamental mission, which, unsurprisingly, is “to improve the security of the United States.” By putting the needs of illegal immigrants above those of citizens, Messrs. Biden and Mayorkas clearly have their priorities backward.
Dutiful public servants play an essential role in holding the administration accountable.
Republican Reps. James Comer of Kentucky and Mark Green of Tennessee wrote to Customs and Border Protection on Friday, seeking to learn why Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino, reportedly a critic of Biden immigration policy, was reassigned from his command of the El Centro sector to Washington headquarters “within hours” of an interview with House investigators.
Retaliation against whistleblowers, the lawmakers wrote, constitutes criminal obstruction of Congress.
Americans have already seen enough to recognize the ongoing blunder at the border for what it is: Bidenesque.
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