By Corey Gustafson
Corey Gustafson is a university lecturer in American Foreign Policy, cofounder of Dogleg Brewing, and former Republican congressional candidate
President Biden’s recent vow to “shut down the border” if Congress sends him the recently proposed Senate border deal rings hollow and ironic given his administration’s total neglect of the problem since 2021. Border encounters and crossings have surged under the Biden administration. Thousands of illegal immigrants cross our borders daily. Caravans of migrants arrive and overwhelm Customs and Border Protection officers, who spend more time processing the hordes rather than preventing illegal drugs, criminals, sex-traffickers, and terrorists from entering our country. During December 2023, total encounters at the border reached an unprecedented 300,000. In contrast, migrant crossings averaged 51,000 per month during the Trump administration.
Any assumption that Biden will now secure the border–given his record since 2021– defies the current reality.
The almost sixfold increase in crossings did not occur in a vacuum. They came as a direct result of policies revoked by the Biden administration. Biden has made a concerted effort to unravel the successful policies President Trump put into place. For example, he ended the Remain in Mexico policy, terminated the Title 42 pandemic border expulsion authority, and of course, opposes any funding for a border wall with Mexico. In addition, Biden encouraged waves of migration when he issued a 100 day moratorium of deportations in January 2021.
According to Biden, his adminstration inherited a border crisis that he has no power to stop. In fact, his hatred of Trump and by extension, his policies, has greatly exacerbated the border crisis America currently faces.
Many in his own party and the media blame the cascading foreign policy crises on Biden’s watch as beyond his control. I would argue, rather, that these simply fall beyond his competency. Biden decided to ignore the various crises the US and the world face. Whether dismantling Trump’s border policies, allowing a build-up of 140,000 Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, removing the terrorist designation of the Houthis in Yemen, or providing sanctions relief to the Iranians who now sell oil to the Chinese, Biden’s policies have uniformly made things worse in each of these hot-spots.
This pattern can be described as Biden’s Anything-But-Trump aversion. First, his administration enacts radical policies reflecting their ideological disdain for all things associated with Trump. As a result, Biden’s chosen policies created new crises or exacerbated ongoing ones. The final stage of the Trump aversion therapy has become the most sinister: Asking Congress for more power and taxpayer dollars to “fix” the problems his own administration created. Biden’s self-made southern border crisis and attempt to dupe Congress and Republicans into providing more funding and amnesty will only make matters worse.
Republicans must reject Biden’s overtures on the southern border crisis for two reasons. First, the President has the necessary legal powers to secure the border. Biden can simply issue an executive order that reinstates Trump’s border policies immediately. Congressional Republicans cannot and should not provide legislative cover so that Biden can avoid the embarrassment of reversing field on his failed immigration policies. There is no need to negotiate with Biden when he has refused to enforce existing federal law.
Secondly, Republican Senators are chronically addicted to bad immigration “deals.” The list includes McCain-Kennedy (2005), the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (2007), and the “Gang of Eight” compromise (2013). Each caused an avalanche of conservative backlash and failed.
Marco Rubio, a member of the Gang of Eight that attempted immigration reform in 2013, learned an important lesson from the debacle: Republicans cannot support any attempt at immigration reform until the border is secured. Establishment politicians took too long to learn this lesson, especially after the wave of illegal immigration that took place after President Reagan’s 1986 amnesty bill. After President Trump’s victory in 2016, largely based on his push to secure America’s borders, conservatives hoped Senate Republicans had learned their lesson. However, the recent push by Senate Republicans is tantamount to another Groundhog Immigration Day in the Senate.
Republicans should not give a moment of consideration to any border/immigration bill before the border is secured. Measurable security benchmarks must be met before negotiations in Washington begin. DC politicians have lost the benefit of the doubt on solving the immigration crisis in America.
Senate Republicans must recognize that President Biden has attempted to frame for his own benefit the border crisis his policies created in the first place. In the process, he has weakened state and local government’s financial abilities to absorb migrants.
Capitulating to President Biden on the proposed immigration legislation will make the border and America less secure. Only more Biden administration chaos, waste and failure will follow. Republicans cannot reward Biden’s failed policies by granting more power and taxpayer dollars to an administration incapable of protecting America and securing our borders.
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