Even some Democrats say the president has waited far too long to visit the border and recognize the problem. Now, can he fix it?
The border crisis is putting President Joe Biden in a tough spot. His approval ratings have suffered due to the ongoing problem, but he’s now trying to leverage the failure of the Senate border bill to blame former President Donald Trump for the crisis.
“Every day between now and November, the American people are going to know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends,” President Biden said in early February after Republicans in Congress tanked a bipartisan border bill he was prepared to sign into law.
However, recent polls show that the president’s message doesn’t appear to be resonating with independent voters and many of his supporters, who are concerned about his failure to address the border issue.
In his recent State of the Union address, President Biden continued to shift the blame to his predecessor and Republicans in Congress, saying “politics have derailed” his recent border deal.
“We can fight about the border, or we can fix it. I’m ready to fix it. Send me the border bill now,” he said in a fiery address.
However, Democrats are divided on the issue. Progressives are against any potential limitation on asylum. They want to safeguard the ability of illegal immigrants to seek asylum at the border. In the early days of the Biden administration, they played a significant role in shaping the immigration policy of the president and reversing the Trump administration’s border measures.
Meanwhile, Democrats in red or swing states and districts express concern about the surge in illegal crossings. They call on President Biden to take executive action to address the problem.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), a rare red state Democrat in the Senate, sent a letter to President Biden on Feb. 29 urging him to to secure the border.
“What’s happening at the southern border is unacceptable, plain and simple,” he wrote in the letter. “I respectfully urge you to use all of the remaining tools at your disposal to strengthen border security where executive action is possible.”
The Majority Wants Trump’s Border Wall
More than 6 in 10 Americans describe illegal immigration as a very serious problem, a new Monmouth University poll found.
The same poll showed 53 percent of Americans support building a border wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. This marks the first time a majority of respondents have backed the measure since the polling institute began asking the question in 2015. During the Trump administration, support for building a wall didn’t rise above 44 percent.
Republicans and independents showed strong support for a border wall in the most recent survey, with 86 percent and 58 percent in favor, respectively. In contrast, only 17 percent of Democrats supported the idea.
“Illegal immigration has taken center stage as a defining issue this presidential election year. Other Monmouth polling found this to be Biden’s weakest policy area, including among his fellow Democrats,” Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, 61 percent of respondents support President Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” program, according to the same poll. The Trump administration implemented the program, which requires would-be asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while their claims are processed.
On his first day in office, President Biden stopped adding illegal immigrants to the “Remain in Mexico” program and began releasing more illegal immigrants into the United States. In October 2021, Secretary Mayorkas issued a memo repealing the program in its entirety. Mr. Mayorkas claimed that asylum seekers had been “exposed to harm while waiting in Mexico” under the scheme.
However, the program has been touted by border security advocates for its effectiveness in curbing illegal immigration because it ended “catch-and-release,” the practice in which illegal immigrants are released into the United States with a court date far in the future.
‘Too Little, Too Late’
Just a week before his State of the Union address, President Biden made a trip to the southern border to amplify his message that Republicans thwarted his border deal. His visit to Brownsville, Texas, coincided with former President Trump’s trip to Eagle Pass, Texas.
The National Border Patrol Council, which supported the border agreement, slammed the president’s planned trip to Brownsville as a tactic to rescue his presidency, calling it “too little, too late.”
Brownsville was once a hot spot for illegal immigration on the southern border. The city declared a state of emergency in May 2023.
John Cowen, mayor of Brownsville, stated that his city, with fewer than 200,000 residents, has helped more than 240,000 illegal immigrants since 2021.
The illegal crossings have decreased notably in recent months, thanks partly to the Texas governor’s initiatives to prevent illegal immigration, including building anti-climb barriers and turning illegal immigrants back to Mexico. It had been the busiest region for illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border for about a decade.
Pedro Cardenas, a commissioner for the city of Brownsville, believes that the influx is not over. He says there are thousands of migrants in Matamoros, Mexico, on the other side of the border waiting for their appointment under the new U.S. government’s phone app program.
As part of President Biden’s expanded parole program, asylum seekers can schedule an appointment using the Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) phone app, known as CBP One, while waiting outside the country.
Migrants who obtain an appointment can enter the United States via a port of entry and apply for a work permit after being released from U.S. custody. Conservatives have slammed the president’s decision to expand the program, accusing him of misusing the administration’s immigration authority.
Mr. Cardenas, who voted for Joe Biden in 2020, told the Epoch Times that the president’s visit was overdue.
“I think he should have been here a little earlier,” he said. “When we had thousands of people crossing daily, he was not here.”
Mr. Cardenas said that he would wait to see how things unfold in the coming months before deciding on whether to vote for President Biden in November. He said he wants to see a shift in policy and concrete steps from the president to address the border problem.
Martin Aguilera, 50, is the son of migrants from Mexico. He was born and raised in Brownsville.
He blames both President Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for the border crisis.
“I voted for President Biden. I thought he was going to be a good president. But I don’t see that,” he told The Epoch Times. “I’m a Democrat, but I’m going to vote for Trump.”
Mr. Aguilera said that the 2024 election will be his first time voting for a Republican president.
“My mother and father came from Mexico, and they came to work legally,” Mr. Aguilera said.
He’s upset about how his and other taxpayers’ money is being spent on illegal immigrants. He criticized, for example, the Southwest Key program in his county, which receives funding from the federal government to offer shelter for unaccompanied minors through the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Those kids misbehave. They do whatever they want. They fight with other people. Nobody can do anything about it because the government is protecting those kids. They get the best food. They get the best clothes. Who pays? We’re paying for them,” he said.
“They receive special treatment, including psychologists, doctors, and eye doctors. They get everything for free. If I want to see a doctor, I have to pay a lot of money.”
Immigration Rises to Forefront
According to a recent Gallup poll, Americans name immigration as the top problem facing the nation. The survey polled 1,016 people from all 50 states to determine what they believe is the most critical issue facing the country.
Immigration ranked ahead of all other issues, including the government, the economy, and inflation—the first time it has been the single most pressing problem since 2019, according to Gallup.
Abortion, a Democratic priority, didn’t even make the list. In the 2022 midterm election, abortion was rated as the main worry for voters following the demise of Roe v. Wade.
In addition, a record-high 55 percent of respondents, up eight points from last year, said that the surge in illegal immigration is a critical threat to U.S. vital interests.
Several polls also showed that President Biden’s handling of immigration at the U.S.–Mexico border received very low ratings.
According to a recent Morning Consult survey, 84 percent of voters in key battleground states say the immigration issue will be “important” in their decision on how to vote in the November election.
Immigration, however, is not the only area where Americans give the president low marks.
“President Biden is significantly behind every modern predecessor that sought reelection on a series of metrics that have been the core of where the country looks to decide to reelect somebody,” Mohamed Younis, editor-in-chief at Gallup, told CNN, citing issues such as the economy and his handling of the Middle East conflict.
‘He’s Not Sincere’
Republicans rejected the Senate border deal, arguing that its provisions weren’t strong enough.
Most House Republicans are now united under a single message: President Biden must reinstate Trump-era border policies.
They also believe that the only reason President Biden is concerned about the border now is because it has risen to the level of a political liability. They think that the border crisis will force him out of office in November.
“He’s not sincere about the border,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) told The Epoch Times.
“If he was, he would undo the 64 executive orders that he signed since he took office that effectively undid all the great work that Donald Trump and his administration did to seal the border,” he said.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) agreed. “President Biden would rather blame Republicans as he dismantles the Trump border policies that were really working,” he said.
President Biden began office promising to reverse the previous administration’s immigration policies, calling them “cruel and reckless.” On his first day, he emphasized that his approach would create a “fair, orderly, and humane” immigration system while also establishing more effective border security measures.
However, the illegal immigrant surge has escalated significantly under his watch, shattering record after record.
Many people, even those in the liberal media, have pointed fingers at the Biden administration for the crisis that has now spread to large cities around the country.
Mr. Cowen, the Democrat mayor of Brownsville, disputes claims that the border crisis poses a significant problem for President Biden and his party in 2024.
“I think it’s an issue for both sides,” he told The Epoch Times. “We want a better process for immigration. We want a more secure border. I don’t think you’ll find anyone who disagrees with that. It’s just a matter of how to get it done.”
Some supporters of President Biden disagree with criticisms leveled at the president for his handling of the border crisis.
“Republicans are crying that they need border security, and now they don’t want to vote on it,” Roy Cerda from Brownsville told NTD.
Opinions on the border crisis vary among voters nationwide.
Joel Geffen, 67, from Ann Arbor, Michigan, disagrees with President Trump’s approach, which calls for “military-backed mass deportations.”
“That doesn’t sound like the country that I grew up in,” Mr. Geffen told The Epoch Times.
“I’m not saying that immigration isn’t a problem. How about a humane way of dealing with it? These are human beings,” he said.
When it comes to voting in November, Kathleen Endleil, a Dearborn, Michigan, resident, says she is “less concerned about the border.”
“Most of the people coming in are either refugees or they’re migrant workers who do the jobs that we don’t want to do,” she told The Epoch Times.
“Let’s be serious. I don’t want to be in a field picking grapes. And that’s what they’re going to do. Anybody who says otherwise is blowing smoke.”
Nathan Page, a resident of Dearborn, Michigan, cast his vote as “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary as he’s unhappy with President Biden’s approach to the dual issues of inflation and the border crisis.
“I wish it didn’t seem so chaotic,” Mr. Page told The Epoch Times. “Americans don’t love chaos that much.”
Crime Deepens the Partisan Divide
During his State of the Union address, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) interrupted the president, demanding that he recognize the recent murder of Laken Riley, a nursing student from Athens, Georgia, allegedly by an illegal immigrant.
President Biden went off script. “Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal. That’s right,” he said, mispronouncing the student’s name as Lincoln.
He then addressed Ms. Riley’s parents: “My heart goes out to you, having lost children myself.”
President Biden, however, came under fire from progressives for referring to the killer as “illegal” instead of “undocumented.”
On March 9, he expressed regret about using the word “illegal.”
“An undocumented person. And I shouldn’t have used ‘illegal.’ It’s ‘undocumented,’” President Biden said during an interview with MSNBC.
“Yes,” President Biden replied when asked about any regrets for his choice of words.
The murder of Ms. Riley has sparked more outrage throughout the country over the Biden administration’s border policy.
The 22-year-old student went missing after her morning jog around the University of Georgia on Feb. 22. Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who entered the country 18 months ago, was arrested and charged for her murder.
While the incident has shocked many Americans, Democrats have been mostly silent about the tragic event. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), who has supported pro-illegal immigration policies, said that one incident “shouldn’t shape our overall immigration policy” during an interview with CNN.
Yet, these are not rare incidents. Last year, Juan Carlos Garcia-Rodriguez illegally crossed into the United States from Guatemala, and several months later, he was arrested and charged with the sexual assault and murder of an 11-year-old girl in Pasadena, Texas.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data, 73,822 noncitizens with criminal histories were arrested in the fiscal year 2023.
They had 290,178 associated charges and convictions, with an average of four per individual. These included 33,209 assaults, 4,390 sex and sexual assaults, 7,520 weapons offenses, 1,713 charges or convictions for homicide, and 1,655 kidnapping offenses.
After the killing of Ms. Riley, the Georgia State House passed a bill on Feb. 29, which would allow police to identify illegal immigrants, arrest them, and detain them for deportation.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams also recently called for sweeping changes to the city’s sanctuary policies after several crimes in the city were linked to the surge in illegal immigrants.
He publicly endorsed on Feb. 28 a change that would allow ICE officers in New York to deport immigrants who have been accused of committing crimes. Currently policy in New York shields illegal immigrants from federal immigration authorities.
Pollsters and pundits predict that immigration and border issues will remain top worries for voters and that both parties will continue to play the blame game.
Former President Trump will persist in running a campaign centered around his past immigration policies that he says make America safer. Meanwhile, President Biden will continue to promote his bipartisan bill, telling Americans that he’s now firm on border security while still taking a “humane” approach, and the continuing crisis is President Trump’s fault.
His success in persuading Americans may determine the election outcome.