President Joe Biden recently announced his 21-point plan on an immigration strategy for the crisis at the border. He has been receiving criticism from both Democrats and Republicans on the progress at the border but emphasized that success in building a “fair, orderly, and human immigration system” won’t be achieved overnight. But that’s a lot of talk coming from the President breaking the border, policy by policy.
The 21-point plan includes redirecting the budget from former president Donald Trump’s border wall to “border technology and the modernization of land ports of entry.” President Biden said these are proven to be more effective at improving the safety and security at the border.
Biden has been spending at least $3 million a day to keep contractors from constructing the border wall. He’s spent a total of $2 billion, and counting, to pay professional contractors to watch steel bake in the sun. Meanwhile, we’re seeing a 20-year high number of migrants who are crossing the border.
The Biden Administration is also working on the expedited removal process for those arriving at the border. This would allow asylum seekers and other legal migrants a way into the country while removing those who don’t qualify. Biden said it would bolster anti-smuggling and anti-trafficking operations at the border, something he is heavily criticized for.
But critics have argued that his handling of the border crisis has caused a spike in COVID-19 cases across the country. Biden continues to stress that the coronavirus remains a public health crisis while rolling back COVID-19 related protections at the border.
At the same time, the Department of Homeland Security is preparing for the end of Title 42, which was previously mentioned by the Biden Administration. This halted all migration into the country during the pandemic and more than 750,0000 asylum seekers from crossing the southern border. Border Patrol Agents stressed that the migrant processing at the border during a pandemic puts the agents and their families at risk.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy argued that Biden’s mismanagement at the border has prolonged immigration and pandemic crises. He called for Biden to leave Title 42 alone in light of COVID-19 cases/hospitalizations nationwide and to avoid straining the agents with a surge of migrants.
“Biden’s open-border policies undermine the country’s COVID response, which means now is not the time to revoke critical Title 42 authority. This is a policy that protects public health, and if removed, it would only make a crisis situation even worse,” McCarthy said.
While Biden’s immigration policy makes no mention of Title 42, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said it will remain in place as long as that is the guidance from health and medical experts.
The plan is also calling for assisting regional partners in border management and strengthening the “migration management” with the regional partners. It also encourages Congress to pass the U.S Citizenship Act and the Dream and Promise Act.
“This plan is just focused on the southern border. So far, the U.S. government is on track to issue about 100,000 fewer green cards this year than the law allows and the Biden administration is not doing anything to remedy that,” said Alex Nowrasteh, the director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute.
When asked about immigration policies recently, Biden gave a pretty eyebrow-raising gaffe. A reporter shouted out to President Biden and asked if immigration needs to be in reconciliation or must it be in reconciliation. “My butt’s been wiped!” Biden appeared to say before adding that a pathway to citizenship whether it needs to be in immigration remains to be seen. ABC White House reporter Molly Nagle notes that Biden meant to say “reconciliation,” not “immigration.”
But the exchange was strange and it drew a ton of social media attention about his rear-end comment. One user asked if Jill was still in Japan and which staff member is filling in for the “important task” of babysitting Joe. Others defended the comment and claimed he said “There must be what?” But there was an exchange of laughter among reporters in the video.
The comment comes after an awkward exchange last week when Biden was asked about defunding the police. He replied with a conspiracy theory about him sucking the blood out of kids. It’s not a surprise that President Biden responds to a legitimate question with something outlandish. Even the White House physician is taking notice of Biden’s cognitive health and has called it out in the mainstream media.
The White House refuses to open the country’s border with Canada and they’ve kept all travel restrictions in place. The Biden Administration has continued to rescind Trump-era policies and let migrants cross the border, with more than 80% of the migrants being unvaccinated. If we’ve learned anything about Biden’s immigration policies, it’s that they don’t help the American people.
