Nearly four years after sparking an ongoing illegal immigration crisis by rescinding former President Donald Trump’s border policies, President Joe Biden last week pleaded guilty to the charge of gross neglect of his constitutional duty.
No, Biden’s plea wasn’t made in a court of law. It came in the form of a too-little-too-late executive order denying asylum to anyone who crosses the border only if the average daily crossings exceed 2,500. In issuing that order, Biden effectively admitted his responsibility for the humanitarian, economic, and national security disaster that has dominated his tenure, put all Americans at risk, and left them trying to figure out how to manage the massive surge. As a border state, Granite Staters are at the frontlines of this disaster!
Throughout his term, Biden and his administration officials, most notably Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, have insisted the border was secure, there was no crisis and, if there was a crisis, then there was little Biden could do to address it without congressional action.
All of that is bunk, of course. The folly of the Biden administration’s immigration policy was self-evident within days of him taking office as migrants began flowing across the border in unprecedented numbers in response to a series of actions he took lifting Trump-era policies, including the “Remain in Mexico” policy.
“The situation at the border will not transform overnight,” claimed one senior Biden official at the time. But that’s exactly what happened; just in the wrong direction. As Biden’s policies took hold, the border was swarmed. For 38 straight months, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encounters with illegal immigrants have been higher than the highest month under President Trump. Biden has now set the record for migrant encounters at the southern border for the last three years in a row. All told, there have been more than 9.6 million illegal crossings since Biden took office.
But the problem is not just at the southern border. Biden has also failed at the northern border where illegal crossings are also setting records. Last year, agents along the Swanton Sector, which includes New Hampshire, saw 7,000 illegal crossings. That’s more than the previous 12 years combined! Last month alone, Border Patrol announced it had made a year’s worth of apprehensions in the Swanton Sector in just one week. In the most startling statistic, about 86 percent of people on the terror watch list apprehended by Border Patrol were encountered at the northern border.
Drug cartels have taken full advantage of our open border to deliver their deadly wares into our big cities and small towns. Almost no one remains who has not been touched in some way by a tragedy resulting from hardcore drugs originating from outside the country. This past April alone enough fentanyl was seized to deliver a fatal dose to almost every citizen of the United States.
The first and most important job of our federal government is to protect our national security. As a soldier in the U.S. Army, I put my life on the line to stand up for that principle. Today, the open border policies of Joe Biden and his New Hampshire puppet – Congressman Chris Pappas – threaten our national security, our personal security, our economic security, the rule of law and our national sovereignty. A country without borders is not a country at all.
Biden’s election-year ploy doesn’t come close to sufficiently addressing the crisis he created. We need to immediately shut down the border until the system is totally transformed. The 2,500 average daily crossings triggering Biden’s executive order is 2,500 too many.
We need to return to the Trump-era “Stay In Mexico” policy and dramatically reform who qualifies for asylum, end chain migration, and deport those who violated our laws to stay here illegally. And, yes, we need to finish the wall.
We need to return to an immigration system that puts America’s interests first. This is in no way incompatible with remaining a beacon of hope and opportunity for people world over. We want to welcome the world’s best and brightest and those who want to work and build a better life, but not this way.
In announcing his executive order, President Biden observed that, “To protect America as a land that welcomes immigrants, we must first secure the border and secure it now.” That was true the day he took office and is truer now than ever before because of Biden’s failure to do his job. This new policy won’t reverse his years of denial and neglect. Only a new president with new immigration allies in Congress can do that.
