Why Biden and Democrats will not close the border

President Biden pretends to favor a secure southern border.  He alleges that he is doing all that he can to meet that challenge.  Lately, he blames Senate Republicans for not passing legislation that would have allowed up to 5,000 illegal migrants into the country every day without repercussions.  That is five times more than the 1000 per day that President Obama’s head of Homeland Security called a crisis level.

Of course, Biden’s claims are nothing more than mendacious political narratives.  He and his fellow Democrats do not secure the border because THEY DO NOT WANT A CLOSED BORDER.

Why would a President of the United States and a major political party not want the have a secure border?  Biden’s refusal to address the border crisis is not due to a lack of authority or options.

To examine why Biden sill not secure the border, we should look at the crisis in terms of its many elements.  When one considers the scope and magnitude of the crisis, it seems inconceivable that an American President would not take action – especially since protecting the border is one of a President’s fundamental constitutional duties.  Even if you believe (as I do) that the vast majority of illegal border crossers are motivated by good intentions, border security is an existential obligation. 

Most of the illegal border crossers are not like the immigrants of yore – the Irish, Polish, Italians, Jews, Asians — who saw America as that “bright shiny house on the hill” with “streets paved in gold.”  They came to contribute and to assimilate into the amazing American cultures.  And … they did so legally because that was their only option.  They came at a time when America welcomed immigrants, as we do now – but in a controlled and vetted process.

That is not what you get with open borders.  When immigration is out of control, you get millions of folks seeing their opportunity to get to America for many reasons.  An open border is an invitation to one and all.  If they are so well-intentioned, why not use the legal method?

As well intentioned as most border crossing migrants may be, there are serious unintended negative consequences. Most obvious is that they overrun the ability of immigration authorities and enforcers to vet and process them effectively.   The sheer number shreds America’s established safety nets and welfare systems … overcrowds our housing … our medical systems.  They put physical and financial stress on America’s schools.  They cost taxpayers billions of dollars every day to accommodate them.

Though advocates of open borders ignore the reality, among all those well-intentioned people are folks not so well intentioned. They claim the percentage of bad folks is small, but the number is huge.  In the three and one-quarter years since Biden took office and rolled back dozens of President Trump’s border protection policies, the number of CONVICTED criminals crossing the border has soared to 108,000– compared to 21,000 in Trump’s four years in office.  The trend tells the story.  For Trump, it is a declining number — 2017 (8531), 2018 (6698), 2019 (4269) and 2020 (2438).  For Biden, it is an expanding number – 2021 (10,763), 2022 (12,028) and 2023 (15,267). 

In the first three months of 2024, the total is 7.064.  Based on that trend, 2024 will see MORE THAN 28,000 CONVICTED CRIMINALS crossing the southern border.  And even if it falls short of that number, the final count for 2024 will most assuredly exceed all four years of the Trump presidency.

That does not include those with criminal intentions who do not have conviction records – and those with conviction records not easily obtained – especially on short notice. It does not include those among the got-aways. 

Illegal migrants have an impact on American crime statistics.  We see that every day.  Apologists suggest that migrants are less likely to commit crimes than the average American.  I doubt that, but even if true, it is not a good excuse for allowing hundreds of thousands of criminals into the nation each year.

Illegal migrants are a significant factor in the deadly fentanyl epidemic in America.  The open borders crowd argues that most illegal drugs come from other places – legal checkpoints and from coastal regions in Florida and California.  So what?  That is not a reason to allow tons upon tons of illegal deadly narcotics to come across the southern border. 

In addition to drugs, the open southern border is a highway for sex trafficking.  Drugs, sex trafficking and other criminal activities have enabled dangerous gangs to form and grow in America – mostly arriving across the southern border.  Gangs like the brutal MS-13.

Then there is the issue of terrorism.  We know that various terrorist groups and nations are determined to strike at the United States and our allies around the world.  “Death to America” is their mantra and their cause.  Border Patrol reports a disturbing increase in the number of KNOWN terrorists entering – or attempting to enter – the United States.  In the first three months, 74 persons on the terrorism watch list crossed the southern.  That is more than in the entire Trump administration.

Contrary to public perception, the illegal border crossers are not all from Mexico, Central and South America.  They come from more than 150 nations – including significant numbers from China and Russia – and even Afghanistan and Iran. 

Communicable disease is another downside.  Again, small in percentage, but significant in number, the migrant caravans carry folks with a number of communicable diseases – Covid, Tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, etc.  Current measles outbreaks have been associated with overcrowded migrant encampments.

Keeping the border open as a welcome mat entices those millions of migrants to undertake the long and dangerous trek to America.  It is another modern-day version of the trail of tears.  Traveling migrants are being robbed, raped, extorted and murdered.  Others merely die from heat and exhaustion.  It is a humanitarian crisis.

Given all these elements of the crisis – and the many actions Biden could take to mitigate the problem – why do Biden and Democrats refuse to close the border?  Even worse … why do they offer sanctuary and oppose immigration enforcement activities to incentivize the ever-growing migration crisis?  Biden granted 1.2 million migrants “temporary protection status” – meaning they are free to stay in America without the normal (and failed) vetting process.

One of my mother’s simple but enduring words of wisdom was that there is a reason for everything.  In that spirit, why does Biden refuse to close the border in view of the manifest human crisis and manifest threats to national security?  There are only a few possible reasons – some more logical than others.

1. The most stated reason by critics of Biden’s policy is that he and his Democrat allies want to flood America with more Democrat voters – on the assumption that gratitude will bond migrants to the Democratic Party.  That may be the thinking of some Democrats, but I think it is not sound.  As these millions of migrants matriculate to citizenship in future years, I personally think they are a jump ball in terms of political partisanship.  Latinos are switching to the GOP in increasing numbers — and I think peers will influence future voting more than politicians.
2. But there is a more realistic political purpose.  For the most part, those millions of migrants will concentrate in America’s major Democrat cities and states.  They are counted as part of the census.  The more people in a state, the more congressional districts – the more congressmen.  Keep in mind that there are constitutionally only 435 members of the House.  They get distributed among the states according to population. We do not add more members as the national population grows.  It is all about the distribution of those 435.  Democrats hope to use migrants – legal or otherwise — to increase their congressional delegations in blue states relative to other states.  It is to stem the current trend of the population shifting away from solid blue states like California, Illinois and New York to such red states as Florida, Texas and the Carolinas.
3. Biden’s policy is significantly influenced by the growing anti-American radicalism in the Democratic Party.  The far-left Democrat coalition sees open borders as a positive policy … period.  Borders suggest national identity – something the far left abhors. Since the “Days of Rage” in the 1960s, there has been an increasingly influential faction of the Democratic Party that sees globalism (except corporate globalism, of course) as the new world order.  They deride American Exceptionalism as some sort of colonialism.  For Biden, it is a simple political calculus.  He could not have gotten elected without the Party’s radical left in 2020 – and cannot get elected without them in 2024.  Open borders are one of his concessions to his radical left flank.
4. America needs workers.  Perhaps the most positive result of immigration – including illegal immigration – is that it supplies much needed workers for American growth.  Contrary to much public perception, a working migrant does not take away a job from an American worker.  That is because a WORKING immigrant also creates a job through his or her purchasing power.  That is the economy in balance.  I emphasized “working” because that is not true of the migrant who goes on welfare without producing.  Immigration works best when it filters out the criminal class and those becoming part of the generational welfare problem.  Regardless, the Biden wide open border policy does help his employment and inflation numbers.  His political benefit, however, is a detriment to the American public at large.
5. Biden’s immigration policy coincides with his pro-union policies.  The idea is to produce as many migrant jobs as possible as union jobs.  Biden speaks frequently of his Roosevelt-style devotion to unionism and “good union jobs” — even though unions represent only 6 percent of the private sector worker force.

Is Biden as helpless as he claims?  Quite the opposite.  He can resume construction of the border wall at very little additional expense based on the Trump contracts and the availability of segments of the wall on storage.  He could renew talks with Mexico to reinstate Trump’s “stay in Mexico” policy.

Biden could end “catch and release.”  He could support the immigration bill that has passed the House.  He could order greater enforcement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  He could order Border Patrol to turn away or detain more migrants.  He could cooperate with border states on stemming the tide of illegal border crossers – instead of fighting them.

Biden could use both policies and his bully pulpit to make it clear that the American border is closed to illegal crossing as a means of discouraging future human caravans – and the human tragedies associated with them.  He could use his influence to encourage his Democrat allies in cities and counties to end sanctuary programs.  He could reinstate the many Executive Orders he reversed in his first days in office.

In short, Biden can undo much of what he did that caused this national humanitarian and criminal crisis to soar to unprecedented heights the minute he walked into the Oval Office.  But will he?  Probably not.  He is finagling to get past the 2024 election without fixing the border crisis he materially created and has been unwilling to fix.

So, there ‘tis.