Yesterday marked what, at least on the surface, looked like an abrupt about-face for President Biden when it comes to the border crisis he created shortly after taking office. He hosted a meeting in the East Room at the White House with mayors from around the country of both parties to discuss their concerns over the flood of illegal migrants in the country. After the meeting, Biden shockingly took a couple of questions from reporters, including one where he was asked if he still thought the southern border was “secure.” Amazingly, he simply said that it was not. He then said, “I’m ready to act,” referring to Senate legislation that would allegedly improve border security. Unfortunately, it remains unlikely that he will do anything of substance. (NY Post)
President Biden told reporters Friday that the US-Mexico border is not secure — contradicting Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — after endorsing “massive changes” in immigration policy.
“No, it’s not,” Biden said when asked whether the frontier was secure following remarks to a bipartisan group of mayors in the White House East Room.
During his speech, the 81-year-old Biden said he hoped for Senate negotiators to announce a compromise next week on border policy as part of a broader $106 billion supplemental spending request that would also finance military aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
Yes, he’s “ready to act.” As in put on a performance. Biden spoke of “massive changes” to border policy that would allow us to ensure “we have the authorities we need to control the border.” We shall see what, if anything happens this week and I truly hope I’m wrong about this, but there seems to be little reason for optimism. We’ve been watching this disaster unfold for three years now and a leopard rarely changes its spots overnight.
One good hint was seen when Biden, after declaring that he was ready to act, asked if Speaker Johnson and the House Republicans “are ready to act as well.” You’ll notice that he didn’t include Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans. He only focused on the House GOP. He is clearly referring to the expected “deal” being cooked up by McConnell and the Senate Democrats. We broke down the as-yet unpublished details of that deal last week and it stinks on ice. Biden is already walking a tightrope over this issue because the Democrats are fuming over the tiny concessions to border security being discussed.
That deal is nothing but a transparent effort to get the next huge funding package for Ukraine approved. It asks the GOP to give up nearly everything while offering little more than a fig leaf in return. Besides, this entire discussion ignores two important and obvious points. First of all, the House already “acted” by passing HR-2. That would accomplish much of the border security work we need, but both Biden and the Senate Democrats have flatly rejected it.
Biden also expects us to ignore the larger reality underlying this debate. He doesn’t need the House or the Senate to do what needs to be done. There is no need for a deal of any kind. Joe Biden undid all of Trump’s border policies with the stroke of a pen (something he previously seemed to enjoy doing) and he could put them back in place tomorrow precisely the same way. He knows this, or at least he used to and his handlers still do. He’s simply choosing to ignore that reality and put on this theatrical display instead.
Joe Biden has no intention of actually closing the border and removing the eight to ten million illegal aliens he’s allowed into the country on his watch. He’s just maneuvering to get that Ukraine money approved, caring more about Zelinsky’s borders than our own. This situation will not be resolved until we manage to get a new president in place who is willing to do the hard work that’s required to clean up Joe’s mess. And that can’t happen soon enough.