On Oct. 5, the Biden administration finally acknowledged a problem it has long denied and made the strategic decision to construct 20 miles of border wall in and near Starr County, Texas. According to the report written by Alejandro Mayorkas, United States secretary of homeland security, announcing this initiative, the “Rio Grande Valley Sector is an area of ‘high illegal entry.’” In fiscal year 2023, the Border Patrol encountered more than 245,000 entrants attempting to cross the border in the Rio Grande Valley Sector. Already, though, there is a disjointed message coming from the White House about the motivation behind this construction: Mayorkas says that the wall is necessary while Biden has claimed that the money cannot be reappropriated.
While the situation at the border appears alarming to many, Biden’s administration has seemingly ignored it for a long time. This rhetoric is consistent with Biden’s pledge that “not another foot” of border wall would be built under his leadership. This promise, which so far has been kept, has resulted in record numbers of migrants pouring across the southern border. In response, Texas Governor Greg Abbot confronted the administration’s inaction by busing migrants to various liberal cities, including Los Angeles and New York City. In a statement, Gov. Abbot said, “Until the President and his Administration step up and fulfill their constitutional duty to secure the border, the State of Texas will continue busing migrants to self-declared sanctuary cities … to provide much-needed relief to our small border towns.” Abbot’s tactics are genius: He is responding to the administration’s foolish approach to the southern border by effectively turning woke liberal cities into border towns, ultimately driving traditional liberals over the edge and stirring their frustration at the administration. And before you accuse Abbot of being inhumane, remember this: Many of the migrants are going to cities like N.Y. of their own free will. The migrants are taking advantage of a 1970s lawsuit that ended with a settlement “in which New York City agreed to provide housing for every man who seeks it,” according to Muzaffar Chishti, senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute. Kudos to them for exposing N.Y.’s poor federal leadership loophole.
This crisis is due to failed leadership at the federal level. ‘Border Czar’ Kamala Harris has done nothing but focus on the supposed “root causes” instead of taking tangible steps to address the surge. Biden and Mayorkas are in denial. The result: the overflowing-with-homeless-migrants Roosevelt Hotel in N.Y.C. and the construction of massive tents on kids’ soccer fields on Randall’s Island. New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul asked the Biden administration for assistance and support as the Roosevelt Hotel continued to worsen. The Biden administration has done largely nothing but deflect blame for and willfully disregard the crisis at our southern border. Enough is enough.
The Biden administration has taken a very passive stance on this situation. Biden and Harris have barely spent any time acknowledging the crisis, and demonstrate this by dodging questions related to the border posed by the press. The administration needs to shift gears and take a more active role in addressing the crisis.
The announcement on Oct. 5 regarding the border wall should be just the beginning. The federal government should follow Gov. Abbot’s lead: he has begun installing a floating barrier on and along the Rio Grande to deter migrants. Instead of being sued by the Justice Department, the government should support and expand such initiatives. Furthermore, the government should be assisting cities like L.A. and N.Y.C. in any way necessary including fast-tracking approvals for migrant shelters, providing instantaneous funding and closing the border. The border needs to be closed to prevent any more illegal entries into the country.
The administration’s rhetoric on the border needs to change. Americans are burned out and frustrated with how things at the border are being handled. According to a Global Strategy Group swing-state poll, 58% of voters disapprove of how Biden is handling immigration. The poll further showed that voters trust Republicans more than Democrats to address the crisis at the border since they discuss it more frequently. Capitol Hill needs to step up and fix this. Bipartisan measures need to be enacted. Matt Gaetz, “the Squad,” Hakeem Jefferies and more all need to put their personal ambitions aside and come together to resolve this issue.
The cost borne by Americans is material and unnecessary. Repurposing university housing (in Lowell, Mass., by the way), school gyms and soccer fields to house migrants is disruptive for both the migrants and the prospective users of those spaces. At this point, I am not surprised. Biden has shown us time and time again that he puts America and Americans last. He shows us when he chose to deplete the Strategic Petroleum Reserve instead of drilling for oil and natural gas to combat inflation. He shows us when he blames the failures of the Afghanistan withdrawal on Trump instead of admitting that he embarrassed us on the world stage. He shows us when he fails to act on the border crisis.
