By Jason Smith
Washington Democrats would have you believe that the most pressing issue in our country right now is passing their tax-and-spend socialist agenda. Meanwhile, they continue turning a blind eye to the very crises the Biden administration has created – most notably, the crisis we are facing at our southern border.
Since taking office, Joe Biden has focused on dismantling President Donald Trump’s legacy. Nowhere has that been more true than on his immigration policies. From his first day in office, he tried to reverse critical Trump administration policies that helped improve our border security. Leading Washington Democrats have described policies that secure our border as ‘inhumane,’ ‘barbaric,’ and even ‘racist.’ For them, any effort that stops a migrant from freely entering our country is too much. It’s why the Democrat Party has become the party of open borders.
On day one of his presidency, with a stroke of his pen, Joe Biden made clear to anyone who was thinking about coming here: America will not enforce immigration laws under his administration. With each Executive Order, Joe Biden has dismantled any notion that his administration prioritizes deterring illegal immigration and securing our border. In fact, since the beginning of his presidency, 1.4 million migrants have entered this country illegally – and over 120,000 of those were unaccompanied minors. As you read this, a caravan of as many as 4,000 migrants are marching through Mexico on their way to the United States.
In the face of this unprecedented surge of illegal migration, you would expect that the administration would be focusing daily attention on it. But instead, the Biden administration has been MIA. Joe Biden hasn’t been to the southern border as president. His Vice President, Kamala Harris, who he tasked with addressing this problem, has focused little attention on the problem – and according to the Los Angeles Times is concerned about her lack of an “all-star portfolio.” It would be comical if it weren’t so incredibly serious. The Biden administration’s refusal to deal with the border threatens the integrity of our country.
It’s not just their unwillingness to secure our border that makes the Biden Border Crisis so bad. It’s also their policies actively encourage migrants to make the journey, under the mistaken belief they will be granted citizenship and allowed to stay permanently. They included full amnesty – all the way up to citizenship – in their socialist tax and spend bill. They have made clear that they will provide taxpayer-funded benefits to any illegal immigrant who successfully makes it into the country. And just recently, the Wall Street Journal reported the Biden administration is planning to pay $450,000 to illegal immigrants who came here during the Trump administration. Sheer madness!
It’s also not lost on millions of hardworking Americans whose jobs are currently being threatened by Biden’s vaccine mandates and economic restrictions that the Biden administration is letting unvaccinated migrants into the country. The double standard is appalling and it undermines so many Americans’ trust in their government!
If there’s one bit of positive news, it’s that the courts are not letting the Biden administration completely open our borders. After the Biden administration rescinded the Trump administration’s Remain in Mexico policy, a court blocked their action and the Biden administration is being forced to reimplement the policy in November. This is a commonsense policy that fixes a major loophole in our immigration system – namely that migrants shouldn’t be given the right to live in America while waiting for their case to be decided.
From my position as Republican Leader of the Budget Committee, I’m fighting every day to reverse this administration’s disastrous policies. We exposed the fact that they broke the law and canceled legally valid contracts to finish construction of the border wall, wasting precious taxpayer resources and leaving major stretches of our border completely exposed. Please trust that I’m going to continue pushing back with everything I’ve got against this administration’s effort to open our borders.