Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law states: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Although Newton was referring to the laws of motion, this is a fairly accurate description of the Biden administration’s latest immigration move. Those who support border enforcement experienced a moment of optimism when they heard the president would be visiting the border, but upon hearing the new policy he would be touting while there, they quickly realized the trip is a diversion to cover up his latest mass amnesty.
In the White House on Jan. 5, Biden stood at the podium and proudly proclaimed the United States would begin accepting 30,000 new temporary (or so Biden said) residents every month for — at the very least — the remainder of his presidency. The plan will grant parole to Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and (per a prior program) Venezuelans facing “unique challenges” in their home countries. “Unique challenges” is not a recognized category under current law for granting entry into the United States, nor does it satisfy the requirements of the parole statute. Still, the Biden administration insists that it is creating a humane “legal and orderly pathway” into the United States. Apparently, it has forgotten such a pathway already exists – it’s called a visa.
This move also upset those who advocate for allowing more people into the country through amnesty and other measures like Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ). He points out, “The administration is circumventing immigration law which will exacerbate chaos and confusion at the Southern border. While I’m glad the Biden administration will be increasing access to parole for an extremely limited number of Cubans, Nicaraguans, Venzuelans, and Haitians, this benefit will exclude migrants fleeing violence and persecution.” In other words, advocates for unchecked immigration will not be satisfied until President Biden invents a way to let everyone who wants to come here do so.
It is unclear whether President Biden, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, or anyone in the administration knew the repercussions of implementing this ad-libbed policy given all the backlash the administration has received since its declaration. You would think that when making a sweeping and possibly illegal decree, the brain-trust at 1600 Pennsylvania would have made sure this policy made sense to anyone outside of the West Wing before broadcasting it on every station in the country.
One thing immigration enforcement advocates and open border advocates alike can both agree on is that Congress should have made this decision. Not the president, who has spent the last two years subverting immigration laws and substituting them with his own politically driven policies. Once again, President Biden is illegally and unilaterally attempting to re-write immigration law, abusing parole authority to essentially create new categories for entry. Only Congress has the power to do this.
The administration’s alleged “border enforcement measure,” amounts to nothing more than a diversionary tactic to convince the public that it takes the situation seriously. So too is Mr. Biden’s first trip to the border as president – but realistically his first trip in his 50 years in politics. Why would he choose now as opposed to any other time in his political history? Not because December was a record for the most border crossings in a month, not because a Border Patrol agent died pursuing migrants this month, or because an agent got shot by a suspected human smuggler this week. He is going to cover up this disastrous new policy from the media before they talk about it all weekend, further damaging his political reputation.
President Biden does not care about securing the border, as is abundantly clear as we approach the midpoint of his term. He cares about optics, which is why he has suddenly decided to do what he has steadfastly refused to do since he took office. As recently as last month, during a trip to Arizona, he dismissed the idea of a stop at the border as not worthy of his time.
Don’t be fooled into thinking Biden is doing this because he wants to see a change in the state of affairs at the border. This trip is his calculated reaction to the anticipated backlash from his newest policy, and an attempt to convince the public that he takes the situation seriously, as he ramps up his bid for reelection.
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