News/Commentary

Biden may be forced to address border disaster as election pressure grows: report

January 5, 2024 | | Print Article

With the elections now less than a year away, it appears that President Biden and Democratic lawmakers may finally be forced to address the major migrant catastrophe unfolding at the U.S. border with Mexico and in cities across the nation.

“President Biden is under growing pressure to curb record numbers of migrants crossing into the United States — not just from the usual Republican critics, but also from Democratic mayors and governors in cities thousands of miles from the border,” according to The New York Times.

The “bipartisan demand for action” has “turned the politics of immigration upside down at the beginning of a campaign year,” The Times reports. “And it has increased the likelihood that Mr. Biden and Democratic lawmakers will approve immigration concessions to Republicans that would have seemed improbable just a few years ago.”

If true, it would mean a huge victory for Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has vowed to keep bussing migrants to so-called “sanctuary cities” until something changes.

“Texas has transported over 95,000 migrants to sanctuary cities. Sanctuary cities like NYC & Chicago have seen only a FRACTION of what overwhelmed Texas border towns face daily,” Abbott wrote on X earlier this week. “We will continue our transportation mission until Biden reverses course on his open border policies.”


The post caught the eye of X owner Elon Musk who replied, “The federal open border policy is absolutely breaking the intent of the law, if not the letter too.”

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has been thoroughly frazzled by the arrival of migrants from Texas, is now suing several bus companies used by the Lone Star State to transport them to his sanctuary city, and Biden’s Department of Justice is suing Texas in a bid to keep the state from enforcing a new law that would allow police to arrest those who jump the border illegally.

As BizPac Review reported, the overwhelming number of migrants entering the U.S. has, as of August, eclipsed the number of babies born to citizens of our nation.

Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin recently reported on X that “there have now been over 276,00 migrant encounters at the southern border in December, the highest single month ever recorded, breaking the prior record set in September at 269,735, and there are still 3 days of December left.”

“Record is being shattered,” he continued. “This new record number includes over 230,000 Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal immigrants in December, also the highest single month of apprehensions ever recorded for Border Patrol.”

“We are now at over 760,000 migrant encounters since October 1st, making the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 also the highest ever recorded. Thats a population size bigger than Seattle in just three months,” Melugin stated. “All records being blown out of the water under the Biden admin as the crisis gets worse – not better.”

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“It’s both a humanitarian and fiscal crisis,” Denver’s Democratic Mayor Mike Johnston told The Times. “We aren’t going to sit by and watch moms and 6-month-olds in tents on the streets in 10-degree weather. But by refusing to do that we are on the path to spend $180 million next year and could not do that either.”

“As mayors we are so frustrated,” he said.

What many initially saw as a “publicity stunt” by Governor Abbott has effectively brought the immigration crisis to the attention of Americans who live far from a border state.

“So far, the stunt seems to have worked, by delivering the migrants — often without coats, or family members in the U.S. — to the cities far to the north,” The Times reports.

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Republicans, The Times states, are using the border crisis to force a change in policies.

“Republicans have seized the moment to insist on new, severe restrictions to asylum and other immigration policies that Democrats have resisted for years,” according to the outlet. “Lawmakers in both parties say they want more funding for border security but so far have been unable to reach agreement on how much and what it would be spent on.”

GOP members are holding up Biden’s “top foreign policy priorities” — military aid to Ukraine and money for Israel — in a push to secure the border.

According to The Times, “the pressure on Mr. Biden is clearly having an effect on the legislative negotiations. White House officials have signaled that they are open to changes that would make it harder for asylum seekers to pass an initial hurdle, known as a credible fear interview. If that happens, more of them will be returned home more quickly.”

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who is facing calls for impeachment, is, along with other Democratic negotiators, suddenly open to discussions of rule changes that would allow illegal migrants living in the States to be more rapidly deported.

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“That would be a huge departure from the positions taken by most Democrats in the opening days and months of Mr. Biden’s presidency,” The Times notes. “But as the mayors and governors have made clear, the dynamics have changed.”

Melissa Fine
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