Biden’s Late About-Face on US Immigration Policy Is Just as Dishonest as Republicans’ Criticism

The American president is showing resolve against illegal immigrants — but the election maneuver is far too transparent and doesn’t solve the problem.

At last! Finally, the president acts and stops illegal immigration on the southern border. Democratic strategists wanted voters to have something like this reaction after President Joe Biden issued an executive order that allows for temporary closure of the border to illegal crossings. Under Biden’s presidency, the number of illegal immigrants has risen sharply. It has been continually at a level three times as high as during Donald Trump’s presidency. In party strategists’ ideal world, voters would now breathe a sigh of relief and still give the president their vote — because, after all, he has now solved the problem.

But the reality is different, for three reasons. With his order, Biden is projecting outward toughness. If the plan is actually implemented, scores of migrants at the border will be deprived of the opportunity to apply for asylum in the U.S. That defies legal tradition in the U.S. and is only possible thanks to (shaky) legal exceptions. That is exactly the first problem with the order. Lawyers are sure that appeals will be filed against it. It is probable that the order will be thrown out or limited by a federal court, just as was the case with similar executive orders from Biden’s predecessor, Trump.

The Democrats Are Divided

The second problem is the political credibility of Biden’s about-face. Didn’t he sharply criticize Trump’s harsh immigration policies in the 2020 campaign? Didn’t he promise to display humanity at the border — and thus motivate millions of hopeful migrants to undertake the arduous journey north? And why did Biden watch the exploding numbers of illegal border crossings for three years before finally acting? It is far too obvious that his latest move is motivated by election strategy.

The third problem: Biden has a structural issue when it comes to the immigration question compared to Trump. Whereas the latter knows that he has the party standing united behind him, Biden has to keep considering the left wing of his party and the traditionally strong voting block of immigrants. In his 2020 campaign, that led him to make incautious statements which, after he won the election, put him in a bind as border crossings exploded. Trump, by contrast, can make unabashedly harsh statements against immigrants without damaging his image or dividing his party. He made clear in his term what can beexpected from him, and the bare immigration numbers are clear. So, it is likely that Biden’s about-face will neither stop the flow of migrants nor dramatically improve his chances of reelection. His advisers in the White House know that, too, of course. But fear of scaring off their own voters on the left with even harsher measures holds them back.

Republicans Are Also Maneuvering

For this reason, Republicans are pouring scorn on Biden’s turnaround and declaring that he thus has confirmed his own failure during the last three years. But they, too, have a serious credibility problem.

Most recently, at Trump’s bidding, they torpedoed legislation in May that had been put forward jointly by Republican and Democratic senators to provide for more legal and financial measures to fight illegal immigration. With it, they would have made good in part on a problem from Trump’s administration, which cut funding for immigration offices and courts and thus increased the asylum backlog. But Trump is clearly not interested in an effective asylum system.

It’s far too obvious that, with his veto, Trump wanted to keep the unsolved issue of immigration relevant for the election campaign. Even Republican strategists should be a little concerned about what voters end up thinking about this cynical calculation.

Stricter Asylum Legislation Is Necessary

The large-scale immigration at the southern U.S. border is obviously the product of economic factors. The clear majority of migrants do not undertake the long, dangerous journey through multiple Central American countries because it is only in the U.S. that they can obtain protection from political persecution or from other immediate threats to their lives. They will do anything to get to America because the country and its overwhelmed asylum system offer the potential of a long-term stay and construction of a more attractive economic existence.

According to government statistics, only about a fifth of migrants receive political asylum or another form of legal residency. However, it usually takes years until a verdict is reached. Thus, there are currently 2.4 million asylum cases pending in U.S. courts.

This form of immigration will not decrease substantially until the border is more tightly closed to it. The main thing needed is not a wall, which Trump promised eight years ago and only managed to build piecemeal during his presidency. What is needed is stricter asylum legislation with fewer opportunities to appeal and enough money and personnel and judges to effectively implement it and to quickly deport asylum seekers whose claims are denied.

For that, new legislation is needed in Congress, but the two parties are blocking each other. The tragedy of the immigration question’s politically motivated intractability is likely to continue because both parties continue to benefit from it.