As the 2024 presidential sweepstakes get into gear, the issue of illegal immigration threatens to gain traction and overwhelm the Biden campaign. Photo Credit: AFP/Mandel Ngan via Getty Images.
As the 2024 presidential sweepstakes get into gear, the issue of illegal immigration threatens to gain traction and overwhelm the Biden campaign. At the beginning of his administration, President Joe Biden decided it was imperative to end many of former president Donald Trump’s border controls. As a result, this past year, numbers indicate that 2.5 million people crossed the border into the USA illegally. That number stood at 1.6 million throughout the entire Trump presidency.
Undocumented aliens are now pouring through America’s southern border. While the Biden administration, many of its officials, and various Democratic lackeys try to ignore the facts, the crisis exists, the problem is growing, and the situation will not resolve itself without better policy enforcement.
Governor Greg Abbott of Texas has authorized the Texas National Guard to enforce the laws the Biden Administration refuses to execute. Abbott, Governor of Texas since 2015, has watched the border mess since the days of Barack Obama when the former president faced an influx of border crossings.
Upon Trump’s ascendancy in 2017, the border issues heated up because the new administration sought to enforce stricter control, threatened to build a wall, and believed the nation required a border as part of its national integrity. Regardless of the success Trump had managing the challenges of reducing illegal immigration, Biden, beholden to the progressive wing of his party, flipped most Trump actions, and the results have been deplorable for the incoming crowd and the nation.
In response to the flow of illegals in El Paso and other border towns in Texas, Abbott began to experiment with sending some of the newcomers to so-called “sanctuary” cities (Jurisdictions that have declared themselves welcoming centres for those fleeing ICE – Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Since last year, Abbott has sent about 80,000 border crossers to cities like New York, Chicago, and other northern locations to alleviate the pressure on the small towns and villages being overwhelmed in his state. Abbott, desperate to get the Biden Administration to begin enforcing federal laws, also wanted to expose the hypocrisy of governors and Democratic mayors who claimed they would welcome all people whether or not they were entering legally.
He also hoped that the stress placed on these Democrat-run states and cities would motivate them to ask the White House to start applying immigration laws at the border. His actions have revealed the enormous problems at the border, but in attempting to deflect the issue back to Abbott’s lack of good faith, these Democratic leaders have tried to blame Abbott while admitting Biden could be doing more.
Controlling who comes in and out of the country legally represents a principle adjacent to national sovereignty. For political reasons, Leftists have determined that individual human rights and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusivity) supersede a nation’s responsibility to prosecute lawbreakers, including those who cross into the country illegally.
The dangers for any nation abiding by this canon can be seen in the streets of most Western nations today as newcomers hold protests about the War in Gaza, capitalist profiteering, or other imported Leftist causes. As it applies specifically to the illegals coming in, a web of problems develops. Many of these illegals are smuggling people and drugs. The fentanyl and opioid crisis arguably exists because of Biden’s open border policy.
United States Customs and Border Protection government websites state: U.S. Customs and Border Protection is entrusted with and committed to carrying out its homeland security missions. Part of that includes stopping deadly fentanyl, synthetic drugs and precursors from entering the country. Just two milligrams – the size of just a few grains of sand – is a lethal dose. According to the CDC, more than 150 Americans each day – around 55,000 each year – die from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. And yet, the efforts to clamp down on this and illegal entries escalated after the start of 2024.
Abbott became fed up with Biden’s lack of engagement and called in Texas’ National Guard reserves to start doing the job federal officers would usually do. On Dec. 18, 2023, the governor signed two immigration bills designed to deal with the increasing numbers of illegal entrants at the Texas border. “SB3 will allocate more than $1.5 billion for border security measures, while SB4 makes it a state crime to cross into Texas from Mexico illegally,” reported Channel 5 NBC out of Dallas-Fort Worth. The station also said, “SB3 sets aside $1,540,000,000 for border security measures, including for constructing new border barriers – and to help pay for Texas cities to enforce the other new border law, SB4.”
Quoting immigration attorney Haim Vasquez, “It creates a criminal charge for crossing through the Mexico-Texas border undocumented at any moment at any time.” SB4 will make it a misdemeanour offence to cross into Texas without documentation. The new law will allow police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and state troopers to arrest people they suspect illegally in the US.
None of this sits well with Democratic leaders. Their response to Abbott’s actions, however, beggars common sense. In the latest act of political suicide, the Biden Administration, not content to refuse to enforce federal laws at the border, has decided that Texas and Governor Abbott should not enforce them either. In a head-scratching move, the Biden Homeland Security Department has launched a suit against Abbott and his administration. Taking aim at the governor and the state of Texas, the suit claims, “Its efforts, through SB 4, intrude on the federal government’s exclusive authority to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens, frustrate the United States’ immigration operations and proceedings, and interfere with U.S. foreign relations. SB 4 is invalid and must be enjoined.”
Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said, “SB 4 is clearly unconstitutional. Under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and longstanding Supreme Court precedent, states cannot adopt immigration laws that interfere with the framework enacted by Congress. The Justice Department will continue to fulfill its responsibility to uphold the Constitution and enforce federal law.”
This duplicitous display of outrage suggests that the federal government will not enforce the law, and if a state chooses to do so, the federal government will demand it to stand down. Ignoring the constitution has led to impeachment of previous presidents. Biden looks as wobbly on the law as he is on his feet.
The polls reveal Biden’s weak position as the election cycle ramps. No issue generates more frustration than immigration. Biden’s numbers tank on immigration. Various polls reveal his low approval, including a CBS poll released on January 9th that showed his disapproval of the immigration issue at 70 per cent. Other surveys reveal his overall approval as low as 33 per cent. These are not re-elect numbers.
If Biden continues to subvert immigration law, slavishly indulge his progressive wing, and provide respite for illegal drugs, he will set the stage for Republican gains this fall in Congress and the Senate. Furthermore, his neglect of fundamental constitutional duties will disqualify him from the office he presently holds and return to the White House the man he claims threatens democracy.
Dave Redekop is a retired elementary resource teacher who now works part-time at the St. Catharines Courthouse as a Registrar. He has worked on political campaigns since high school and attended university in South Carolina for five years, where he earned a Master’s in American History with a specialization in Civil Rights. Dave loves reading biographies.
