Having neglected the U.S.-Mexico border crisis for nearly three years while tending to various domestic and foreign issues, President Biden now needs to take firm charge of immigration policy – for both substantive and political reasons.
Biden is under fire from both Republicans and fellow Democrats for a massive flow of illegal border crossers – 1.6 million this year, as of September – that Donald Trump says are “poisoning the blood of our country.” Although Democratic governors and mayors certainly reject that characterization, they are among the loudest voices saying the federal government has done too little to help them handle the tide.
There are good suggestions making the rounds for improving the situation that are far more effective and politically popular than Republicans’ punitive, all-enforcement approach, but Biden needs to advance them forcefully, visibly, and soon.
It’s not correct that Biden has done nothing about immigration, but it took him until this January to visit the border and he hasn’t been back. Most Americans don’t know that he’s distributed $1 billion appropriated by Congress to aid cities and states, and he plans to ask for more. Or that 250,000 migrants have been deported this year, including 85,000 since May, up 65% from 2022. In August, Biden requested $4 billion from Congress to expand legal pathways for immigrants and to control illegal entries.
Yet the fact remains that border apprehensions are at an all-time high – 1.75 million in Fiscal 2021, 2.2 million in 2022, and 1.65 million in 2023 (vs. 852,000 in Trump’s last year in office). And practically every Fox News show opens with video showing swarms of immigrants crossing the Rio Grande, stories about serious crimes committed by illegal entrants, fentanyl deaths, and interviews with overburdened Border Patrol personnel and border city officials.
It’s hard to argue with the charge that Biden, by promising to be “more humane and fair” than Trump, was interpreted as encouraging desperate victims of gang violence, poverty, and government corruption to brave the perilous journey to the U.S., usually having to pay unscrupulous cartels for guidance.
Many arrivals try to stay in the U.S. by seeking asylum status, a pathway designated for persons who face torture or persecution. As of last December, there were 1.6 million migrants awaiting hearings to determine their eligibility to stay in the U.S., work, get a Social Security card, and apply for a green card. Denial leads to deportation. Delay puts the applicants into limbo.
The system is overloaded. It now takes an average of five years to get a hearing and only 25,000 applicants are granted asylum each year. As a result, many asylum seekers disappear into the U.S. rather than endure the delay or risk expulsion.
The Trump administration basically sought to end the asylum program, and House Republicans passed legislation to put applicants and their children in detention while awaiting a hearing. In general, the Republicans’ HR-2 reimposes Trump policies, calling for the “prevention of all unlawful entries” to the U.S.
This February, the Biden administration proposed a two-year emergency policy designed to reduce the flow of asylum seekers by requiring them to apply in a third country as they travel to the U.S. or at a legal border point of entry. Activist groups sued and the policy was struck down by a federal judge.
GOP presidential candidates all repeat the mantra that Democrats believe in “open borders” and say they want to complete Trump’s border wall (another 1,500 miles). Still, Trump remains the most extreme. He calls for the FBI and other federal agencies to track down illegal immigrants for immediate deportation (there are an estimated 11.5 million of them), cancel legal procedures required for deportation, and use the U.S. military to invade countries harboring drug cartels. He’d also revive Title 42, the COVID-era measure that denied entry to millions of migrants.
Immigration is not the most important issue on American voters’ minds – the economy is – but, according to Gallup, it’s the No. 2 non-economic issue (after “poor government leadership”). And Biden’s approval rating for immigration is 31%, his lowest for any issue. A recent NBC poll showed that Republicans are more trusted than Democrats on “dealing with border security” by 30 percentage points – the largest margin on any issue.
Maybe Biden’s most risky action amid this situation was to agree to build an additional 20 miles on Trump’s border wall, reversing a 2020 campaign promise that “not another foot” would be added during his presidency. Luckily for him (so far) this reversal hasn’t been widely likened to George H.W. Bush’s politically fatal reversal on “no new taxes.” Biden said he had “no choice” but to spend money appropriated under Trump, but Bush also faced the necessity of finding money to close a budget deal with Democrats who controlled Congress.
So, what are the ideas making the rounds that Biden might adopt to improve the immigration system and Democrats’ standing on the issue?
One set was proposed in a paper prepared for discussion at a conference sponsored by Cornell University Law School in February, attended by 220 policymakers, experts, and advocates ranging ideologically from mid-right (the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) to mid-left (such as the labor union SEIU).
The Cornell group recommended that the federal government find and prosecute smugglers making money from immigrants, and expand legal avenues for migrants who are not eligible for asylum on the basis of threats to their safety – such as work permits allowing them to make money here where labor shortages exist and return to their home countries.
To reform the asylum program, the paper called for Congress to pass legislation making it harder for those crossing the border illegally to apply for asylum and easier for those who apply at regular points of entry. The proposal also enlarged capacity for adjudicating claims.
Another, more expansive proposal, with a political strategy included, has been circulated by longtime immigration activist Rick Swartz, founder of the 200-member National Immigration Forum.
In recent years, Swartz has advocated piecemeal reform of immigration policy, declaring comprehensive reform politically impossible. His latest proposal is a list of policy changes that have attracted significant bipartisan support in the past, though failing to get enacted.
These include allowing “Dreamers” – children born in the U.S. to illegal parents – to remain in the United States for 10 years and seek permanent residence. Also proposed is legalization of up to 2.4 million undocumented agricultural workers, billions in impact aid to communities burdened with increased immigration flows, increases in adjudicators of asylum claims to reduce backlogs, and reductions in years-long backlogs delaying completion of legal immigration processes. And his broader package proposes permanent residency for tens of thousands of Afghans emigrating to the U.S. after the fall of Kabul. Further: legalization for non-citizen military veterans, even for vets who have been deported.
Neither set of proposals includes expansion of H1B visas for highly skilled persons needed by industry to fill positions for which adequate numbers of Americans can’t be found. (Current law caps H1Bs at 65,000 a year, whereas employers submit more than 400,000 applications.) And they don’t suggest moving toward a skills-based legal immigration system such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand have. But Biden should include both.
Swartz says that immigration will be a crucial element in impending negotiations over keeping the government open. His political strategy is Senate-based, hoping to get 15 or 16 GOP Senators who’ve supported immigration reform in the past to cosponsor his ideas so they could get 60 votes in the Senate and put pressure on the House to support it.
Asked what GOP border security measures he’d include, Swartz said, “Whatever Biden can accept.” Asked what might happen if GOP senators wouldn’t sign on or House Republicans blocked it, he said, “That’s on them,” meaning they could suffer a political price for opposing reasonable reforms. As they should.
Americans remain overwhelmingly positive about (legal) immigration. And while the public certainly is exercised about the border crisis, a YouGov survey commissioned by the centrist Liberal Patriot in June gave voters three proposals on immigration policy.
One proposal, saying “People around the world have a right to claim asylum and America should welcome more immigrants into the country,” was supported by 24% of respondents. Another, “America needs to close its borders to outsiders and reduce all levels of immigration” got just 17%. The third, “America needs to secure its borders and create more legal and managed immigration paths to bring in skilled professionals and workers to help our economy grow,” won out with 59%. That option is neither overly permissive nor overly restrictive. It could be the basis of a bipartisan compromise, but Biden has to push for it – and a lot more.
Morton Kondracke is the retired executive editor of Roll Call and a former Fox News contributor. He is co-author, with Fred Barnes, of “Jack Kemp: The Bleeding Heart Conservative Who Changed America.” This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.
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