Harris Spins a New Border Tale
Category: Op/Ed
Via: vic-eldred • 3 months ago • 18 commentsBy: The Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The U.S.-Mexico border on Friday was the latest stop on Kamala Harris’s reinvention tour, and defending her record there will take more than a smile and shifting blame. She criticized Donald Trump and Republicans for rejecting a bipartisan Senate deal, as we did at the time. But as usual she blew past the steps that she and President Biden failed to take for more than three years as illegal migrant border crossings surged to record levels.
The Vice President chose Douglas, Ariz., for her border speech, hoping to convince swing-state voters that she’s serious about reducing the flow of migrants. The visit represents a shift to Plan B after the failure of her first strategy, which was to dodge the issue. Her campaign spent the first weeks after she gained the nomination telling the press that President Biden had never named her “border czar.”
But residents in border towns like Douglas aren’t likely to forget how security has unraveled on her Administration’s watch. More than 10 million migrants have been apprehended nationwide during the Biden Presidency, with a peak of 3.2 million last fiscal year. That compares with about three million in total under President Trump. The nearby chart tells the comparative story.
Democrats blame the surge on problems the White House had little power to fix, like the worldwide spread of Covid and disarray in countries such as Venezuela and Haiti. But Biden-Harris policies kept the border valve open while those forces built pressure.
The Administration signaled its openness to migrants in its first week when President Biden said he’d cancel Title 42, a policy Mr. Trump used to expel border crossers before they could claim asylum. The next month Mr. Biden moved to end Remain in Mexico, another Trump practice that kept migrants south of the border while they awaited legal entry.
The pace of migration rose again last year when Title 42 was finally ended after years of litigation, and the Administration had failed for two years to enact another deterrent. There was plenty of tough talk; Ms. Harris told Guatemalans “do not come” in 2021, and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said “the border is closed.” Yet Mr. Mayorkas backed away from several policy restrictions, such as requiring all migrants to seek asylum in countries they cross en route to the U.S.
Ms. Harris now says all this is moot because Mr. Trump and Congressional Republicans shot down a bill that would have boosted border security. The plan, which collapsed in February, included a higher standard for asylum claims, and would have halted claims once crossings surpassed a weekly average of 5,000 a day.
The bill would have helped at the margin, assuming the Administration had enforced it—and doubts about the latter were part of the political rub. Since the spring, the Administration has required migrants to claim asylum only at ports of entry, and border crossings have fallen sharply. The President had this authority all along but was unwilling to use it for fear of offending his party’s left wing.
This record of failure has been especially frustrating for anyone who favors generous legal immigration, as we do. The surge of migrants and its spread of fiscal, housing and law enforcement woes has soured public support. See the nearby story on the burden faced by Whitewater, Wis., population 15,000.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales this week that, as of July 21, “there were 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories on ICE’s national docket,” detained and non-detained. This plays into the hands of border restrictionists.
Ms. Harris says it’s possible to have both border security and a humane immigration system. That’s true, but that requires an Administration willing to enforce the rules. President Biden hasn’t.
Ms. Harris says she will, and we’d like to believe it. But even after the last three years, she refuses to call the Biden policies a failure. If she won’t admit that now to win over swing voters, why would she risk the left’s wrath once she’s elected? It takes a great leap of political faith to believe she won’t revert to Biden form.
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On top of everything else, Harris couldn't have picked a worse time to highlight the border crisis:
ICE Deputy Director Patrick Lechleitner sent a letter Wednesday to U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, saying as of July 21, there were 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories on the agency’s non-detained docket (NDD), meaning they are not detained while they await immigration proceedings.
“Of those, 435,719 are convicted criminals, and 226,847 have pending criminal charges,” Lechleitner wrote .
The letter was sent after Gonzales in March asked the Department of Homeland Security for data on migrants with criminal backgrounds. Gonzales is a member of the GOP-led House Homeland Security Committee.
“The data released by ICE is beyond disturbing, and it should be a wake-up call for the Biden-Harris administration and cities across the country that hide behind sanctuary policies,” Gonzales said Friday. “It’s time for Washington to move past rhetoric and toward results. Americans deserve to feel safe in their communities.
ICE released over 435,000 migrants with criminal convictions, data shows | Border Report
NO SANE COUNTRY WOULD VOTE TO PUT THIS WOMAN INTO THE HIGHEST OFFICE
No sane person would vote to put a convicted felon rapist traitor scumbag into the highest office.
The Report from ICE
As soon as Trump is defeated Congress will pass and President Harris will sign the long needed immigration reform bill negociated by Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma. This will provid the manpower and resources needed to address long needed reforms. We would already be half way there if Trump hadn not squashed it.
Whether Harris wins or loses in November, she will immediately revert back to her radical positions.
Friggin' hilarious - "I won't only bring back the border security bill that Donald Trump tanked" - and 'member Cackles, that Joey, you and his mafia were PUSHING for Billions of dollars to be added to the "bill" for the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. That's why Trump "tanked" it.
And, Cackles, we believe you worked so hard at not showing up or offering any assistance. Just ask the Chair "But Lankford said that reviving this year's border security deal s not so simple and accused Harris of being absent on the issue.
"She also said that she and Joe worked on it together with conservatives, and she was never in a single one of the negotiations," Lankford said in an interview. "Four months of negotiations — she or her staff were never in a single negotiation."
I mean, of course all of us down here in the SW knows damn well you never made it to the border 3 years ago as your "Daddy", little Joe, told you to do as the new Czar of border control.
Typical Dem/Lib BS just keeps-on-rollin' on.
This. . . comment makes little to no sense. For one thing: There is no "border czar' and definitely not a new one.
Cut and Paste?
Always - never an original comment.
Just like you.
Fox News Anchor Reminds GOP Senator That Trump Killed His Border Deal
Many Republicans were against the deal on the merits. Only 3 Republicans wanted it.
All Joe had to do was leave the Trump border policy in place.
So far we have many talking points but no actual facts, HR 2 was a border bill that passed the house. Anybody have a Senate Bill? anybody? you can't kill something that doesn't exist.
Here is a link to the House Bill Actions - H.R.2 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): Secure the Border Act of 2023 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
Anyone have a link to the Senate bill? I have linked Senator Lankfords page of all Bills he sponsored or co-sponsored, can someone point it out? James Lankford | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
Great point! Why didn't Biden & Harris get behind HR 2 ?
Kamala went in on 90 executive orders that reversed Trump’s Border Policies and now she’s showing up there like OJ looking for the real killers.
Tell me she arrived in a white Bronco!
The Harris/Walz campaign should get out there and accent the positive of immigration. That is, for all the negative 'clowns' acting out; there has got to be MORE positive individuals and families that are a positive ADDITION to the country and this should be proudly stated.
Of course, some trumpists won't state anything positive about. . . immigrants that are 'brown.'
And oh by the way, with immigrants you get what you get and can't go around picking the 'best' out without getting some problems too! As everybody should know those 'bad apples' will wash out through the system anyway. It is the nature of 'bad actors' to be. . . well, bad soon enough to be determined by all!
ACCENT THE POSITIVE HARRIS/WALZ CAMPAIGN ON IMMIGRATION/IMMIGRANTS!