While his policies have caused chaos, his new plan would provide a more orderly framework to handle people flooding into America — if implemented correctly.
While his policies have caused chaos, his new plan would provide a more orderly framework to handle people flooding into America — if implemented correctly.
I n the words of erstwhile Saturday Night Live travel correspondent Stefon, the world’s hottest new club is the UNITED STATES. This place has everything: Waffle House ninjas, suitcase-stealing Biden administration officials, dogs that ride buses like humans, and Matt Gaetz.
In recent years, the nonstop party we offer has attracted a record number of potential patrons to Club America. Last year, the U.S. Border Patrol reported 2.2 million encounters, up from 1.7 million the year before. In three of the previous four years under President Donald Trump, the Border Patrol reported fewer than 406,000 encounters (with a spike in 2019 up to 809,000).
There is no question that President Joe Biden’s steps to weaken immigration enforcement have caused the chaos we have seen at the southern border. That’s why, in the run-up to his trip to the border this week, Biden released a plan to significantly curtail new illegal immigration, while at the same time granting entrance to more immigrants through legal means.
Effectively, Biden’s plan allows America’s bouncer to let more people into the club, while putting locks on the back door to keep even more people from sneaking in.
Roughly put, up to 30,000 total immigrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Cuba — the nations that made up half the people arrested at the border who haven’t yet been expelled — will be allowed to enter the United States per month, as long as they have an American financial sponsor and meet a number of other qualifications. In addition, Mexico has agreed to accept another 30,000 immigrants expelled by the U.S. if they come from those four countries. If more than 30,000 people are apprehended, the excess immigrants will be processed under existing laws, which could include deportation and a five-year ban from attempting to reenter.
But perhaps most importantly, Biden has proposed extending expulsions like those that have taken place under the federal Title 42 program, which, with few exceptions, bars immigrants crossing illegally from claiming asylum. It is a program implemented by Donald Trump that Biden has tried to eliminate. But, even when Title 42 lapses, it appears Biden is now willing to tighten border enforcement if it is coupled with an expanded legal path to entry.
The plan immediately irritated both conservatives and liberals, for vastly different reasons.
For some on the right (including NR’s editors), Biden has so befouled the immigration system that he can’t be trusted to carry out the new, more robust restrictions at the Mexican border. The recent chaos at the border, said Texas governor Greg Abbott in a letter to Biden, was “the direct result of your failure to enforce the immigration laws that Congress enacted.”
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The plan wasn’t received any better by Democrats, who are concerned it will prevent asylum-seekers from reaching safety in America.
“This benefit will exclude migrants fleeing violence and persecution who do not have the ability or economic means to qualify,” said Democratic senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey. The policies are “merely an attempt to replace our asylum laws, and thousands of asylum seekers waiting to present their cases will be hurt as a result,” he said.
But even though it is basically an orphan at this point, the Biden plan would dramatically reduce the amount of illegal immigration the U.S. currently faces. If implemented correctly (and that is an “if” the size of Snoop Dogg’s weekly weed budget), the plan would provide a more orderly and manageable framework to handle people flooding into America at the U.S.–Mexico border.
Of course, if more legal options are available, fewer asylum-seekers will have to risk their families’ lives on dangerous treks through Central America to make it to the Mexico border. Along the road, they face threats from cartels, police, and starvation. With a more orderly path available, fewer immigrants will flood U.S. ports of entry.
But one doesn’t have to appeal to the human-rights angle to argue in favor of the program. America has already tried plans to allow expanded legal immigration, with great success. When Ukrainians seeking asylum began flooding the U.S.–Mexico border, the U.S. set up a “parole” system to allow them to migrate directly from Ukraine. The number of Ukrainians caught at the border then dropped by 98 percent.
Much the same happened with both Venezuelans and Haitians fleeing their countries. Between October and December of last year, border contacts with Venezuelans dropped by 90 percent after the U.S. granted them a legal entry plan. When Haitians were offered the chance to immigrate legally on the condition that they were being referred by a nonprofit organization, it spared the lives of thousands of refugees trapped in Mexico in inhumane conditions.
Such a plan wouldn’t be an “open borders” scheme, as the U.S. will have vetted those entering the country. In addition to the requirement that immigrants be sponsored by a U.S. citizen, they also must pass security and background checks, possess a passport valid for international travel, and prove they are vaccinated against Covid-19.
There wouldn’t even be anything wrong with implementing a merit-based requirement for entry. For much of American history, immigrants had to demonstrate their value by proving they were educated or had a skill to offer. There is no reason that Biden couldn’t apply a Trump-style “points-based” standard now.
And, incidentally, support for legal immigration is near an all-time high. (Ironically, it crested during the Trump years.)
Critics might say, “Well, if you take something that is illegal and make it legal, then of course there will be a drop in ‘illegal activity,’ just as if you suddenly made carjacking legal.”
But increasing legal immigration has benefits beyond merely shifting numbers around.
Getting back to the nightclub metaphor, if you owned such an establishment, whom would you want partying on its dance floor? People whom you know and trust and have vetted before entering? Or do you want people sneaking in who might be among society’s worst? Murderers? Pedophiles? People who have bought Prince Harry’s book?
Of course, this plan falls apart unless border security is bolstered everywhere outside the legal checkpoints.
“We’re going to have to stop funding a Department of Homeland Security that refuses to secure the border of the United States of America,” said GOP representative Chip Roy on the floor of the House this week. And he’s right — with a porous border, the chaos will continue.
But a cynic might wonder how truly dedicated Republican politicians are to fixing the problem given its potency around election time. Every two years GOP candidates warn of waves of immigrants coming to America to spread crime (wrong), fentanyl (wrong), and disease (wrong). If Biden truly made the immigration system better, do you honestly think 2024 hopefuls (such as Greg Abbott) would admit it or give him credit? There’s a better chance of Kyle Rittenhouse getting his own MSNBC show.
Biden’s plan isn’t perfect, and it depends on his willingness to stand up to members of his own party — which will likely end up being too much to ask. But increasing legal immigration while strengthening border security would ease the bottleneck and begin to put the “order” back in “border.” The chaos America is seeing now isn’t a reason to oppose legal immigration; it is even more reason to support it.