After three years and millions of illegal crossings by immigrants, President Joe Biden’s failed leadership has allowed America's southern border to spiral into a humanitarian, national security and economic crisis of epic proportions.
Mexican drug cartels are profiting by funneling migrants worldwide into America. It’s a situation ripe for exploitation, with women and children subject to sex trafficking.Â
David McCormick
The chaos has helped these cartels flood the United States with deadly drugs such as fentanyl, fueling a rise in overdoses. In 2023, Border Patrol agents said they intercepted enough lethal doses of fentanyl to kill every American. Customs and Border Protection officials told Fox News that large groups of migrants are creating a distraction for cartels to move contraband like fentanyl.
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These migrants aren’t coming just from Central and South America. Thousands of single adult males from Africa and Asia are flocking to our border. More than 160 individuals on the terrorist watch list were caught last year trying to enter the country.Â
In Pennsylvania, the effects of Biden’s loose border policies are devastating. In 2022, we lost thousands of residents to dangerous drugs. Cities such as Philadelphia are diverting taxpayer dollars to handle the influx and cover health care, schooling, housing and food for undocumented immigrants.
How did we get here? This debacle lies at the feet of President Biden and Democratic senators such as Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, whom I plan to challenge in the fall election.
Just go back to Biden’s first day in office.
The president issued an executive order halting the construction of the border wall. He also reinstated the failed policy of catch and release, and ended the practice of keeping asylum seekers in Mexico.
When things began to spiral out of control, Biden refused to acknowledge the situation at the border was a crisis or change course. Biden now says he’s ready to take a tough stance, but nothing suggests this is more than a cynical election-year ploy.
The path Biden chose has been disastrous. Reversing former President Donald Trump’s border initiatives, which successfully brought illegal immigration to its lowest level in 45 years, Biden sent a signal to the world that our country was wide open. By opening the floodgates, the White House created a preventable tragedy.
What have Democrats done in response? During his 18-year career in Washington, Casey has enabled weak immigration policies that have made the American people less safe and hurt our economy.
Since Biden used the presidency’s powers to put us in this mess, Biden can use those same powers to fix it.
The White House must restore the Trump policies that worked. Biden should use every existing authority to finish constructing the border wall, direct Customs and Border Protection to enforce all border laws and terminate the ill-conceived smartphone asylum app. Biden should stop catch and release, which releases migrants into American communities while waiting for hearings. Biden should keep asylum seekers in Mexico.
Congress can and should do more. But the proposed border deal, while well-intentioned, isn’t the answer. The legislation would codify a minimum level of illegal immigration. It also would encourage more migrants to flood the border by empowering unelected bureaucrats to dole out work permits or immediately grant asylum claims without proper oversight.
Finally, there’s no guarantee Biden would enforce any new authorities granted to him, which is a significant flaw, given his track record.
Biden should work with the House of Representatives in good faith on additional bills to supplement administrative action. But none of the actions I’ve proposed in this column require new legislation — they require leadership.
The president says he’s serious about fixing the border. It’s time for him to back up those words with action.
McCormick is a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
