President Biden Still Playing Games at Border with New Proclamation

Over three years of border madness the White House has remained stubbornly allergic to the idea that illegal aliens are arriving at the border and claiming asylum as a pretext to gain entry and work authorization in the United States. This denial of the basic truth driving the crisis has poisoned every enforcement effort attempted. The latest, much delayed, Biden Border Proclamation is being sold as closing down the border, but just like his other attempts at enforcement, he inexplicably swallows the entire effort in exemptions. 

This is a very familiar pattern for the President. The Biden Administration issued a rule empowering Asylum Officers (AOs) to unilaterally grant asylum to illegal aliens at the border. The government claimed this would speed up processing and lower backlogs of those waiting years for asylum adjudication. So they thought creating an asylum express lane would reduce numbers. Spoiler alert: this rule has not even gone into effect because it is unworkable (for various reasons). 

Another example is the so-called “Lawful Pathways” rule which purported to block asylum access to illegal aliens that failed to schedule their appointment ahead of time. Interestingly, this regulation is chock full of exemptions, caveats, carve-outs, and options for discretion that it is difficult to determine any aliens to which it would apply. Obviously we know this failed as the border is still so bad that Biden has had to issue yet another solution to the mess he made.

So it is no great surprise that the latest border proclamation suffers the same fatal flaw. President Biden begins great by saying entry from the border is suspended. This is what he said he could not do for 3 years, but late is better than never every time. For posterity, President Biden claimed full authority to close the border. 

But after the beautiful opening chords, this proclamation begins steadily opening the border right back up bit by bit by bit by bit by bit. Do yourself a favor and find a way to believe in anything the way this Administration believes in their own immigration hype. So first of all, the border will only be “closed” in certain times if certain metrics are met and only applies to aliens as determined by the impeached Secretary Mayorkas. 

So the border is not closed, but when it is closed surely it is closed for everyone, right? I know I must avoid rhetorical questions, but I cannot help myself. Biden exempts UACs from this enforcement scheme. These are unaccompanied alien children that are routinely exploited in the United States under the neglect of Biden. 

Biden also exempts illegal aliens that use his app and ask for parole and employment authorization. This is tens of thousands of illegal aliens exempt from the border “closure.” Keep in mind we have had multiple UAC surges over the years. Look for another UAC surge if this is implemented. 

On top of a myriad of exemptions for specific groups of aliens, the proclamation lays out massively broad exemptions that could apply to any alien. These exemptions grant impeached Secretary Mayorkas discretion to exempt any alien encountered for essentially any reason he sees fit. Reading these exemptions, the effect of the Biden proclamation is to suspend the INA and make impeached Mayorkas dictator of the border. 

By the time you reach the end of the proclamation, the opening about suspending entry at the southern border is obliterated by exemptions. To understand how they can be this obtuse you must return to the concept of denial. They are in denial that the border presents a real problem for the American people. In fact, they believe the opposite. They are in denial that the surge is based on economic migrants abusing loopholes in our system, like asylum. They believe they are all bona fide asylum seekers and treat them as such.

What is happening and has happened at the border is the result of deliberate policy choices by this Administration. The outcome is designed. They believe this immigration policy has helped reduce inflation. Impeached Secretary Mayorkas has bragged in Congressional testimony that the immigration surge will help fill labor shortages. And we all have heard their repeated sermons about how we are a nation of immigrants and immigration enforcement is immoral. 

The only thing this proclamation effectively does is prove once and for all that the Biden Administration has deliberately created the crisis at the border to further its policy goals. That is why every attempt at enforcement is undermined by exemptions and caveats. That is why they cannot credibly increase deterrence. Deterrence is not the policy goal. Nothing will change until deterrence becomes the word of the day.