It's as plain as the sunburn on post-beach Joe Biden's face that the border is a full-blown and worsening crisis. It's gotten so bad that even Democrat mayors are throwing the kitchen sink at courts trying to stop the surge of migrants into their cities. Looking around at the chaos caused by the Biden administration's border blunder — deadly fentanyl, dangerous criminals, human trafficking, public health concerns, humanitarian crisis, etc. — it's apparent that things have gone catastrophically poorly under Biden's so-called "humane" immigration policies. But how did things get so bad, so fast? Here's exactly how.
In a straightforward table, House Speaker Mike Johnson released a list of 64 Biden administration actions his office identified as contributing directly to the end of American border security — though there are certainly more — along with the monthly number of illegal immigrant encounters and the amount of fentanyl seized by border agents. With this new report, Speaker Johnson makes it crystal clear how the Biden administration's policies failed and caused the border to spiral into lawless chaos.
It all started on January 20, 2021, when Joe Biden took the oath of office and immediately began using executive fiat to change America's border policies. He ended the national emergency at the southwest border, signed an order to "fortify" DACA, announced his plans for mass amnesty, and rescinded restrictions on immigrants from countries known to be associated with terrorism, among other day-one policies. That month there were 92,746 illegal immigrant encounters and 945 pounds of fentanyl were seized.
Fast forward to September 2022 — the month in which Biden reversed another Trump policy and allowed illegal immigrants "likely to become a burden to taxpayers to receive immigration benefits" including "a visa, admission, or adjustment of status" — and the number of illegal immigrant encounters had already surged to 272,338 while 1,900 pounds of fentanyl were seized.
By October 2023, the Biden administration reported 309,137 illegal immigrant encounters and the seizure of 1,700 pounds of fentanyl, as it enacted a policy to make it even easier for cartels to traffic children by implementing rules that allow unaccompanied illegal immigrant minors to be released to unvetted strangers and sponsors.
Those are just some of the detrimental policies enacted or pursued by President Biden and his administration — and some of the consequences of those policies. Team Biden also reversed asylum agreements that kept migrants out of the U.S. while their claims were considered, voluntarily stopped using Title 42 for expulsions before it expired, rushed the processing and release of illegal immigrant children, reduced requirements for background checks, released tens of thousands of illegal immigrants without notices to appear, smeared border patrol agents with lies, and began abusing the CBP One app to mass-parole illegal immigrants that would otherwise be considered inadmissible.
Despite the consistently worsening conditions at the border, literally from day one, the Biden administration has continued to loosen restrictions designed to deter illegal immigration all while enhancing incentives for migrants to make the dangerous and cartel-fraught journey to the border and illegally cross it. Vice President and Border Czar Kamala Harris and her statement of "do not come" has, unsurprisingly, failed to stop illegal immigrants and criminal organizations from continuing to take advantage of their open-border policies.
Through the implementation of these 64 actions identified by Speaker Johnson that delivered devastating results for the U.S., Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas still refuses to call the situation a crisis. And the White House, primarily via Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, continues to blame Republicans in Congress, despite the scores of harmful policies implemented by Biden while he threatens to veto any border security legislation from Congress.
House and Senate Republicans have tried multiple times since Biden took office to restore some sanity and law and order to the border, but, every time, Democrats in Congress and the Biden administration squash GOP policies then turn around and blame Republicans for the chaos created by Biden and his party.
With the worsening national security threat posed by Biden's open border, it's even more critical that the U.S. enforce its sovereignty and international border as multiple Biden administration officials and agencies report that warning lights are "blinking everywhere" and intelligence suggests foreign terrorists are seeking to exploit America's unsecured border — and an increasing number of illegal immigrants are having their identities flagged in terrorist databases.
Despite these warnings from within the Biden administration, along with cries for help from Democrat mayors, Biden refuses to correct course or entertain the idea of a policy shift. Because he refuses to acknowledge the crisis and is adamantly opposed to any accountability for his policies that created it, Biden has ensured that the border is one of the many crises of his creation that will be his legacy.
