Biden's Border Blunders

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• People were caught attempting to cross the southern border illegally 234,088 times in April, the highest monthly number in the Department of Homeland Security’s history.
• The administration has continued its bad border policies and is seeking to cut funds for immigration enforcement.
• The lack of operational control over our border is adding to the opioid crisis – fentanyl overdose deaths in the U.S. and seizures of the drug at the border have increased at similar rates. 

President Joe Biden’s border crisis continues to break records as the administration ignores the problem. During his first year and a half in office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection have encountered illegal immigrants crossing the border more than 2.8 million times. Last month, CBP caught people trying to cross the border illegally 234,088 times, the highest number in the Department of Homeland Security’s history, and more than four times the average monthly number from 2018 to 2020. Even with this, the Biden administration is continuing to try to get rid of Title 42 authority, one of its most effective border control tools.

Border Crossings and Policy Choices

Biden Ignores the Border crisis

The public health policy known as Title 42 allows authorities to turn back many of the people caught crossing the border illegally, but the Biden administration is attempting to end it. A judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the efforts, but the administration is appealing the decision. Tens of thousands of migrants reportedly have been waiting in the border region for Title 42 to be lifted. The majority of these illegal immigrants caught after Title 42 is rescinded will be allowed into the country while they go through immigration proceedings that can last years, despite promises by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that they will be “promptly removed.”

The administration has proposed taking away essential resources to enforce immigration law. In its budget request for fiscal year 2023, DHS specified cutting the enforcement and removal budget for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement by $614 million. Then, in April, Secretary Mayorkas said that he will need to reprogram funding from other DHS accounts to respond to the increased activity at the border this year. That means other functions like the Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the technology needed to detect drug smuggling could have their operational funding diverted to processing illegal immigrants at the border.

Fentanyl Seizures Track Fentanyl Deaths

fentanyl deaths track seizures on border

The lack of action on the border translates to tragedy in the heartland. Deaths from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl continue to become more common in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that drug overdose deaths reached a new record of more than 107,622 in 2021, with 71,238 of those deaths caused by synthetic opioids. The agency said there was a 15% increase in total overdose deaths between December 2020 and December 2021, the latest data issued.

Over the past several years, the amount of fentanyl seized by CBP at the southwest border has also increased. Congress passed the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention Act of 2018 to prevent synthetic opioids such as fentanyl from getting into the United States from China via the mail. As a result, Chinese criminal organizations shifted tactics and began to export chemical precursors of the drugs to Mexico, where the finished fentanyl is manufactured and smuggled into the U.S. The continuing surge of illegal migration across the border will move law enforcement agents from the border to process people apprehended by CBP. This will make it easier for the cartels to smuggle drugs like fentanyl across the border.

The human tragedy unfolding at our border is due in large part to the policies of the Biden administration. It must act to fund border security effectively, restore order to the immigration process, and be honest with the American people about the crisis it has created on the border.