Upon taking the Oval Office in 2017, President Donald Trump began the arduous task of rescinding many of the previous administration’s reckless policies and edicts. A campaign promise to stop illegal immigration by canceling “Catch and Release,” beefing up U.S. Border Patrol officers, and building a “big, beautiful” wall was critical to the 45th president’s early success. He accomplished much of this by diverting $17 billion from the Pentagon. Mr. Biden is now rescinding Trump’s national security decisions. A tit-for-tat practice of political one-upmanship with no regard to adding to the burden and suffering of Americans residing along the southern border.
Biden spoke with NBC News after what seemed 100 days in exile to claim he was the sad heir of “one god-awful mess at the border.” The president continued to blame the biggest mess at the border since the Alamo on “the failure to have a real transition — cooperation from the last administration, like every other administration has done.”
Perhaps because “every other” administration passed the political hot potato until Trump grabbed it, peeled it, and mashed the damn thing, bringing relief to Americans on the southern border. Despite pearl-clutching and handwringing from the left, illegal crossings were down – and significantly.
Not A Great Showing So Far
On January 20, 2021, Biden issued an order to pause construction on the border wall and direct his minions to create a new “plan for redirecting funding and repurposing contracts.” He pledged it would be “within 60 days from the date of this proclamation,” which came and went. But now, Mr. Biden revels in the dismantling of security once slated for the Mexico-U.S. border. Jamal Brown, deputy Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement: “DoD has begun taking all necessary actions to cancel border barrier projects and to coordinate with interagency partners.”
Biden also reappropriated some cash to two new projects along the 1,900-mile U.S.-Mexico border. The first is to repair the Rio Grande levee system created by the wall construction and then on to California to address soil erosion. But what about the surge at the border? Liberty Nation’s Andrew Moran reminds us what is at stake:
“Illegal border crossings spiked 173% in February from the same time a year ago. Even the most conservative estimates – factoring in recidivism, omitting field office encounters, and concentrating on Border Patrol data – confirm what Republicans are handwringing about: There is a crisis at the southern U.S. border.”
Alarming numbers that once seemed stymied until Biden was declared president.
Partisan Tag – You’re It
Republicans have pleaded with the new administration to complete what was started by President Trump. That all but seems impossible in today’s political divide. And no one seems to care about border-town residents begging the White House to complete Trump’s promise of a more secure border. In March, 40 Republican senators asked the Government Accountability Office if Biden’s pausing construction and redirecting funds violated the Impoundment Control Act. A stipulation was created in 1974 prohibiting the executive branch from withholding funds for policy reasons.
“Having a secure, defined border is important to our national security [and] public health efforts,” Sen. Jim Risch {R-ID) tweeted. Risch, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member, continued his pressure: “This is an ill-advised decision at best.”
Perhaps in attempting to rid his palate of the taste of Trump, Biden is wildly overreaching in his alleged plan to unite the nation. But there will be, soon enough, an answer from GAO, confirming their participation in investigating whether Biden needs to dial his punitive case back a bit.
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Read more from Sarah Cowgill.
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