It was a week fraught with misinformation, miscommunication, and back-pedaling for the Biden administration on all things immigration. From mounted Border Patrol agents lashing imaginary whips to cattle-loading of Haitians seeking legitimate refuge onto planes back to Port Au Prince, poor optics were plentiful. And allies, well, not so much. After President Joe Biden spat out a promise that “those involved would pay,” the agents used their hard-working cowboy boots to toe a deep line in the sand and dared the knee-jerking commander-in-chief to cross it.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas also whiplashed from verbally supporting the agents and tactics they are trained to use to calling the practice “systemic racism.” On the heels of such a mess, what did the secretary do? On a weekend political news program, the man declared: “It is the policy of this administration [that] we do not agree with a building of the wall.”
Because a wall might help keep folks on their side of the border to wait their turn politely?
There’s a Hole in the Wall, Dear Liza, Dear Liza
The border wall runs several miles through a rural area east of Brownsville, TX helping to control the flow of illegal immigrants crossing the Rio Grande River from Mexico. Several places have wide gaps with no gates visible. (Photo by Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis via Getty Images)
Texas Governor Greg Abbott immediately rolled into action. Not only did he promise employment to any agent terminated by the Biden administration over the false whipping narrative but also reinforced the idea that illegals are illegal and would be arrested for trespassing. Also making the weekend news rounds, Abbott was inflamed: Mayorkas and the president “sent a message and signal to the entire world that they are not going to secure the border.”
Promising to use the services of the National Guard and Texas State Department of Public Safety – no doubt with the Rangers and local Boy Scout troops on standby — to descend on the border as necessary, the governor made his point: “The people in south Texas — they are angry,” and Texans will not put up with the Biden folks much longer. Abbott wants to be the guy to make it all better. There is an election coming up, after all, and shoring up renomination by taking on the White House’s seemingly lackluster belief in national security could gas up the SUV to go the distance in the red state of Texas.
For those not paying close attention to the wide-open borders in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, Liberty Nation’s Kelli Ballard summed up the catastrophe quite nicely:
“The numbers for August have been released by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and they are staggering. In August 2020, during the Trump administration, the CBP saw 50,014 encounters with migrants. In August 2021, the number was 208,887 – a whopping 317% increase. Going back even further during Trump’s presidency, August 2019 saw 62,707 encounters with illegals trying to get into the U.S., making this year a 233% increase under Biden’s administration. This is the second month in a row during which migrant encounters reached more than 200,000.”
Well, that’s what happens when big holes remain in the border wall – uninvited guests crash the party.
Stop Investigating and Start Doing Something
The southern border with Mexico is out of control. Finding the “root cause,” as Vice President Kamala Harris has been ordered to do, is as effective as trying to shine up a rotten apple. When Border Patrol agents weld fences, chain tires, and look for random metal fencing off-shift to plug the holes, well, something is terribly wrong. The presidential threat sent Border Patrol over the edge, and the agency flung off the scapegoat cloak to expose administrative incompetence.
Brandon Judd, the National Border Patrol Council leader, went public on Fox News, asking, “Now that the President of the United States has already said they did wrong, how is an investigator supposed to do a true and honest investigation?” Another agent told Fox News under cover of anonymity, “I see the administration wants to fry our agents. He just started a war with Border Patrol.”
In summation: Biden campaigned on an open borders policy. Then, soon after taking office, the vice president made a trip to Central and South America and spun a different tale, saying, “Do not come.” Confusion reigns. But Biden and company will never admit they created this mess, and you can’t fix anything that you don’t acknowledge. And that puts this nation in jeopardy.
~ Read more from Sarah Cowgill.
