Joe Biden had just landed when Texas Governor Greg Abbott launched his attack on the American President. Biden was “two years too late,” the Republican said Sunday afternoon at El Paso airport, blaming him for the “chaos” in Texas. The “open borders policy” has destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of Texans.
Minutes earlier, Abbott had handed Biden a letter on Biden’s first visit to the border since taking office. In it he claims to have made five demands on the President, including the arrest of illegal migrants instead of an amnesty, the resumption of mass deportations and the continued construction of the border wall, which had been started under Donald Trump. The visit to El Paso is “just for show” if the president doesn’t act, Abbott said.
For Biden, the situation on the country’s southern border is becoming more and more of a problem. On his first day in office, he signed three executive orders that reversed parts of Trump’s restrictive immigration policy. But since then, the dispute over the issue of migration between Democrats and Republicans has escalated. Republicans deplore lawlessness on the border. In many places, migrants try to cross the border illegally, often at risk of their lives. A phenomenon that the government has not yet gotten under control.
Record number of illegal border crossings
From 1.7 million illegal immigrants apprehended in Biden’s first year in office, by 2022 there will be nearly 2.4 million – the highest number ever recorded on the southern border. About half of them were expelled, but many are trying again. The rest were allowed to present their cases; they face deportation if they are rejected.
Before leaving for Texas, Biden wrote on Twitter that the border communities embodied the “generosity of our nation.” While he added that more aid would be sent to them in the future, the comment may have sounded like mockery to many. Before the turn of the year, there was a state of emergency in the border town of El Paso. For weeks, hundreds of migrants who illegally crossed the border from Mexico slept on the streets of downtown El Paso.
In December, there was a particularly large rush at the border because the “Title 42” deportation regulation was to fall at the beginning of the month. It has been in effect since the beginning of the corona pandemic and allows people to be turned away without justification, citing the health situation. In fact, by law, anyone has the right to apply for asylum in the United States.
Judicial dispute over deportation regulations
The Biden government’s plan to actually abolish “Title 42” after a long announcement was thwarted by a decision by the Supreme Court. A group of Republican states had requested in an urgent application that the regulation be retained for the time being. The chief justices initially agreed with a majority of five to four and want to hear arguments in the case in February. Governor Abbott recalled his involvement in this legal dispute on Sunday. Biden must listen to the courts and continue to maintain “Title 42” – that should also be one of his demands on the President.
Abbott attracted attention last fall when he busted migrants to Washington and New York City in an action heavily criticized by Democrats and human rights activists. These “self-declared cities of refuge,” unlike the small border towns, have the capacity to deal with the hordes of migrants, Abbott reiterated Sunday. The President’s “illegal border policy” makes it an “open theater of war”.
During his visit to the border, Biden wanted to meet with federal, state and local officials who are “key partners in addressing the new challenge of migration.” It was initially not clear whether an encounter with migrants was also planned. Around three hours were planned for the entire visit.
A speech by the President on Thursday marked a turning point in his migration policy. In light of the tense situation on the border with Mexico, Biden announced several measures aimed at more severely punishing attempts at illegal migration and creating more incentives for legal entry into the United States. The new process is “orderly, safe and humane”. America wants to take in 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela per month for two years, who will receive work permits as long as they have entered the country legally. Among other things, they must have a financial guarantor in the United States.