President Joe Biden has suddenly rediscovered executive authority over border security as a deal with Republican senators to address the border crisis falls apart.
On Wednesday, NBC News reported that the president is considering some executive action to “stop illegal immigration from crossing the southern border.” This marks a surprising shift in policy for a president who has enacted some of the most lenient border security policies in the nation's history. Nation.
Since the moment he took office as president on January 20, 2021, Biden has made significant efforts to appease his leftist base's desire for open borders and unfettered illegal immigration. The devastating effects of these policies are well documented, including astronomical numbers of illegal border crossings, fentanyl smuggling, and strained infrastructure in border areas and elsewhere.
However, 2024 is a new year, and it will be the year in which Mr. Biden will face voters in his bid to win a second term. And of course, an election year calls for new policies to reduce election vulnerability, which means Biden will need to rethink border security policy.
Immigration is Biden's biggest weakness with voters.Recent economist/A YouGov poll found that just 33% of voters approve of Biden's handling of immigration, the lowest rate among those surveyed. This is likely a major factor in Biden's lead over former President Donald Trump, 44% to 43%, in the poll's predicted rematch. Other polls show Trump with a lead of up to 5 points.
Biden's reversal of attitude on the border is nothing more than an election ploy. President Trump has always made border security and immigration central to his policy goals, and voters know it. Mr. Biden, seeking to avoid resembling Mr. Trump in any way, has pushed for wide-open border policies, which has had a huge negative impact on his approval ratings.
But now that his attempts to negotiate border security with Republicans in Congress have failed, Biden is looking for ways to create the illusion that he wants to tackle the issue. For a president who has long insisted that Congressional action was needed, it is surprising to acknowledge that he actually had the authority all along to address the border crisis simply by enforcing current law.
In fact, this is what Republicans have been saying for months. Biden could reverse President Trump's safe border policies by executive action, and Biden could reinstate them by executive action.
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But this newfound presidential power is not the result of Biden's sudden change of heart from his open borders strategy. And even if Biden is re-elected, don't expect any of these new border security policies to last.
Rather, we should expect a continuation or expansion of the open border policy that has characterized his presidency thus far. Any effort by this open-borders president to limit the flow of illegal immigration in 2024 is an election-year farce.