President Biden and the Border Crisis

Immigration and border security is a controversial subject in this day and age. While many believe that the United States should have open borders, others believe in enforcing immigration laws for the sake of national security. However, what most people can agree on is that the current handling of the border is atrocious, 67% of Americans disapproving of the Biden Administration’s handling of the border and only 30% approving. There has been a massive spike in immigration over the past few months. President Biden may have inherited an already growing influx of immigrants at the southern border, virtually nothing has been done to quell this and, it seems like nothing will be done in the foreseeable future, not out of apathy, but because everything regarding the border is in complete disarray.

(Scott Stantis/ Tribune Content Agency)

The current administration seems to avoid calling it what it is, a crisis. The fact of the matter is, there is a rising number of migrants entering this country and there is no humane way to deal with them. ICE has tried, and after seeing shocking videos from New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Texas Senator Ted Cruz about ICE facilities, it shows that they are overflowing with people trying to enter the country and they do not have the ability to deal with such a large number, especially trying to test for Covid and keep a safe socially distance facility. These are people, who are fleeing to a country that cannot process the vast numbers arriving and there is a backup. Our country is in the middle of a tough problem, on one hand we cannot turn them back and on the other hand we cannot randomly let people in. President Biden’s attempt at a fix came in spending $86 million for hotel rooms, which can hold up to 1,200 immigrants over 6 months, but a long term solution is needed. During this time, many suspect that a reversal of the previous administration policies are playing a major role in this surge. Former President Trump was well known for his crackdown on illegal immigration and his tough and heavily criticized policies regarding the border. The repeal of these polices mixed with more relaxed border polices may have contributed to the surge, at least according to House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, who said “It didn’t have to happen. This crisis is created by the presidential policies of this new administration.” Frankly, this administration is not entirely responsible for the border crisis, there was a spike during Trump’s final days in office and many believe that Joe Biden inherited it, there is a compelling argument to both sides, but what is true is that he has done nothing of substance to help and things are only growing worse.

(Illustration by Dana Summers for Tribune Content Agency)

Biden, however, remains optimistic that things will improves sooner rather than later, when asked he responded with “We will have, I believe by the next month, enough of those beds to take care of these children who have no place to go, but they need to be taken care of.” The big question is how can they take care of the others? Experts say that the surge has not even peaked yet and there are many more immigrants to come. Biden then put his Vice President, Kamala Harris in charge of overseeing the issue, saying that she was his “point person”, since then Harris has done nothing to address her new responsibility. She has held no press conferences, make no statements, and took no action. While it is still early, it is disheartening to see the inaction and lackluster “solutions”, especially with Covid running at higher positive test rates among the immigrants than the general US population and holding centers becoming super spreader locations and with the worst being (supposedly) yet to come, President Biden must find a way to help those who wish to immigrate to the United States safely.

Have an opposing viewpoint to this opinion?  Let us know.  All views are welcomed.  Send your thoughts to our Editorial Staff – Editor Anna Proulx aproulx@student.dean.edu or Dean Daily Faculty Advisor, Professor John Rooke jrooke@dean.edu