Biden’s attempted border pivot has yet to pay political dividends

Republicans are keeping the border pressure up on President Joe Biden

While the Israel–Hamas conflict and chaos in the House of Representatives dominate headlines, the GOP continues to point to illegal border crossings as a Biden failure.

HOUSING DISASTER THREATENS ECONOMY IN FRONT OF BIDEN’S EYES

“In a weekend news dump, the Biden administration just announced 269,735 illegal immigrants were encountered at the southern border in September — the highest monthly total ever recorded and a cap on the worst fiscal year on record,” Republican National Committee spokesman Jake Schneider wrote in a recent newsletter. “Since Biden took office, 7.8+ million illegal immigrants have crossed the border.”

That’s consistent with messaging the GOP has pushed since Biden first took office more than 2 1/2 years ago, but it comes at an interesting time on both the domestic and the international political front.

Recent developments indicate Biden may be pivoting toward a more aggressive immigration stance.

Gregory Bull/AP

The first step came when Biden’s Department of Homeland Security announced it would build 20 new miles of southern border wall, violating the president’s 2020 campaign pledge to build “not another foot.” Biden explained that he was required by law to make the move and said he still felt that border walls were not an effective policy.

The second was a new policy that will see DHS deporting Venezuelan illegal immigrants via “repatriation” flights back to their home country.

Combined, the policy changes could signal that the Biden administration is hoping to lower the border crossing figures Republicans love to amplify each month, even though administration officials have downplayed their significance. The impact of those decisions will begin being felt when next month’s numbers are released.

Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee released a separate report this week detailing what they describe as abuses of the CBP One app, which is used to set up immigration hearings.

According to that document, 95.8% of “inadmissible aliens” who scheduled appointments via the app were issued a notice to appear and then released into the United States. Additionally, the report highlights a Washington Examiner story that details how Mexican cartels have used virtual private networks, or VPNs, to set up appointments for immigrants across the globe. The app is designed to be geofenced only to allow appointments for people in northern Mexico.

“[DHS] Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas has utterly abused the CBP One app in his quest for open borders,” committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) said. “These numbers are proof that Mayorkas’s operation is a smokescreen for the mass release of individuals into this country who would otherwise have zero claim to be admitted.”

The statements show that many Republicans remain focused on immigration even amid world events such as the Israel-Hamas war that have pushed it out of the headlines. Immigration and inflation are consistently the two issue areas where Biden performs worst.

Democrats counter that the GOP is hoping to keep the focus off of itself.

“Republicans in the House can’t take action on immigration because they can’t even find a speaker,” Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said.

Bannon further argues that immigration is a great way to fire up the Republican base but has limited effect with moderates.

“I keep thinking about the 2018 midterms, when the Republicans built the immigration issue to a crescendo and it was a complete dud,” he said. “[Then-President Donald] Trump was talking about the caravans headed to the U.S., and when push came to shove, healthcare was a much bigger concern to voters in the exit polls.”

Despite the apparent contradiction of Biden building new border wall after pledging not to, he has historically taken a stronger immigration stance. As a senator in 2006, he voted in favor of a 700-mile border fence designed to curb illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

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The president may begin hearing more about immigration again in the near future thanks to the ascension of Rep. Mark Johnson (R-LA) as speaker of the House. Johnson has visited the southern border with Trump and chided Biden for not finishing the wall.

“I think because of [immigration] they’re going to give us control of Congress again,” Johnson said in 2022. “And I can assure you that when we do, this will be among our top priorities.”