One of the two former officials said Biden is sending a political message but not one that is based in logistical reality.
“You can’t shove back 8,000 migrants a day without the Mexicans’ approval,” the former official said. “What you would create is frantic surges in the weakened parts of the border.”
Vulnerable parts of the border have previously included remote areas of Arizona, such as Lukeville, and Del Rio, Texas, where over 10,000 Haitians massed in 2021, overwhelming the resources of Border Patrol.
Another former official said some Customs and Border Protection rank-and-file agents and officers are upset that Biden would talk about “shutting down” the border because it could lead to more turmoil and not a solution.
“It seems to be strictly political,” the second former official said. “CBP and Border Patrol are pretty upset at this point.”
First off, before I get called a racist or conservative, my wife is an immigrant and I’m liberal as fuck.
There actually is a crisis at the border. Of course the GOP is playing this for points, but it’s real this year. Can’t find up-to-date numbers, but a lemming recently posted a government source and it was something like double the number from 2022. Our government is simply not geared to take on 1M+ extra immigrants.
You can see some numbers here: The number of immigrants turned away or apprehended at borders reached 2.8 million in FY 2022, the highest number since at least 1980. Note the spike in the accompanying graph.
I have nothing to back this, but my guess is that potential immigrants are thinking “Get to America now in case Trump becomes President again.” Put yourself in their shoes. I’d be scrambling to get my family in before the door slams shut. Wouldn’t you?
It’s a fucking mess. We’re trying to get her youngest son over here and listening to her talk about regulations and paperwork sounds like a foreign language. FFS, it may take years, and may never happen if Trump gets back in. So yeah, there’s a real crisis here, there are millions trying to push their way in because even legal immigration may get stymied.
I agree that something needs to be done, there’s not infrastructure in place to handle this sort of flow of people, but I think most people’s issues has been with Texas’s handling of the issue. Death traps in the rivers and razor wire are not okay, stealing peoples children during the Trump Era was not okay either.
Biden said he’d shut the border down but apparently lacks the ability to do so. I’m not exactly a knowledge expert on the border crisis, I believe my original point of this not being a move to sway Republican voters still stands.