President Joe Biden is reportedly set to announce new executive actions on immigration this week, which should at least theoretically come as a surprise to anyone who has heard him insist -- repeatedly -- in recent months that he has exhausted his power to unilaterally do anything about the border crisis he's caused. He and his team have been lying, quite obviously, as critics have been pointing out every time they've issued insultingly false denials like these:
He's done everything he can possibly do, you see, which is why there was no option left but for Congress to pass a flawed bill Biden suddenly decided was essential -- after causing, denying and ignoring this historic crisis for years. But it seems that excuse has now met its expiration date, too:
That's an obvious question that even remotely curious journalists should hammer away at. The White House's entire blame-shifting deflection play for months has been to claim the president lacked any authority to use executive actions to mitigate the acute problem. They've never explained why they couldn't simply undo any of the dozens of reflexive, 'not Trump' actions they took after gaining power (“we rescinded so many it would take so much time to list!”), but their explicit argument as been 'we've done everything that we can.' Suddenly, though, with the issue near the top of voters' concerns and an election fast approaching, they've found a bunch of authority. What magic. Please explain that. Here's another question: If they are conceding they can 'shut down' the border after a certain arbitrary threshold is surpassed, why can't they...just do that regardless? If they can stop this, why don't they? And it's not 4,000 per week either:
President Joe Biden is set to sign a long-anticipated executive order as soon as Tuesday that would allow him to “shut down” the southern border should crossings surge, according to four people familiar with the administration’s plans. While those people cautioned that plans are fluid, the expectation is that Biden will issue the order before heading to France in the middle of the week for a ceremony celebrating the 80th anniversary of D-Day. The order Biden is slated to announce would use section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to dramatically limit migrants’ ability to seek asylum at the southern border once encounters reach a new threshold. Administration officials have discussed 4,000 daily border crossings over the course of a week as the metric.
That's 4,000 per day, every day, over the span of a week. Which brings us to another flashback:
Does 1,000 daily illegal crossings not overwhelm the system anymore? Was Sec. Johnson lying? Where does the 4,000 number come from, policy-wise? And again, where did this authority come from? Why is 3,999 not enough to trigger the enforcement that you're admitting is possible? Will they have to answer any of these inquiries? Or are they expecting a photo-op?
And how's this for a 'meanwhile' juxtaposition?
While the Biden administration is attempting to look like it’s getting tough on the border, behind the scenes it’s operating a program of a “mass amnesty” for migrants, The Post can reveal. Data shows that since 2022, more than 350,000 asylum cases filed by migrants have been closed by the US government if the applicants don’t have a criminal record or are otherwise not deemed a threat to the country. This means that while the migrants are not granted or denied asylum — their cases are “terminated without a decision on the merits of their asylum claim” — they are removed from the legal system and no longer required to check in with authorities. The move allows them to legally, indefinitely roam about the US without fear of deportation, effectively letting them slip through the cracks.
I'll leave you with this:
“Since Trump has fallen, the democrats will leave the gates alone for another year,” reads another message. “I hope it won’t close after November. Good luck for those who will come later.”