Opinion | Biden’s Visit to the Border Is Bound to Be Awkward
New York TimesJan 08, 2023
The Facts
For the first time since taking office, US Pres. Biden on Sunday visited the US-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas. The US has seen 2.2M arrests for illegal border crossings in the last fiscal year.
Ahead of his trip, border agents removed hundreds of migrants, predominantly Venezuelan, who had been camping outside a Greyhound Bus station in downtown El Paso. This comes as the city saw 2.5K daily arrivals in the last week of December, though there's typically a decline in January.
The Spin
Democratic narrative
Biden arrived at the border with a plan that should satisfy criticism from his left and right. By enhancing the Title 42 process and requiring striking a deportation deal with Mexico, Republicans should be happy that migrants must wait in Mexico until their asylum hearings. Likewise, progressives should be excited about the program to allow 30K new migrants per month to obtain visas.
Republican narrative
Those who are hopeful that this visit is the start of Biden doing something to tackle the border crisis should not be fooled. If history is our guide, these 30K "temporary" visas per month are only temporary if Biden enforces them, which is unlikely given that his progressive base wants unlimited amnesty for all so-called "asylum-seekers". This was undoubtedly a calculated political stunt that does nothing but provide good headlines for the president as he enters his third year in office.
