During the 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden essentially invited a surge of immigrants to the southern border. Then upon taking office, he signed an executive order halting funding for Donald Trump's border wall and essentially opened the floodgates. The result? Border crossings tripled, according to Newsweek.
Still, officials in the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress continue to insist the border is "secure." For example, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Massachusetts) made that claim last week during an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper:
Pressley: "Our border is secure, and we are in the midst of humanitarian crisis."
Tapper: "You think the border is secure? Or it is not secure? … It just seems like just such a refusal to acknowledge reality, to say that the border is secure when we all know millions of people are crossing the border illegally every year. How is the border secure?"
Meanwhile both the mayor of New York City and the governor of the state are begging authorities to get a handle on the border because the Big Apple is being overrun by illegal immigrants who chose to go there. During an appearance on CBS's "Face the Nation," Governor Kathy Hochul (D-New York), whose state has long been a sanctuary for illegal aliens, actually called for "limits" on who can come across U.S. border:
Hochul: "We want them to have a limit on who can come across the border. It is too open right now, people coming from all over the world are finding their way through simply saying they need asylum and the majority of them seem to be ending up in the streets of New York and that is a real problem for New York City …. There has to be some limits in place and Congress has to put more controls at the border."
Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, acknowledges Gov. Hochul "deserves criticism" for not addressing the problem earlier.
"But there comes a time where we have to recognize that no matter what people said in the past, the urgency is on solving the problem," he tells AFN. "There's time to point fingers and lay blame later on – but let's get this situation under control and all work together for a change."
New York City is not alone. Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Houston are bursting at the seams with illegal immigrants. Radio talk-show host Jeff Crank says when reality punches politicians in the nose, they have to "fess up" – because in most cases, they're all looking to get reelected at some point.
"Anyone who's out there saying that there isn't a crisis right now at the border, they just don't have credibility with the American people," he adds.
One of the most consistent defenders of Biden's border policies has been the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, who argues the president has "done more … than anybody else" to secure the southern border and deal with the immigration crisis.
The Center for Immigration Studies says the August 2023 numbers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection reveal a border in "freefall."
