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Joe Biden restarts construction of Trump’s wall

Immigrants cross through a gap in Yuma, Arizona (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

August 1, 2022 - 5:15pm

Two years ago, while campaigning for the presidency, Joe Biden said, “There will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration.” On his first day in office, President Biden ordered “an immediate pause in wall construction projects”.

And yet, the Biden administration last week ordered gaps in the wall to be filled near Yuma, Arizona, where huge numbers of illegal border-crossers have entered. This was simply following through on a Department of Homeland Security announcement last December that “small gaps” in the wall (left by Biden’s hasty order to stop construction) would be filled. So not only will there be additional feet of wall constructed, but they might amount to additional miles.

Does this signify a change of course on immigration by the Biden White House? Are they admitting that they were wrong, and that President Trump was right? Unfortunately not. Instead it’s a cosmetic gesture driven by the upcoming elections — specifically, the re-election campaign of Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona. In a 50-50 Senate, every seat up for election counts. If Republicans manage a net gain of just one seat in the upper house, Biden’s plans to appoint judges, and perhaps even another Supreme Court justice, will be significantly complicated, if not scuttled altogether.

Whoever wins this week’s Republican primary to run against Kelly is sure to highlight his support of the administration’s border policies. And the situation in Yuma is quite dire. A quarter-million border-jumpers have crossed so far this fiscal year, double the prior year and a 30-fold increase from the same period in 2020. Aware of this vulnerability, Sen. Kelly took credit for the DHS move, headlining his press release in response, “After Sen. Kelly’s Urging, DHS to Close Morelos Dam Gaps at the Southern Border.”

Unfortunately, the underlying policy that is causing the surge in illegal crossings in the first place remains unchanged, meaning that people will continue to infiltrate the border along all the other stretches with no fencing. Unlike all prior administrations, the Biden White House rejects the very idea of deterring illegal immigration. In a Fox News interview with Bret Baier, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said: “It is the objective of the Biden administration to make sure that we have safe, orderly, and legal pathways for individuals to be able to access our legal system.” In other words, the Biden administration is not trying to reduce the number of illegal immigrants at the southern border.

This is happening not so much because Biden is trying to import Democratic voters, as some have claimed. While administration figures would welcome any political benefits, they’re ambiguous and in any case far in the future. Instead, the administration is driven by an ideological belief that every person in the world — excepting only terrorists and child molesters — has a right to enter the United States, whether legally or not, and claim asylum, and live and work here for as long as the adjudication process takes.

This is much more alarming than if the White House were merely engaging in cynical political manoeuvres, and isn’t going to change simply because a few high-profile, photogenic gaps in the border fence are closed.


Mark Krikorian is Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS)

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Aaron James
Aaron James
2 years ago

“Instead, the administration is driven by an ideological belief that every person in the world — excepting only terrorists and child molesters — has a right to enter the United States, whether legally or not, and claim asylum, and live and work here for as long as the adjudication process takes.”

Yes… But Why? What are they doing this for? I would have liked the writer to have tossed out some theories of what the actual goal is. I think we may completely discount it is to be nice, or to make things better, or to help, and rather guess what harm they are out to achieve by this plan.

Although if that question was answered it still would be; Why? How is the harms they are working going to further what goals, and thus what it is they really want? It cannot be good.

Allison Barrows
Allison Barrows
2 years ago
Reply to  Aaron James

Because when they successfully destroy the middle class, they’re going to need a servant class.

Cathy Carron
Cathy Carron
2 years ago

Elite, liberal working women, mostly Democrats need babysitters & house cleaners. It’s that simple. The irony is that increasingly many Hispanics are voting GOP…we live in interesting times.

Last edited 2 years ago by Cathy Carron
Julian Pellatt
Julian Pellatt
2 years ago
Reply to  Aaron James

To answer your question,”Why?”
The primary duty of the nation-state democracies used to be to defend their borders and to place the interests of their own citizens (who voted them into power) above those of people from outside their borders.
Post-modernist politicians abhor the concept of the nation-state, glorify globalism and consider that all peoples of the world are global citizens with equal rights. Just consider Angela Merkel’s decision (taken without reference to her own citizens) to open Germany’s borders to admit over one million foreigners into that country within a relatively short space of time: a classic post-modernist approach. The whole EU edifice itself has been shaped by the likes of Merkel into a gigantic post-modernist entity wherein internal state borders have been abolished on the longer term road to creating a true global village without borders anywhere.
Biden is a post-modernist (insulated by his personal wealth from the consequences of his policies – like all of them), who appears to lack enthusiasm to address the problem of mass illegal immigration cross the USA’s southern border. As a consequence of post-modernist thinking the USA government apparently no longer sees protection of the border as a top priority relative to its post-modernist policy aspirations in relation to achieving global equality, diversity and inclusion.
To bring this perspective down to a personal level: Why do so many homeowners surround their properties with fences, hedges or other barriers if not to protect the integrity of their land and their families who reside within? Post-modernist philosophy would seek to ban such barriers and permit anyone to set up permanent camp on private lawns and use property resources (water, electricity, etc.).

R Wright
R Wright
2 years ago

“This is happening not so much because Biden is trying to import Democratic voters”
The author is deluded.

M. M.
M. M.
2 years ago

Mark Krikorian wrote, “A quarter-million [Hispanic] border-jumpers have crossed so far this fiscal year, double the prior year and a 30-fold increase from the same period in 2020.”

At this point in time, we cannot alter the inevitable fate: the United States will cease being a Western nation by 2040. By 2040, most Americans will reject Western culture, and Hispanic culture will dominate. In California, most residents already reject Western culture, and Hispanic culture dominates.

The Europeans must decide whether they want a similar future.

The Hungarians have decided that they want to avoid a future in which Hungary ceases to be a Western nation. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the national government has strictly enforced its borders.

Get more info about this issue.

Last edited 2 years ago by M. M.
Samuel Ross
Samuel Ross
2 years ago
Reply to  M. M.

I’ve noticed that you copy-paste this comment into every Unherd.com article that even vaguely has to do with this issue. Why don’t you write a proper article for Unherd?

Peter B
Peter B
2 years ago
Reply to  Samuel Ross

I asked him (I assume – it’s Matthew M) exactly the same question last week. Still no reply. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen any reply from him.

Ian Barton
Ian Barton
2 years ago
Reply to  M. M.

I notice that you are still using the infantile “get more info about this issue” expression. Perhaps you should migrate to a more “Twitter-like” media.

Last edited 2 years ago by Ian Barton
Su Mac
Su Mac
2 years ago

There is a big hole in this article in supplying any supporting argument of the claim that the “political benefits” of importing Democratic voters “far in the future” ? If a couple arrive illegally, with a 16 year old child say – and as we are told illegal work and illegal voter registration are not policed at all and the latter played a well reported part in the 2020 election – surely they all could be voting Democrat in a the very next election whether national or regional?
Maybe the author should also mention that Texas is now putting illegal arrivals onto coaches and relocating many 1,000’s of people to other places in the USA such at NYC, Portland and other Dem strongholds. Local Mayors and communities are up in arms at the challenge which border states have been facing for years of managing the influx and the resulting social problems. Maybe that is starting to come back to bite them…

Fred Paul
Fred Paul
2 years ago

Let’s look at something. This is the Canadian-USA border in southern Manitoba. https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1V2-jZK4pQl1vijD3CLrvvDwrnwc&hl=en&ll=48.998759169044554%2C-102.50748572225746&z=20
I can barely see a fence.
Trump caught on to a weak link in American psychology that wanted to keep America white. And he was going to make Mexico pay for it. All that talk messed things up. Why are so many people south of the border coming in? Vacation? Because we offer them illegal jobs. And we don’t punish those Americans who offer illegal jobs.
Yes, you do need a better fence than the one between Canada and the USA. And someday, Canada will build a wall to keep Americans out as the temperatures keep rising and water dries up in the south.
The long time solution is to enforce the laws in place and punish the Americans who hire illegal workers and come up with a better method to hire them legally on a seasonal basis. Also, become a much better friend of Canada because in the not so far off future, Canada will look a lot more attractive than the US. And they’re much better at building things.

Last edited 2 years ago by Fred Paul
al jones
al jones
2 years ago
Reply to  Fred Paul

The biggest deterrent would be to speedily send people home.

Dustin Needle
Dustin Needle
2 years ago
Reply to  Fred Paul

You make good points about punishing current law-breakers. Same applies to the UK, for example, Sir Mo Farah claims to be a victim of modern slavery in the UK. If that is true, then we should be hunting the slavers down rather than risk society going backwards into very dangerous territory.
We may in fact be doing all this useful work, but experience suggests we would rather do nothing other than all the emotional stuff around Mo and his ‘relief’ that the Home Office will take no action (as if they had the slightest intention).

Last edited 2 years ago by Dustin Needle