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Open borders activists are undermining Joe Biden

Immigration activists rally near the White House. Credit: Getty

October 20, 2021 - 5:10pm

In the 1983 movie The Big Chill, a disillusioned former public defender describes the criminals she’d been assigned to represent in court as the scum of the earth. When asked what she’d expected, she answered, “I don’t know. I just didn’t think they’d be… so guilty.”

In the same vein, the Biden administration did not seem to expect that the immigration activists it catered to during the presidential campaign (and drew upon to staff his administration) would be… so anti-borders.

The conflict between the radical demands of these immigrant-rights groups and the White House desire to avoid political catastrophe broke out into the open over the weekend. During a Zoom call on Saturday with administration officials, activists read a statement decrying the fact that the Biden administration was complying with a court order to restore a Trump-era immigration-control measure, and then staged a virtual walkout (i.e. they logged off).

The immediate cause of this stunt was a federal court filing by the administration pledging that it would be prepared to comply in November with the judge’s order to reinstate the prior administration’s “Remain in Mexico” programme. That programme required asylum seekers to wait south of the border for their hearing dates, rather than be released into the U.S., where many promptly disappear.

Biden suspended the programme on his first day in office, but was sued by the states of Texas and Missouri. Federal law requires illegal-alien asylum seekers either to be held in detention or made to wait outside the country until the resolution of their claims. Biden had been doing neither, instead simply releasing them.

But the administration’s preparation to comply with the court order was only the spark. The deeper problem is that, while the two sides agree on the goals of de facto unlimited immigration, the White House accepts the political necessity of boiling the frog slowly, lest Democrats lose control of both houses of Congress next year, and the presidency in 2024.

The president had net disapproval on immigration even early in his term when he enjoyed something of a honeymoon with the public. But as his numbers have gone down generally, immigration has led the way. A recent AP-NORC poll found just 35% of the public approved of the administration’s handling of immigration, while a Quinnipiac poll a few days later found just 25% approval on immigration.

The activist groups don’t care. One of them told Politico, “backlash will exist regardless of what they do,” an implicit acknowledgement that the Democrats are going to lose anyway, so they should go for broke now. The activists are unwilling to boil the frog slowly and refuse to utter the usual soothing falsehoods — they want the borders opened, now. The statement they read before the virtual walkout included this telling line: “We refuse to be complicit in deterrence-based border policies” — what other kind of border enforcement is there?

The maximalist demands of the Left-wing immigration groups — backed by attention-getting pranks like blocking the Golden Gate Bridge and shaving their heads in front of the White House — mean there’s no way Biden will be able to satisfy them. And their central role in his coalition, along with the fact that open immigration has become an immutable value of the Left, means he also can’t distance himself from them. And thus the immigration issue will continue to be an albatross around Joe Biden’s neck.


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

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Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
3 years ago

I was extremely disappointed when this man was voted into the presidency. Despite Trump’s bluster and inchoate stream-of-conscious way of speaking, he was an intellectual giant compared to Biden, who appears to be nothing more than a vacant sock puppet.

Last edited 3 years ago by Julian Farrows
Galeti Tavas
Galeti Tavas
3 years ago
Reply to  Julian Farrows

“this man was voted into the presidency”

Completely illegally. The vote harvesting machine is being uncovered bit by bit. Sure the recent Maricopa County Az Audit showed the ballot counts giving the win to Biden were fine, Biden got 10,457 more votes than Trump…… – BUT THAT 49,000 of those ballots were suspect:

“Here is a breakdown of those 49,718 questionable votes:

  • 23,344 mail-in ballots were counted from individuals who no longer lived at the address to which the mail-in ballot was sent. The audit called these “mail-in ballots voted from prior address” in the voter history phase. (critical impact)
  • 9,041 more ballots returned by voters than received in the voter history phase. (high impact)
  • 5,295 voters that potentially voted in multiple counties in the certified results phase. (high impact)
  • 3,432 more ballots cast than the list of people who show as having cast a vote. The audit called this group of ballots “official results does not match who voted,” in the certified results phase. (medium impact)
  • 2,592 more duplicates than original ballots in the ballot phase. (medium impact)
  • 2,382 in person voters who had moved out of Maricopa County in the certified results phase. (medium impact)
  • 2,081 voters moved out of state during 29 day preceding election in the voter history phase. (medium impact)
  • 1,551 votes counted in excess of voters who voted in the certified results phase. (medium impact)

An additional 3,587 votes were in the “low impact” category across 14 findings.”

Paul Brown
Paul Brown
3 years ago
Reply to  Galeti Tavas

Is this a actually a breakdown of a total? Or a list of numbers that need to be allocated to phases, and hence is misleading, because some numbers flow into other ones in the next phase, when the final outcome of votes cast is considered?

Helen Moorhouse
Helen Moorhouse
3 years ago
Reply to  Galeti Tavas

And there’s more to come. Jovan Pulitzer has been examining the voting paper. His report comes out in a couple of weeks.

George Glashan
George Glashan
3 years ago

Texas and Missouri have misunderstood where their power lies in this situation. Instead of stopping illegals, they need to start facilitating them. Every Illegal they catch should immediately be given a one way bus ticket that takes them to either San Fran, Portland or Washington, then those that want open borders can share in their delightful consequences.

Galeti Tavas
Galeti Tavas
3 years ago
Reply to  George Glashan

NO<NO<NO no no no. Illegals are breaking the law, they need to be expelled. As it is Biden has thousands of busses and airplanes covertly taking these illegals to all the Red States and handing them off to NGOs who get funding from Soros ilk, and inevitably Gov monies, to settle them as soon to become bought and paid Democrat Voters.

They will destroy the unskilled job market,and so the lives of native unskilled – they will cost hundreds of thousands to settle each – and in 4 years of ‘legal’ residence every one of them will be legally allowed to bring in 6 family members as ‘CHAIN MIGRATION’!

Each unskilled migrant costs more $$$$$ than is believable, and is the first link in chain migration, and then after 4 years those migrants can chain migrate their family as well….. It is the Democrats destroying USA to ensure perpetual Hard Left Government for ever.

George Glashan
George Glashan
3 years ago
Reply to  Galeti Tavas

Respectfully Galeti I disagree, when your enemy pushes you don’t push back, you pull or pivot, you want them completely off balance, then you take them down. The Republicans and democrats aren’t even pushing against each other, each is propping the other up.

Texas citizens should build a bus depot right at the border, or for an added kick of irony they could make it a railway, one that goes underground through the red states and pops up in the blue ones, let the true blue democratic states have what they say they want, open borders and unlimited immigration. thats very easy to say when your 1000 miles from the border, so let Texas bring the border to them,

Last edited 3 years ago by George Glashan
Ian Stewart
Ian Stewart
3 years ago
Reply to  George Glashan

I’m with you in that one!

George Glashan
George Glashan
3 years ago
Reply to  Galeti Tavas

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-58952867
Belarus has already learned, Texas can too.

James Joyce
James Joyce
3 years ago

First, there is absolutely no honesty in the debate. Asylum? Really? What about the doctrine of the country of first refuge? These people are taught to game the system: I was threatened by a gang. My husband beat me. Too bad, so sad. Make better choices. Fix your country. 

A Nigerian girl is sex trafficked, and she flees to Ivory Coast, Morocco, Spain, Canada, and then arrives @ JFK airport and demands asylum? Come on, mate! At some point, she becomes an economic migrant. These people are economic terrorists–not asylum seekers, not immigrants, ECONOMIC TERRORISTS! 

The left believes that the solution for all human suffering is to come to the USA. Your husband beats you in Honduras? Come to the USA! You can’t have a second child in China? Come to the USA. You’re a trafficked girl in Africa, well, you deserve to come to the USA. No you don’t!

It was so-called “dreamers” who followed Kristen Simena into the bathroom, making “demands” that borders be open. Let’s remember that so-called “dreamers” are simply illegal aliens–they should be deported. Yet they make “demands” on America. How is this possible?

Who should determine the immigration policy of the USA? Should it be the American people, through their elected officials, or should it be hordes of invaders, who keep coming, making a mockery of what is left of our immigration system? The so-called “dreamers” had a vote. They won in the House, lost in the Senate, despite Obama’s huge efforts on their behalf. Obama protected with an executive order that he said was illegal and he didn’t have the power to issue. But he raised his middle finger to the American people and did it anyway. 

I don’t want to pay for this. It costs $28K/year per student to “educate” them in NYC, more now that Biden threw Corona $ at the problem. Even if the school system did educate these people, I don’t want to pay for it. I don’t want them in NYC, in America, I just don’t want them. It is up to them to fix their own countries, solve their own problems. The world has had enough with “the white man’s burden.”

Finally, the US needs to “harden the target.” No economic terrorist in the US should get any service whatsoever unless he is bleeding. No schooling, no housing, no Tax ID number, no driver’s license, no job. Nothing. Nada. These people need to be rounded up and deported, and ALL of their ill gotten gains should be seized and given back to the American people. If someone from Honduras comes to the US illegally, makes a life, gets a house, a car, a bank account–take it all and send him back to Honduras with nothing. Nada. Only then will the message get out, and only then will they stop coming. 

Warren T
Warren T
3 years ago
Reply to  James Joyce

You, sir, are making the grave mistake of trying to insert common sense and logic in this argument. This means you are an educated and thoughtful person. I have been guilty of this error as well. The new game seems to be, “get away with everything you can get away with, while the sleeping American public giant is being gaslighted into thinking we still have laws.”
When the law does not get enforced, as with immigration, corruption, rioting, looting, burning down buildings, speeding on roads or anything else, anarchy ensues until “we the people” demand otherwise.

James Joyce
James Joyce
3 years ago
Reply to  Warren T

Culpable! This is really my issue and I have thought about this a lot. The US uses “forfeiture laws” in a truly evil way–if you are a restauranteur with a cash business, or doing something legit with lots of cash, the police can stop you, take your cash, take your car, take your house, under these “forfeiture laws.” they were initially meant to be used against massive drug dealers, but quelle surprise, they are used with almost limitless discretion. Local police even use them to take cars they like–really–and they often keep the proceeds of the cash they “seize” for “law enforcement” activities. Truly evil.
BUT, there is one use that makes sense. So much of this massive immigration is due to success stories. Julio “makes it” in America, sends back pictures, brings his brother, cousin, and soon the entire village is here. Or he builds a huge house for his parents in the village, and everyone for miles around sees the inevitability of mucho deniro in el Norte.
The only thing that makes sense is to “harden the target,” meaning make life difficult for people already here. The insanity of the system is that these invaders, gaming the system, used to run from la Migra, now they run to la Migra. (la Migra=Immigration Enforcement).
To harden the target, I propose the following: ALL economic terrorists are given 6 months to get their affairs in order and leave. Past this deadline, they are fair game. They will be found, and all of their kit will be seized, never to be given back. So hypothetically, Pedro came to the US with $5 in his pocket 30 years ago, now he has a car, house, bank account….if he is stopped he is arrested, put in the deportation process, the car is immediately seized, legal proceedings are begun to take EVERYTHING. The proceeding would be like this: Q: When you illegally invaded America how much did you have in your pocket? A: $5. OK, US takes everything but the $5. Have a nice day–in Mexico. So when Pedro returns to his village with nothing to show for 30 years in America, word will get out. This is the only way to stop these invading hordes of economic terrorists. Everything else is a pull factor.
Of course we need to eliminate birthright citizenship (beyond moronic) and stop these “do-gooder” organizations from helping economic terrorists every step of the way. I was against the border wall for many reasons–it was just a Maginot Line. Once economic terrorists got past the border, there was and is a massive bureaucracy to aid them and encourage more. They are truly evil and need to be stopped!

William Hickey
William Hickey
3 years ago

The acid test for America First in the 2024 election will be where a candidate stands on repatriation, not merely border control.

We want these invaders rounded up and returned to their home countries and we will favor a tax hike on the wealthy to fund it.

Zero immigration, 100% repatriation.

Warren T
Warren T
3 years ago

There are no countries in the world that operate under fully open borders. Why should the U.S.A. be any different?

John Hicks
John Hicks
3 years ago
Reply to  Warren T

That is a question that puzzles all democracies (other than the U.S.A. it seems) where elected representatives are sworn to enhance and protect the best interests and values of the citizens who elected them.

Tony Lee
Tony Lee
3 years ago

If we were to make a list of the things that President Biden truly understands, then apart from political survival, that might be a very short list, to go along with a very short list of political achievements worthy of note, in almost 50 years in politics. As long as the prospects for immigrants are better than where they’ve come from, words aren’t going to stop them. The US, much like the UK, needs immigrants, but only so many and only with either skill sets or as doctors, nurses etc; both places otherwise need an amnesty on unfettered immigration, for maybe twenty years.

James Joyce
James Joyce
3 years ago
Reply to  Tony Lee

With respect, I disagree with your reference to “political survival” above. Biden’s obvious physical and mental impairments make it unlikely that he will survive the week, month, year. If obvious health issues don’t get him, the 25th Amendment should. Then Filthy Kamala can be impeached and removed.

Hardee Hodges
Hardee Hodges
3 years ago

Open borders are an attempt to overwhelm and collapse the system thus create and establish a new system (Marxist). In a society that has adopted a social safety net, unlimited immigration will cause that net to collapse. The US is now in that situation of needing to support several million more new arrivals which simply adds to the national debt. But those new arrivals mean competition for less skilled labor. Few seem to appreciate how damaging this becomes to the nation. Given the current debt load worldwide, confidence in governments could end up harming the current crop of politicians. The public may not enjoy the necessary sacrifices and rise to remove those Marxist notions.

David McDowell
David McDowell
3 years ago

So do we.