Biden and Kamala aren’t on the best of terms. She stole what was rightfully his.
And now Joe Biden undercut Kamala with this move straight out of Trump’s playbook.
The Biden administration reported over 2.9 million illegal entries into the U.S. in the past year, a slight improvement from the record-breaking numbers in 2023.
While there’s been some progress in recent months, the overall picture remains grim, especially considering Vice President Kamala Harris was supposed to be the one to fix the border crisis.
Instead, the situation persists, with Harris unable to deliver the turnaround she promised when she was tasked with handling the issue.
The Border Patrol logged 106 apprehensions of illegal immigrants flagged by the terrorism watchlist this year—the second-worst year on record, just behind 2023.
Despite these alarming figures, arrests of illegal immigrants totaled nearly 1.6 million, a decrease from the prior year.
However, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers caught over 1.3 million more at ports of entry—an all-time high.
President Biden’s administration, spearheaded by Harris on this front, tried to reduce illegal border crossings by implementing legally questionable “parole” policies, pushing migrants to pre-schedule their entries with a promise of catch-and-release.
While this led to a temporary drop in arrests by the Border Patrol, these policies have been criticized as a band-aid solution rather than the robust action needed to secure the border.
Even Harris, touting the administration’s supposedly tougher stance resembling Trump-era policies, hasn’t been able to change the trajectory.
In September, arrests dropped fourfold compared to the previous December peak. But critics argue this is hardly a success story.
Troy Miller, acting head of CBP, credited increased enforcement efforts and anti-smuggling campaigns for the recent improvements.
Yet Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said Mexico’s stricter enforcement was the real reason for any progress, not Harris’s leadership.
“The Biden-Harris administration essentially outsourced U.S. border security to Mexico in advance of the 2024 election,” Stein said, adding that these measures could easily be undone by Mexico at any time.
Harris continues to point to the improving numbers as evidence of progress, but the reality paints a different picture.
The administration has simply delayed a larger crisis, with many migrants waiting for the new year and potential policy changes to make their journey.
In the meantime, other border issues are growing worse, particularly along the northern border, where Border Patrol made nearly 24,000 arrests this year—more than double last year and ten times higher than in 2020.
The last year has also seen troubling trends in criminal activity at the border.
The Border Patrol recorded about 17,000 arrests of criminals attempting to cross, up from about 15,000 in 2023 and a massive spike from just 2,500 in 2020.
Meanwhile, arrests of gang members, while dipping slightly from 639 to 523, likely underreport the true number of dangerous individuals entering the U.S.
Even with the supposed improvements at the southern border, immigration remains a potent issue for the 2024 election. At least 4 million new illegal immigrants have settled in the U.S. since Biden and Harris took office.
Former President Donald Trump blames them for a surge in crime, while Harris, now the Democratic presidential nominee, tries to tout her limited success.
But even she admits that further action would require Congress—conveniently shifting the blame for her inability to solve the crisis that she was entrusted to handle.
Stay tuned to Prudent Politics.
