President Joe Biden is urging Republicans to stop “weaponizing” his decision to allow several million economic migrants to cross the southern border, which he emphasized at a meeting of mayors at the White House on Friday.
“Next week, we’re gonna be able to work out something, at least in the Senate, and I’m hopeful it is going to be the bipartisan package the Senate is going to pass,” he told the attendees, adding, “Now the question is for the [House] Speaker and House Republicans: Are they ready to act as well? They have to choose whether they want to solve a problem or keep weaponizing issues to score political points against the president.”
During the last three years, Biden and his deputies have admitted roughly five million illegal immigrants, alongside about three million legal immigrants. His flood of migrants — approximately one illegal migrant for every two American births — has suppressed Americans’ wages and spiked their housing costs:
So Biden’s massive inflow has created a massive problem for his 2024 reelection campaign. For example, two polls show that more than half of Americans say his inflow can be described as an invasion. In January, a 37 percent plurality recently told CBS that migration makes the country “worse off:”
So far, there is no evidence that Biden’s deputies want to stop the illegal labor migration. For example, media reports say Biden’s deputies are refusing to curb their inflow of migrants through the emergency “parole” doorway in the border. Also, leaks last week suggested the deal will give legal approval to much additional migration above the current limits on legal immigration.
But Biden told the mayors that he wants to “solve the problem,” saying:
I want to talk about another top issue: The border. I love how [when my TV is] turned on and [I see that] “Biden is for free and open border, tear down [the wall], everybody come, no restrictions.” It used to be a bipartisan issue in this country. It should be one again.
I’ve been clear from the very beginning: The [immigration] system is broken. My first day in office, I sent Congress a comprehensive plan on immigration reform [and amnesty]. My friends on the other side have done nothing with it. Over and over, I’ve asked for resources to step up action with the border. In October, I asked Congress for funding that would add … 22,000 additional border agents and officers, hundreds of new immigration judges to make the judgments on the spot, new detection equipment to stop fentanyl from coming into the country. And, by the way, I’ve worked with China and Mexico to slow the flow of fentanyl in the United States. As I speak, it is on its way down.
So let me be clear. My team has been at the table for weeks now with a bipartisan group of senators to negotiate a deal including border because I believe we need significant policy changes, including changes in our asylum system to ensure that we have the [legal] authorities we need to control the border, and I’m ready to act … I think next week we’re gonna be able to work out something, at least in the Senate, and I’m hopeful it is going to be the bipartisan package the Senate is going to pass, God willing.
Now the question is for the [House] Speaker and House Republicans: Are they ready to act as well? They have to choose whether they want to solve a problem or keep weaponizing issues to score political points against the president.
I’m ready to solve the problem. I really am. Massive changes. I mean it sincerely.
Many other Democrats have begun declaring their determination to fix migration. Politico reported on January 17:
More than a dozen House Democrats joined with the chamber’s Republicans in backing a resolution slamming the Biden administration for its handling of the southern border in a floor vote Wednesday.
The non-binding resolution, which passed 225-187, “denounces the Biden administration’s open-borders policies” and “condemns the national security and public safety crisis” it says results from them. It was sponsored by Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas).
The GOP’s Senate leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell, is also pushing for an immigration vote next week, even though the senators have not revealed their deal to the public.
“We’ve been talking about this for a very long time; it’s time to try to act,” McConnell told reporters on Wednesday. The problem, he said, “is not going to get better, in my opinion, until you actually say, ‘We’re going to it next week.'”