Will Joe Biden continue to ignore the Mexico border when he visits Arizona?
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What an ideal week for the president of the United States to visit a border state such as Arizona.
A mass of humanity is moving across the U.S.-Mexico border, and the U.S. federal government has lost control.
That’s not an opinion.
Migrants are crossing en masse near the major ports of entry in Texas and Arizona, too many to be fully processed.
The federal government in turn is dropping them off in small Arizona and Texas towns ill-equipped and ill-informed to deal with the onslaught.
“We have come to ... a breaking point,” the Democratic mayor of El Paso, Oscar Leeser, said.
Cartels use the border surge as a distraction
Street releases now happen sunrise to sunset in Bisbee, Douglas, Naco, Nogales and Casa Grande, with little or no notice to public officials there, reports Arizona Republic reporters José Ignacio Castañeda Perez and Daniel Gonzalez.
ABC News reported on Sunday that the criminal syndicates in Mexico are pushing the waves of humanity that now overrun the border.
“I believe it’s a money-making opportunity for those smugglers,” Joe Biden’s U.S. Border Patrol chief, Jason Owens, told ABC News. “It’s a distraction for them to cross other things into the country — narcotics, fentanyl, bulk cash, weapons, people of interest, whether it be hardened criminals, gang members, convicted sexual predators.”
As fentanyl continues to flow across the border, it's worth noting that more than five Arizonans a day are dying from opioid overdoses, the Arizona Department of Health Services reports.
Border crossings near record numbers
That may get worse.
“In terms of flow and the threat that we’re seeing with fentanyl and with criminal organizations that are our adversary, it’s about as bad as I’ve ever seen it,” Owens told ABC News.
“This isn’t sustainable. Up and down the system everybody is overwhelmed. Even the government of Mexico, which has been great partners for us, the U.S. Border Patrol, a lot of times, our facilities are already over capacity.”
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The numbers are sobering.
CBS News reported on Thursday that it had obtained unpublished federal figures that show that some 140,000 migrants crossed the border in September, an average of 6,900 per day — 60% higher than the daily average of 4,300 in July.
In one 24-hour period last week, migrant crossings surpassed 8,600 people, reported CNN.
Biden's efforts to slow the flow have failed
The data show that White House policies designed to stem the flow of illegal immigration have failed.
That failure is now revealed in opinion polls, as dissatisfaction rises for Biden’s immigration policies. Sixty-two percent of Americans now disapprove of Biden’s handling of immigration, while only 23% approve, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll released on Sunday.
One of the significant changes in this year’s surge of migrants has been the distribution of pain. Big urban centers are overrun the same way small border towns historically have been.
“Much of the debate over incoming migrants is happening not in swing states or battleground suburban counties, but in some of the most diverse — and deeply blue — corners of the country,” The New York Times reports. “Some Democratic politicians have responded by adopting talking points that sound almost like they were lifted from their Republican rivals, a sign that they fear a political backlash.”
New York City’s Democratic mayor, Eric Adams, is complaining loudly about the more than 113,300 migrants who have flowed into his city since the spring of 2022.
“Let me tell you something, New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to — I don’t see an ending to this,” the mayor said on Sept. 6 at a town hall in Manhattan. “This issue will destroy New York City.”
Suddenly, Manhattan sounds: A lot like Phoenix on immigration
Chicago, Boston and Washington, D.C., are also dealing with high migrant traffic while struggling to find resources to accommodate them.
Finally, the White House gets the alarm
The alarms seem to be finally going off in the White House.
On Sunday, CNN reported that the United States has entered an agreement with Mexico to “depressurize” Mexico’s northern cities, where immigrants from across Latin America have been massing before crossing into the U.S.
Mexico has agreed to deport migrants from its border cities to their home countries and to put in place other measures to deter migrants, CNN reported.
For instance, one plan will work to stop migrants from riding the roofs of trains on their journey to the north.
I’ve always argued and always will that immigration is good for America, and that Latin American immigration has especially benefitted the United States. My own family, through intermarriage and adoption, has been greatly blessed.
But immigration cannot be a free-for-all.
How much did this chaos help Trump?
Overrun your country too fast with newcomers and you’ll damage national cohesion and create cultural divides you may not be able to control.
Today in Europe, out-of-control immigration from North Africa is provoking the rise of right-wing governments. If you’re a Democrat, ask yourself this: “How much did border chaos contribute to the rise of Donald Trump?”
Last week, the White House announced Joe Biden is coming to the border state of Arizona on Sept. 27-28 to honor the legacy and service of John McCain.
That may have been the plan.
But Joe Biden had better use this visit to “depressurize” his foolish polices that are creating anxiety not only on Fox News but in the urban centers of America.
If he fails here, Biden will soon be hearing Democrats, not just Republicans, reprise John McCain famous words ...
Phil Boas is an editorial columnist for The Arizona Republic. Email him at phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: The border is overrun. Biden can't ignore that when he visits Arizona
