The White House is fine with chaos it created at the border. What's the end game?
Help me understand what the Democrats are doing at the border.
They run the show. They control the White House and the Department of Homeland Security. Immigration and Customs Enforcement answers to them.
Our Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is essentially the border czar.
What in Hades are they doing?
The border is a mass of human dysfunction. Record numbers of immigrants are being swept up this year, indicating the flow of the undocumented crossing illegally is probably many times higher than that.
We’ve known all year the border is a mess, yet at the end of the year we’re witnessing a crush of humanity at our southern doorstep that is so overwhelming that even Democratic mayors of border cities are declaring emergencies.
What is the policy that drives this mass confusion, that seems disinterested as migrants overwhelm shelters from Yuma to El Paso and beyond?
Democrats, whose socialist impulses tell them decision-making is best left to the smart people in Washington, are always social engineering. If that’s what is happening here, what’s the point?
What are they trying to achieve?
Our national policy is confusion producing mass confusion
At the moment, U.S. immigration policy seems scatter-brained, and nothing so exemplifies this incoherence than administration's management of Title 42, the pandemic-era policy that allowed the feds to quickly expel the undocumented.
A recent exchange at the White House says it all.
When a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to explain why the administration is ending Title 42 when the border is in shambles, here’s how the exchange went:
JEAN-PIERRE: "We have no choice, a court order says we have to lift Title 42 in the middle of a border crisis!"
REPORTER: "But the administration sought to lift it."
JEAN-PIERRE: "But it's a court order."
REPORTER: "Started by you guys."
On Tuesday the White House was back in court, pleading for the U.S. Supreme Court to allow Title 42 to expire. But, get this, not until after Christmas – Dec. 27, when it says its preparations will be in place.
Does anyone believe that? Does anyone believe the Democrats have a plan to regain control of the border, which they have not done since the start of the Biden White House?
Blame Republicans? Even some Democrats don't believe that
The White House blames Republicans for standing in the way of a $3 billion appropriation to manage the crisis post-Title 42. But even Democrats are calling baloney on that.
This came up Sunday, when Margaret Brennan of CBS’ Face the Nation asked U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, this question: “You represent a lot of border patrol agents. Are they prepared? How is morale?”
Cuellar responded, “Well, first of all, morale is not good, because they feel that the administration doesn't have their backs. Number one, number two, are they prepared? No, even the $3 billion that you mentioned a while ago, that money is — is going to be used for processing, is going to be used for food and shelter and transportation and migrants. It doesn't address the issue that we're facing at the border. You know, there's thousands of people are coming in.”
Arizona's senators sound off on border chaos
On Tuesday, Arizona’s two U.S. senators called for bipartisan solutions to the border crisis, reported The Republic’s Rafael Carranza.
"Right now, we're experiencing a dangerous tipping point," said Kyrsten Sinema. "The combination of an unsecure border, an overworked and underresourced Border Patrol and protection force, and never before seen levels of illegal immigration, asylum seekers and coordinated smuggling efforts, have completely ruined an already broken system."
"Our state is left to deal with crisis after crisis at the border, including the one we're facing right now, where record numbers of border crossings are straining law enforcement and it's straining humanitarian organizations," Mark Kelly said. "This is unsustainable. And a change to Title 42, to the Title 42 authority now is only going to make these challenges worse."
The White House long ago decided it would manage the border with a light touch, with little concern for the record numbers of border-crossers and the stress and expense it places on American society.
The White House has yet to answer this question about its policy:
What’s the point?
Because right now, it seems like chaos is the point. And if so, the policy is spectacularly successful.
Phil Boas is an Editorial columnist for The Arizona Republic. Email him at phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: White House is fine with chaos at the border. So what's the end game?
