Biden’s Border Crisis Deepens
Leaks within the Biden Administration are further complicating an already complex issue.
“Exclusive: How Biden botched the border,” revealed Alex Thompson and Stef W. Kight for Axios this week.
Their report began with an anecdote from a January 2023 meeting between President Joe Biden and some of his staff members aboard Air Force One.
“The president lit into his team, which included then-Deputy Chief of Staff Jen O’Malley Dillon, Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall and other immigration officials,” began Thompson and Kight. “He demanded obscure immigration data points — and vented when his staff didn’t have them handy.”
The anecdote was revealing in several important ways, not least of which is the fact that multiple unnamed leakers were listed as sources for the article.
“The previously unreported meeting, recounted to Axios by three people familiar with the events, is emblematic of the Biden administration’s struggle with the border crisis during the past three years — infighting, blame-shifting and indecision,” the authors continued.
“The rolling chaos along the border has grown to the point that Biden now is embracing immigration policies he ran against in 2020 — such as restricting asylum laws and suggesting he’ll ‘shut down’ the border — as the crisis threatens his re-election,” noted the pair.
“The crisis grew slowly,” they admitted. “Many administration leaders treated the issue like a hot potato because it was politically thankless, several sources in and out of government told Axios.”
“As the humanitarian conditions at the border have deteriorated and the politics surrounding immigration have become a thorn for Biden, he becomes scratchier when the issue comes up, according to current and former aides,” revealed Axios.
Though Democrats assiduously avoided talking about the border for the first three years of Biden’s presidency, that strategy is no longer working.
Now, various unnamed sources and spilling the innermost workings of the Biden Administration — and airing a certain amount of dirty laundry in the process.
“There was — and still is — deep animosity toward Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra for what was seen as his reluctance to find more space in child migrant shelters, which are overseen by HHS, according to several sources familiar with the dynamics,” dished Kight and Thompson. “Rice referred to Becerra as a ‘bitch-ass’ and privately called him an ‘idiot,’ according to multiple sources.”
“During one meeting when Biden was tearing into Becerra, Rice passed Mayorkas a note that read: ‘Don’t save him,’ according to two people familiar with the meeting,” they continued.
The leaks must be incensing Biden still further — and at a time when Democrats are enduring much blame over the border issue.
“Democrats are rushing to fix their failed sanctuary city and open border schemes,” accused J.T. Young for The Hill last week.
“America is in the throes of an undeniable illegal immigration crisis that continues to break records under Biden,” Young fumed. “Illegal crossings over the southern border in December hit 250,000, 31 percent higher than November’s number (119,112) and 13 percent over December 2022’s total, which had been the previous record.”
“There is a direct line from Democrats’ policies to America’s current illegal immigration crisis,” expressed Young, in a common sentiment.
Efforts to pin the crisis on Republicans have thus far failed to move the issue in Biden’s favor.
“Biden Faces Blame for Border Crisis, Swing-State Voter Poll Shows,” revealed Josh Wingrove and Gregory Korte for Bloomberg last week. “Six in 10 swing-state voters say President Joe Biden bears responsibility for a surge in migrants at the US-Mexico border, a downbeat signal for his reelection prospects as Republicans largely avoid blame on the issue, a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll found.”
It’s bad news for Biden.
Can his administration solve this crisis and prevent further leaks?
Or will this issue lead to defeat in November?
(contributing writer, Brooke Bell)
