It seems that at least once a week, we get a reminder that President Joe Biden and his team are woefully inept when it comes to dealing with the migrant crisis at the southern border. A report revealed that members of the team tasked with coming up with a solution have been at odds over the best way to handle the situation, and the infighting has even led some to resign.
Breitbart News reported:
The political turmoil born out of the Haitian migrant caravan that gathered at a makeshift camp in Del Rio, Texas, laid bare the months-long internal rift between political appointees with vastly different views on immigration.
The issue is that Biden’s team consists of both open borders advocates who wish to let in as many migrants as possible — regardless of background — and moderates who would prefer to have at least some border security. CNN reported that in September, Karen Olick, former chief of staff for Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas, and assistant secretary for border and immigration policy David Shahoulian stepped down from their positions.
The resignations occurred as tensions “have bubbled up,” according to the CNN report. A source told the network that Biden’s team has “been operating in crisis mode since day one and now there’s another crisis layered on top of everything else.”
Another told the news outlet that “there’s a sense of tiredness” and that “they’re paralyzed by the bureaucracy.”
CNN also noted:
On immigration, there’s been disagreement among moderates and progressives within the administration about how to address migrants at the border, leaving little room for solutions or decisions, according to three sources familiar with discussions.
In September, Daniel Foote, the former U.S. special envoy for Haiti, resigned over the Biden administration’s “inhumane” treatment of Haitian migrants. In his resignation letter sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, he wrote:
With deep disappointment and apologies to those seeking crucial changes, I resign from my position as Special Envoy for Haiti, effective immediately.
He also criticized the administration’s “inhuman, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees” and complained that his suggestions were “ignored and dismissed.”
NBC News reported:
State Department Spokesperson Ned Price denied that Foote’s suggestions were ignored and said there had been multiple senior-level policy conversations on Haiti where all proposals, including Foote’s, “were fully considered in a rigorous and transparent policy process.”
Sources within the Biden White House have characterized the administration’s immigration policy as disjointed and confused. An administration official told Buzzfeed News, “there is a complete lack of direction.” The person continued:
Everything is deferred to the White House National Security Council, which can’t see past low polls on immigration and are terrified their own shadow may be a pull factor. Career and political staff are equally concerned.
Another official expressed similar sentiments, explaining that “I don’t know what our immigration strategy is at all,” and that “I don’t know if we are building an infrastructure for the future, or what direction we will be going in as we head into a midterm election year.”
One of the sources indicated that the administration is “slowly making progress on policies for creating a more human immigration system while maintaining some of the most inhuman policies for asylum-seekers.”
Another source lamented the fact that the White House is “almost exclusively focused on detention, deterrence, and generally treating asylum-seekers with as much violence and inhumanity as the prior administration” and indicated they might also resign. They said:
“Honestly, I don’t know how much longer I can stay at DHS if this continues. I stayed because I believed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris when they promised to build it back better. The despair I am feeling about what they are doing now is indescribable. I can’t go on like this.”
These developments provide more perspective on why the president is failing to address the migrant crisis. He put together a team whose members are at odds with one another on questions about how the nation should enforce – or not enforce – its immigration policies.
Former President Donald Trump’s administration, by contrast, knew exactly how it wished to address the immigration issue. Members of his team were on the same page, which is why it was able to implement policies designed to discourage individuals from coming to the United States unless they had valid asylum claims or were willing to go through the legal process to enter the country.
Before and after President Biden took office, he signaled to the rest of the world that if migrants came to the southern border, he would roll out the red carpet. As Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) told me in an exclusive interview earlier this month, Biden “has put a giant neon sign on the Rio Grande that says, ‘Come on in, and you’ll get processed and be granted asylum.’”
I suppose we should be slightly thankful that Biden didn’t put together a team of open borders advocates –- because the situation would be far worse. However, the fact that he chose people who are diametrically opposed to one another on how immigration policy should be enforced was a terrible idea. But, would we expect anything different from this president?
