VICTOR JOECKS: Biden once opposed his current border policies

President Joe Biden’s border policies are so bad that Biden himself once opposed them.

The crisis at the southern border continues to worsen. In December, Customs and Border Patrol reported 302,000 migrant encounters. It was a record high monthly total. More than 4 million people have entered illegally since Biden took office in 2021.

It would be bad enough if the Biden administration immediately removed these migrants from the country. But that doesn’t happen. Fox News reports that its CBP sources say their release rate tops 70 percent. Many of these illegal entrants claim asylum. U.S. immigration law allows people to receive asylum for specific reasons, such as persecution in their home country. But most illegal immigrants come here for better economic opportunities. That doesn’t constitute a legal justification for asylum.

Instead of making asylum seekers “remain in Mexico,” Biden releases them into the United States. They have one year to apply for asylum, but their individual cases won’t be heard soon. The system has a 2 million case backlog and wait times are now estimated to reach up to 10 years.

During that time, asylum seekers are allowed to work and live here.

Understand how backward this is. Migrants can illegally cross the border and falsely claim asylum. While they wait up to a decade for his case to be resolved, they may live here legally. And if their claim is rejected, they join the 1.3 million illegal immigrants with outstanding deportation orders.

The border is wide open.

Not long ago, this would have triggered bipartisan outrage.

“No great nation can be in a position where they can’t control their borders,” a well-known U.S. senator said in 2007. “It matters how you control your borders. Not just for immigration, but it matters for drugs, terror, a whole range of other things.”

Further, “I don’t go for this idea of having the allowance of a significant increase — several hundred thousand people a year — to take regular jobs, particularly in the construction industry.” The increased competition allows employers “to keep the wage lower,” and “that’s not fair to Americans.”

Any guesses?

Those statements came from Biden, who was then a senator running for president. He’s not the only leftist who has flip-flopped. In a 2015 interview, Sen. Bernie Sanders decried open borders as “a Koch brothers proposal.” He warned, “It would make everybody in America poorer. You’re doing away with the concept of the nation state. I don’t think there’s any country in the world which believes in that.”

Bad news. Biden, Sanders, and the progressive left all believe that now. They want to give illegal immigrants amnesty and a path to citizenship. It’s much easier to win elections when you can import millions of future voters. And they’re eager to do so even as it hurts Americans. Biden won’t close the border even as blue-city mayors beg for relief. Amazing how so many “sanctuary” city politicians changed their tune when given a small taste of the outcomes of their policies.

Don’t take my word for it that an open border policy is a disaster. Just listen to what Biden and Bernie once said.

Victor Joecks’ column appears in the Opinion section each Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Contact him at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.