OPINION:
In a Friday victory lap to show that their policies are working, the Biden administration revealed that there were 156,274 border encounters last month. The White House proudly noted that the new numbers reflect a sharp drop after the 251,978 illegal aliens encountered in December — which marked a record at the border.
These border numbers, however, do not represent a sharp decline in illegal immigration, as the Biden administration claims. Rather, the figures demonstrate a transparent effort to mask the border crisis through illegal programs that allow inadmissible aliens to enter the United States by other means.
As the unprecedented numbers of migrants crossing our southern border have become a political liability for the administration, they have essentially moved tens of thousands of illegal entries a month off the books by allowing them to enter under a massive and clearly unlawful parole scheme.
The president’s new program to parole 360,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans a year into the United States violates both the spirit and the letter of the law, which requires that it be exercised only on a case-by-case basis and in some compelling national interest. In this case, the only compelling interest is the president’s desire to make the crisis seem less severe as he kicks off his reelection bid.
In addition to this illegal parole program, the Department of Homeland Security has developed an app that allows migrants to notify Customs and Border Protection of their intent to file an asylum claim — the vast majority of which have no merit — and then be allowed to enter the country pending a hearing on those claims, years in the future.
Even with these newly devised schemes, it’s worth noting that the number of migrants encountered at the southern border illegally remained at historically high levels. Not only is 156,274 higher than last January and double the number encountered in January 2021, but it is also the highest January ever recorded.
No matter how the White House tries to spin what we saw, last month did not see a significant drop in illegal immigration. Rather, it was illegal immigration dressed up to appear legal under an illegal assertion of executive power by President Biden and his administration.
Don’t be fooled.
• Dan Stein is president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
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