OPINION:
In July 2020, I predicted that if President Biden took office and reversed most of his predecessor’s immigration policies, it would spark a dangerous and massive increase in illegal immigration and drug smuggling into the U.S. and that we would effectively “lose” the southern border. That made me a target of attacks from the left, which accused me of fearmongering and lacking evidence to support my claims.
More than three years later, it has become clear who was right.
I am in no way celebrating. We have lost operational control of our border. Within days of walking into the Oval Office, Mr. Biden intentionally took the most secure border in my lifetime and turned it into the chaotic mess we see now.
It is incredible how we went from a 45-year low on illegal immigration and a secure border to historic illegal immigration so quickly. What is even more unbelievable is that this was not because of mismanagement or incompetence but by design. This was their plan.
In a move to win the support of advocates of open borders on the Democratic Party’s far-left wing for his presidential campaign, Mr. Biden has made it clear that he would throw a giant welcome mat across our southern border for illegal immigrants. The former vice president and Democratic partisans wanted to see millions more immigrants enter the U.S. illegally and — along with millions of immigrants already here illegally — ultimately become U.S. citizens, with the expectation that they would vote for Democratic candidates out of gratitude.
It was clear to me then, just as it is now, that Mr. Biden’s position on illegal immigration isn’t about what’s best for this country. It’s about future political power for Democrats.
Unfortunately, Democrats underestimated the impact an out-of-control border would create. When you cause a crisis so big that it overwhelms the Border Patrol to the point that up to 70% to 90% of agents get pulled from the line to process this historic increase, bad things happen. That is why I tried in 2020 to warn of a dangerous rise in drug smuggling as well as a surge in illegal immigration if the Biden administration implemented its immigration agenda.
When Border Patrol agents have been removed from their national security duties to deal with this man-made crisis, it makes the border vulnerable to drug smuggling, sex trafficking of women and children, and a historic surge of terror watch suspects entering this country.
I hear many members of Congress say that they need to fund more Border Patrol agents and immigration judges to deal with this historic surge. They need to add more technology to the ports of entry to seize more drugs, and we need to put the military on the border.
I agree that we can always use more resources, but this current crisis is not a resource issue. It’s a policy issue.
Under the Trump administration, we had the same number of Border Patrol agents and judges, but we were successful in an unprecedented decline in illegal immigration. This was possible because President Donald Trump took a series of executive actions and created many policies that drove illegal immigration down to levels we haven’t seen in over 40 years. We proved it was a matter of enforcement policies, which included allowing Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to do their jobs and perform within the oaths of office they took.
When the border is secure and illegal immigration is down, it allows the men and women of the Border Patrol to be vigilant on the line and arrest drug smugglers, sex traffickers and terrorists. It allows more lives to be saved because more agents are in the fight. Meaningful policies will help fix resource problems. That is a fact that the Trump administration proved.
The “Remain in Mexico” policy, the Safe Third Country Agreement, Title 42, ending “catch and release” and holding Mexico to account were all game-changers for the Trump administration and helped create the most secure border I’ve seen in my 34-year career.
Please give us more Border Patrol agents, ICE agents, judges and military personnel. Without the right policies, however, they will just be doing more of the same: more processing and more releasing, which will only lead to more death and chaos.
• Tom Homan is a senior fellow at the Immigration Reform Law Institute and former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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