President Joe Biden will visit El Paso on Sunday, nearly two years after his inauguration sparked an onslaught of illegal border crossings and just days after announcing a slew of policy changes that further weaken U.S. immigration laws.
On account of Biden’s open border policies, the U.S. has seen record-breaking numbers of illegal aliens crossing the southwest border—2.3 million in the last federal fiscal year and hundreds of thousands already in the new fiscal year, which began in October.
Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith, whose border county sits between two legal ports of entry (Eagle Pass and Del Rio) and has faced a massive influx of smugglers due to the invasion, told Texas Scorecard that “waiting for the Biden administration to suddenly enact policies that will secure our border with Mexico is just foolish at this point.”
Smith added, “A drastic policy shift such as that would contradict his public support for the open border policies he adopted from day one.”
Indeed, the National Border Patrol Council says Biden’s visit will change nothing on the ground.
Biden will get the usual Dog and Pony Show. Then he’ll leave and the madness will continue. https://t.co/rAZKkvQX1e
— Border Patrol Union – NBPC (@BPUnion) January 5, 2023
In fact, Biden recently announced that the parole programs for Venezuelan nationals would be expanded to include Haitians, Cubans, and Nicaraguans. With these additions, up to 30,000 individuals per month from all four countries will be paroled into the U.S. for a two-year period if they meet certain criteria.
“The Biden administration has engaged in illegal expansion of categorical parole programs far beyond their intended purpose,” Chris Russo, president of Texans for Strong Borders, told Texas Scorecard. “Instead of being evaluated on a case-by-case basis, President Biden has expanded this parole authority to make it almost impossible to deport illegal aliens. And to make matters worse, he has created pre-legalization parole programs south of the border to, in effect, turn our own customs agents into human smugglers.”
“Biden’s parole extension is not border security,” says retired ICE agent and border expert Victor Avila. “Parole should not be used to circumvent our immigration laws and asylum criteria.”
According to the White House, the Biden administration also “intends to welcome up to 20,000 refugees from Latin American and Caribbean countries during Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024, putting the United States on pace to more than triple refugee admissions from the Western Hemisphere this Fiscal Year alone.”
“It’s petty politics disguised as a humanitarian effort,” says Russo.
Texans across the state have been calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to utilize his constitutional authority to turn back and expel illegal border-crossers.
Concerned citizens can contact the governor’s office to register their opinions.
