Dem
51
GOP
49
Donald Trump said that the solution to America's immigration problems is to build a big wall, and that it's important enough that environmental considerations could be shoved aside. He was roundly derided by Democrats for this. Now, Joe Biden has decided that America's border wall (well, its border fence) needs to be fortified, enough that environmental considerations could be shoved aside. He is being roundly derided by Republicans for this.
The President is walking a very, very fine line here. On one hand, fairly or not, he is being excoriated in many quarters over border security. On the other hand, he is from a party where many voters do not like border walls, especially given the person with whom they are most associated. And so, Biden is playing the "I have no choice" card. After noting that he doesn't think border walls work, and being careful to say that the new construction will be "barricades" and not "walls," and pointing out that authorization for the money being spent on the project is about to expire and cannot be re-allocated, Biden said the construction would move forward. This was reiterated in a tweet from Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates:
"Reversal" is absolutely false.
Fact: Congress is forcing us to do this under a 2019 law.
Fact: We called on Congress to cancel these funds. They didn't.
We follow the rule of law.
Congress needs to stop delaying the effective border solutions @POTUS proposed.
Readers will decide for themselves how much they accept this line of argument. We will note, however, that it is not easy to reconcile "I had no choice" with "But I still set aside more than two dozen laws to make it happen."
Republicans, as noted, have greeted this news with derision. Not because they oppose wall-building (or barrier-building), but because they believe it makes Biden look like a flip-flopper and a hypocrite, and they want to get some mileage out of it. Leading the way, of course, is Trump, who got on his obscure, little-used social media platform to wonder: "Will Joe Biden apologize to me and America for taking so long to get moving, and allowing our country to be flooded with 15 million illegals immigrants [sic], from places unknown. I will await his apology!" Biden never takes the bait that is put out there by his predecessor, but really should consider a reply along these lines: "I shall be happy to apologize to you just as soon as you apologize to me and the American people for stealing national secrets and sharing them with... everyone" (see above).
Of much greater concern to Biden, of course, is the response of Democrats. Thus far, he's taking a lot of incoming fire from the more liberal elements of the party. For example, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) issued a statement yesterday that begins: "The Biden administration was not required to waive several environmental laws to expedite the building of the border wall. The President needs to take responsibility for this decision and reverse course." AOC later adds that the only real effect of barriers is to encourage crossings in more remote areas, which then increases the incidence of injury and death.
Anyhow, it's exhibit #329 for "Why does anyone ever want to be president?" It's too bad that Congress rarely gets the blame for border issues, since the members, with their power of the purse, have far more power over border enforcement (collectively) than the president does. (Z)