How Biden’s Promises to Reverse Trump’s Immigration Policies Crumbled
President Biden has tried to contain a surge of migration by embracing, or at least tolerating, some of his predecessor’s approaches.
In January, President Biden visited the southern border. Mr. Biden's handling of immigration has become one of his most serious potential liabilities, with surveys showing widespread unhappiness among Americans with how he handles newcomers.Credit...The New York Times' Doug MillsShear, Michael D.
Reporting from Washington, Michael D. Shear
Oct. 6, 2023
When Joseph R. Biden Jr. ran for president, immigration was a straightforward way to portray Donald J. Trump as a racist, and it helped to mobilize Democrats with the promise of a more humanitarian border policy.
Nothing worked better than President Trump's "big, beautiful wall" along the southern border. Its existence was a metaphor for America's internal polarization as well as a largely ineffectual barrier against foreigners fleeing to the United States from Central America.
"There will not be another foot of wall constructed," Mr. Biden declared as he campaigned against Mr. Trump in the summer of 2020.
However, a large wave of migration in the Western Hemisphere has thrown the dynamics of a problem that has tormented presidents for decades into disarray, significantly altering the political demands on Mr. Biden and his administration. Rather than being the president who rapidly reversed his predecessor's decisions, Mr. Biden has repeatedly attempted to limit the migration of a record number of people — and the political repercussions that has resulted — by embracing, or at least tolerating, some of Mr. Trump's anti-immigrant stances.
Even the wall, it turns out.
On Thursday, Biden administration officials formally requested that environmental laws be waived to allow the building of up to 20 miles of border wall in a heavily populated area of Texas. The action represented a startling reversal on a political and moral issue that had previously rallied Mr. Biden and Democrats like no other.
The money for the wall were approved by Congress during Mr. Trump's presidency, and the president declared on Friday that he had no authority to prevent their use.
0 Comments