The Texas Border Debacle. Does the Biden Administration Have an Agenda?

Migrant children in camps in TexasMike Blake, Reuters

A few key things have emerged that are indisputable over the last six months since Joe Biden took office. One of these is that the Texas Border immigration policy is rapidly turning into an epic fail of monumental proportions. Thousands of children are now being ‘imprisoned’ in supposedly temporary conditions, in military-run encampments, away from the prying eyes of the public and the media.

Readers should note that some may find the content in the video linked below disturbing. It is a recent BBC report on one of these internment or holding camps at Fort Bliss, in El Paso, Texas.

According to a WOLA article, there were already 17,056 unaccompanied migrant children in U.S. government custody as of March 24, 2021. Facilities are only designed to hold 13,200 children. Their projections for the month of March itself looked even bleaker. You can see their latest report on the detention of unaccompanied minors here.

WOLA Statistics of Unaccompanied Minor Children seeking asylumWOLA

Now, in the last two days, four Texas sheriffs, their counties (Kinney, Edwards, McMullen, and Hudspeth), and ICE representatives have sued President Biden and officials as the Department of Homeland Security for preventing federal officers from deporting illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds.

Kris Kobach, the former Kansas secretary of state and the lead attorney for the plaintiffs told the Washington Examiner on Friday;

“The ICE officers involved in this case are absolutely astounded at what their superiors are asking them to do: releasing people charged with rape of a child, releasing people charged with dealing drugs and resisting arrest. These are really serious criminals, and ICE is being ordered by the political leadership of the Biden administration to turn them loose.”

Customs and Border Protection have reported a staggering 930,000 illegal immigrant encounters at the southern border since January — over 180,000 of which came in May alone. 

The Biden administration's border policies on immigration are rapidly turning the Texas/Mexico border into a free-for-all. Children are paying the heaviest price, with unaccompanied minors, the same children that are shown in the video above, now allowed access into the US.

The huge influx of these children has overwhelmed the system and threatens to destabilize the entire border region and social services networks in Texas if not address as a matter of urgency.

In truth, Biden has in many ways exacerbated the problems created by the Trump regime, as can be evidenced in this Guardian article from three years ago, and rather than dismantling mechanisms, has expanded on them.

How did we get here?

Since Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, presidents from both political parties in America have steadily increased the number of border patrol agents and instituted harsher punitive measures for immigration violations. Examples of these policies include Ronald Reagan’s Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and the Clinton-era Prevention Through Deterrence strategy.

In effect, none of these policies, even those promoted by Donald Trump, have been much more than political pandering to support bases, and have had little to no effect on the actual number of illegal immigrants entering America. 

Both Democratic and Republican politicians and presidents have been playing the game, with Democrats like Clinton and Obama still framing the issue as one of “security”, tainting immigrants to appeal to the moderate Republican vote. In his 2013 State of the Union Address, Obama said;

 “real reform means strong border security, and we can build on the progress my administration has already made — putting more boots on the southern border than at any time in our history.

Then in 2017, the Trump administration entered the fray. Here’s a quick overview of how his administration addressed the Southern borders and the issue of migration.

• An executive order called for the immediate construction of a wall across the U.S.–Mexico border, the hiring of 5,000 new border patrol agents and 10,000 new immigration officers, and federal funding penalties for sanctuary cities (cities offering refuge to illegal immigrants).
• A ‘zero tolerance’ policy was put in place in 2018 which legally allowed children to be separated from adults unlawfully entering the United States. This is justified by labeling all adults that enter unlawfully as criminals thus subjecting them to criminal prosecution.
• Attorney Jeff Sessions released a decision that restricts those fleeing gang violence and domestic abuse as ‘private crime’. This effectively rendered them ineligible for claiming asylum. The ACLU has officially sued Jeff Sessions along with other members of the Trump Administration, claiming the policy violates human rights and established immigration law.

Fast forward to 2021, and a new administration, this time Democrats, under President Joe Biden. Unlike Donald Trump, Biden is a seasoned politician, having spent most of his adult life in politics and serving a four-year tenure as Obama’s Vice President.

It is worth mentioning these facts as it establishes a clear history for Biden in terms of immigration policy and its effects. He’s no rookie and this isn't his first rodeo. All of which makes the current situation in Texas all the more difficult to fathom.

Is Texas Caught in a Political Game of Cat and Mouse?

Rather than express my own opinion on the escalating border dispute in Texas, I’d like to pose a few questions for readers to consider. Few have clear answers, but the situation demands they be asked and answers sought.

Texas will play a critical role in the path to the White House for Republicans in 2024. It is arguably one of the states they can least afford to concede, but it is also historically a really difficult state for the Democrats to gain a foothold.

How would you ensure your Republican opposition in a State fails to attend to the basics, critical for any party’s reelection? Issues like schooling, electricity grids, basic services, and security. An obvious tactic is to divert their attention elsewhere.

Creating a crisis that consumes their time and attention and chips away at these basic services would seem logical and a politically astute move. The southern border may represent just such an opportunity and by opening the flood gates, Texans may very well be the pawns Democrats are sacrificing in a gambit for victory in the state in 2024.

Who will suffer most as a consequence of the current border policies? Immediate and most obvious are the immigrant children, existing in an apparent moral vacuum and exposed to concentration camp-style internment better suited to serious criminals and terrorists. If anything, these camps are simply a breeding ground for future acts of retribution against America.

Next in line are Texans themselves, as burgeoning immigrant numbers place unsustainable strains on child protection services, schools, and a host of other services. 

What effect will the influx of known criminals have? Increased drug trafficking, organized crime cartels, and serious strains on local law enforcement across Texas will be an almost immediate consequence. Left unchecked in a permitless carry environment for handguns, this alone could spell doom for Governor Greg Abbott’s Republican administration.

There may very well be an alternative explanation for the current chaos developing on the Texas border, but Biden would argue that their administration is in fact highly competent and in control of the major issues affecting America. History agrees, suggesting he knows the score.

Facts and evidence however suggest a completely different truth in Texas, which brings us back nicely to the questions I have raised above. What is the real agenda driving Biden's immigration policy in Texas?

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