by Brian Lonergan
Despite the eagerness of the corporate media to soft-pedal or outright ignore the toxic consequences of his policies, Joe Biden’s job approval numbers continue to be low. And even as the fourth estate tries desperately to spin the news, one story cannot be spun and is therefore largely omitted and ignored: immigration. That’s because on immigration, Biden, his agencies, and his policies have been getting clobbered in federal courts across the land.
Since his inauguration, Biden has fared about as well in court as Michael Spinks did against Mike Tyson in the boxing ring. The latest knockout took place this week, when an Ohio federal district court granted a preliminary injunction against Biden’s orders that prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from arresting and deporting most of those in the country illegally.
While in office for just over a year, the Biden Administration has also lost cases on controversies including stimulus checks for aliens, COVID expulsions, H1-B visa fraud, lawless reentry into the country, the Migrant Protection Protocol’s (MPP) “Remain in Mexico” policy, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and removal orders for illegal aliens.
It is not the case that Biden is winless in court. In their boss’s signature hapless style, Biden’s agencies have won a few courtroom victories on immigration, but these have been in the defense of Trump policy positions. So Biden is disappointing even to the extremist anti-borders activists with whom he shares a political bed.
At stake in these cases are not inside-the-Beltway political victories, but very real security issues that affect all Americans. A recent Ohio decision addressed the administration’s practice of watering down the removal criteria for people here illegally. The results can be seen in the long-delayed Homeland Security (DHS) report on ICE activity, which showed a 48 percent drop in arrests of convicted criminal illegal aliens, 63 percent fewer deportations of those aliens, and 46 percent fewer requests from local law enforcement for ICE to take custody of criminal aliens. The undeniable result of these policies is more criminals on the streets and more dangerous communities, no doubt a contributing factor to soaring crime rates around the country.
These judicial victories over the Biden White House are necessary, as the administration has a proclivity to take liberties with how it implements laws passed by Congress as well as court orders. In the Ohio case, a brief submitted by the Immigration Reform Law Institute detailed how the language Congress used when it directed that criminal aliens be detained and removed from the country is mandatory, leaving no discretion to the executive to exempt and release the great majority of these aliens, as the administration has done. In other cases, a series of decisions have resulted in the awkward situation of the administration being told to enforce the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy that is in direct opposition to its own anti-borders agenda.
At the heart of the White House’s opposition is a series of false assumptions and misinterpretations about the immigration issue.
Chief among these false assumptions is the idea that the waves of foreign nationals seeking to enter our country illegally are akin to a hurricane, a force of nature over which we have no control but can only manage in the aftermath. Donald Trump’s policies, including a robust physical barrier at the border, the “Remain in Mexico” policy, and more law enforcement activity by ICE proved that we can greatly decrease the power of the magnet that lures people to enter America illegally.
Not surprisingly, the White House’s efforts to implement “Remain in Mexico” have been half-hearted at best. At numerous hearings on the subject, DHS officials dutifully recite the talking points about how the policy “is not aligned with this administration’s values” and pulls resources away from efforts to “address the root causes of irregular immigration.” Lost in that politically correct word salad is any sense of obligation to act in the best interest of America and American citizens.
That Biden has hit a roadblock in the courts to implement his kamikaze immigration agenda is rich with irony, as pro-illegal immigration activists filed a storm of lawsuits to counter every Trump Administration move. The Left chafes at any measure to check its power when in authority, viewing themselves as somehow above the quaint notion of checks and balances. Given the radicals running this administration, we owe it to ourselves and our children’s future to use the courts to thwart them at every opportunity.
– – –
Brian Lonergan is an adjunct fellow of the Center for American Greatness and director of communications at the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of mass migration.
Photo “Joe Biden” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
