by Dale L. Wilcox
Since the Biden Administration assumed power in January, many Americans could be forgiven for feeling like they’re being held hostage, tied up in the trunk of a car, and driven to a place they do not want to go. Nowhere is this more evident than on the immigration problem, where Biden has reversed numerous policies that kept American safe, and it seems he has done so for no other reason than because Donald Trump is the one who put them in place.
Because he is beholden to the radical Left for his ascension to the White House, Biden predictably has adopted the usual anti-borders agenda including catch-and-release, demoralizing ICE, and defunding border wall construction. His expected next move, the reversal of Trump-era rules to prevent the spread of COVID-19 into the United States, is nothing short of political sabotage.
While COVID-19 may be on the decline in the United States, thanks in large part to the Trump Administration’s work on Operation Warp Speed, the same cannot be said for many of the poverty-stricken, underdeveloped countries from which those who most often show up at our doorstep originate. Just as our nation is turning the corner on a deadly global pandemic, it makes absolutely no sense at this moment to ease up on health restrictions on foreign nationals seeking entry. Only someone with Machiavellian political motives would propose such lunacy.
The Biden White House will try to frame this issue as one of compassion towards migrants and will attack the purported xenophobia of anyone who dares oppose them. This is preposterous and a cynical attempt to distract people from the elephant in the room. How does this policy benefit America and its people? What are the risks to those people by admitting potential COVID-19 carriers into the country? Based on the conduct of this administration so far, it is doubtful these questions are even considered in the Oval Office.
It is because of this shameless neglect for the American people that my organization, the Immigration Reform Law Institute, is serving as outside counsel for the state of Texas in its lawsuit against the Biden Administration and various federal agencies. A central question of the suit is the damage caused to Texas by this administration’s ill-advised COVID-19 policies at the border.
Simply put, Biden’s border policies are in violation of federal law, and they are causing catastrophic damage to the state of Texas. Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general, has said that, COVID aside, illegal immigration costs his state over $850 million each year. Now factor in the additional massive healthcare costs that will come with foreign nationals in need of expensive medical care. This White House makes irresponsible immigration policy and expects Texas to pick up the bill. This is fundamentally wrong and cannot be allowed to stand.
For all the Left’s animus toward Donald Trump, an apolitical, results-focused analysis shows that his immigration policies kept stability at the border and protected the American people from the harmful effects of unregulated migration.
What we have now is an occupant of the White House who inherited that stability and has taken drastic steps to squander it. The result has been an unrelenting surge of migrants at the border, an overwhelmed immigration infrastructure, and a nation decidedly less safe than it was just a few months ago.
Upon arriving at the G-7 summit in England recently, Biden proclaimed that “America is back.” Back to what exactly? Based on the last six months, it seems it is back to a country that shows contempt for its own citizens while prioritizing the needs of the rest of the world. Those are the actions not of a leader, but of a saboteur.
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Dale L. Wilcox is executive director and general counsel 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 illegal migration.
