Senate border ‘deal:’ Dishonest, duplicit and deceptive

By Shea Bradley-Farrell
Real Clear Wire

Joe Biden’s defiant refusal to secure U.S. borders has again led to violence against Americans – this time the vicious beating of two NYC police officers by a mob of illegal immigrants, who were later released without bail. It is outrageous that our leaders continue to allow non-citizens to hurt Americans and to steal from our citizens – and anyone who supports the McConnell-Schumer-Lankford so-called border “deal” is supporting exactly this kind of insanity.

Although senators are being pressured to agree to this deal without the opportunity to read, review, or amend its text, a few “bullet points” have been leaked. From these it is clear the deal is not designed to close the border, but to deceptively strengthen Biden’s open border “policies.” 

The deal would allow 4,000 to 5,000 illegals to cross into the U.S. per day before expulsion measures begin. That’s 150,000 per month and 1.8 million per year. It is shocking that senators would actually propose legislating any number of illegal crossings into the United States. In effect, this deal would codify Biden’s reckless open border policies and compromise a future president’s ability to enforce border security.

Further testament to the duplicity of the deal is that Republican and Democratic leaders have both made it clear they do not want a committee or an open amendment process to evaluate or amend the language of the legislation. Neither will they commit to a designated time period to allow senators to actually review the text before they are required to vote.

These are the very reasons why Americans distrust (loathe?) Washington – politicians often act secretively without the interests of the American people at heart. And, these are also the very reasons that House Republicans and conservatives oppose the deal. 

False narratives claiming that Republicans won’t support the deal because it gives Biden credit, or that Republicans would rather get political revenge than fix the border, are just that – false and strategically spread by the left’s media elite in order to boost Biden’s miserable approval ratings. Blaming former President Donald Trump for the Republicans’ distaste of the Senate deal, and for Biden’s negligence to secure the border, is nothing but a transparent election stunt.

Moreover, the deal does not address the Biden administration’s abuse of parole authority –abuses like the incredibly long backlog of asylum cases assigned court dates years into the future (while illegals disappear into the U.S.). Nor does the deal address Democratic schemes to allow illegal immigrants to vote in municipal, state, and federal elections.  

Biden claiming to support the deal because it gives him “new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed” is also deceptive and dishonest bunk. President Biden could use existing law to secure the border; he simply does not want to and has made the decision to stick to it. In reality, he has presidential authority to close the border now under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to restrict entry to the U.S. and remove and detain illegal immigrants.

Former President Donald Trump did just that – used the laws and authority available to him to close the border – and illegal crossings dropped to historic lows and immigrants remained below the border (Remain in Mexico policy) while their asylum claims were processed. Biden, on the other hand, rescinded Trump’s national emergency declaration at the border as soon as he was sworn in, stopped construction of the border wall, rescinded Remain in Mexico, and screamed to the world that U.S. borders were open.

Not only will Biden not use his authority to close the border, he purposely caused the crisis. Sen. Ron Johnson recently said that trying to close the border with the Biden administration is like negotiating with arsonists to put out the fire they started.

If the Senate wants to secure the border, it should adopt H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023. The proposed act, which passed through the House, closes loopholes in law and policy to make it harder for future presidents to open our borders and cause another Biden border crisis. It imposes strict limits to asylum, puts into law Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy, builds a border wall, and has accountability mechanisms to make sure the law is enforced.

Why do our elected leaders, representatives of the people, continue to allow non-citizens, some of whom are dangerous criminals, to flow across the border and hurt or steal from our citizens? How do they sleep at night knowing that record numbers of Americans have died from fentanyl-related deaths due to the drugs streaming across our open borders? The McConnell-Schumer-Lankford deal will only continue this reckless lack of U.S. national security. Make no mistake, any politician who supports this deal will suffer terribly at the election polls this fall.

Shea Bradley-Farrell, Ph.D., is president of Counterpoint Institute for Policy, Research and Education in Washington, D.C., and an expert in national security and foreign policy. Her latest book, “Last Warning to the West: Hungary’s Triumph Over Communism and the Woke Agenda,” is available now at Amazon.