President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have policy agendas that are completely different from each other.
One area where most people thought they would differ a lot would be with immigration. Yet, it looks as though Biden is actually carrying out a majority of the border policies that started during the Trump administration.
When Biden was running for president back in 2020, he called Trump’s handling of border security and immigration egregious. A major point of dissension between Democrats and Republicans was the decision made by the Trump White House to station members of the U.S. military along the southern border so that they could stop illegal immigrants from coming into the country.
Democrats have consistently gone off on Republicans, saying that they have put forth policies for border security and immigration that were both racist and uncaring.
Now, though, it’s apparent that the Biden administration is coming around to the fact that their approach to the border simply isn’t working – at all. After two years of trying it his way, the southern border specifically has experienced a surge in migrants that the U.S. simply can’t handle.
In response, Biden says he’s “contemplating” deploying some 1,500 military personnel that are active to the southern border. These people would augment the forces at Border Security that desperately need help – “thanks” to the policies of the Biden administration that have left them constrained and under-resourced.
This move is being done just when the Title 42 public health authority expires. These troops would serve in roles that are more administrative than anything else, and wouldn’t perform any actual functions of law enforcement, according to sources cited by CNN.
In a statement, a U.S. official said:
“At the request of DHS (Department of Homeland Security), DOD (Department of Defense) will provide a temporary increase of an additional 1,500 military personnel, for 90 days, to supplement CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) can address these needs through contacted support. They will not be doing any law enforcement work.”
Part of the reason why Biden is probably taking this route – which is somewhat of an about-face for immigration – is that he’s trying to position himself to win re-election. He and his team know that if something isn’t done about the illegal immigration crisis now, it may be too late.
Trump is surely going to attack the Biden administration on border security for all their failures. The easy way to do this is to simply say as soon as Trump left the White House, illegal immigrants started to come in droves. These people were energized by the fact that Biden was going to take it easy on them, and so they made their way to the U.S.
With about a year-and-a-half until the presidential election, Biden is doing anything he can to position himself as a viable candidate – even if it means taking up the policies of his predecessor.
