Biden’s border talks mark a seismic shift
WASHINGTON — On his first day in office, President Joe Biden sent a bill to Congress to “restore humanity and American values to our immigration system.” Nearly three years later, he is considering sweeping restrictions on migration in exchange for aid to Ukraine and Israel.
It is the latest sign of how drastically the politics of immigration have shifted in the United States, where polls suggest there is growing support, even inside the president’s own party, for border measures once denounced by Democrats and championed by former President Donald Trump.
But it is also a gamble for Biden, who risks walking away from some of the most deeply held principles of the Democratic Party and angering key parts of his core constituency, such as progressives and young voters.
“There’s no doubt there’s been a shift on this partly because of the influx of these migrants in these big cities,” said David Axelrod, a top adviser to former President Barack Obama. “There are limits to where he can and should go, but this is almost a gift to have, under the cover of this broad package, to be able to do things that were perhaps tougher to do before.”
The southern border is a political vulnerability for Biden, who has been unable to contain a record number of migrants heading north to escape gang violence, poverty and natural disasters. Republican-led states have shipped busloads of migrants to liberal bastions like Washington and New York to protest what they characterize as Biden’s failed policies.
As border crossings surge, the political center of gravity on the issue has moved sharply to the right. Polls by The New York Times and Siena College in battleground states found that voters preferred Trump over Biden on immigration by 12 points.
Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, a swingstate Democrat with leftleaning politics, said his position on restricting migration puts him out of step with the liberal wing of his party.
“I’m not a progressive,” Fetterman told NBC News.
And some of the country’s most prominent Democratic governors and mayors, whose communities are being stressed by the cost of providing for migrants, have put pressure on Biden to find new ways to address the crisis.
The fact that Republicans have refused to support further aid for Ukraine without a new crackdown on immigration may give Biden that opportunity, said pollsters, political experts and some Democrats.
Biden has said he is willing to make “significant compromises” on border security to satisfy Republicans. ,Some of the proposals include making it more difficult to gain asylum in the United States. ,But Republicans also want to restrict “humanitarian parole,” which has allowed thousands of Afghans, Ukrainians and others fleeing war and violence to come to the United States.