As immigration bill falters, Biden is left with the problem
No issue illustrates the breakdown of governing and politics better than immigration. A broken immigration system has broken the governing process, aided by the most cynical of politics.
Republicans recently continued what is now a decadeslong streak of helping to scuttle bipartisan efforts to fix the immigration system, largely due to hardright conservative opposition. Their opposition this time came at the request of former President Donald Trump, who again showed he prefers the political chaos to a policy solution. He was aided by House Republicans, who favored an immigration bill that has no chance of passing in the Senate.
Republicans long have complained the loudest about the problems of illegal immigration and the need for tighter security at the U.S.-Mexico border. But they have repeatedly turned their backs on cross-party efforts to solve that and broader immigration issues, despite years of evidence that neither party alone can solve the problems and resolve competing demands and differences.
Instead of trying to work constructively on the issue in the current Congress, House Republicans have decided to try to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Their first effort collapsed Tuesday in a stunning and embarrassing setback for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
The effect of the failure of the Senate package, however, is that while Trump and the Republicans bear the blame for sinking a package negotiated over a period of months by Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, it is President Joe Biden who stands to be the politician who bears the brunt of public anger for the surge in migrants at the border that has taken place during his time in office.
White House officials point to
Republicans as the culprits in the latest turn of events, and for good reason. But they could also look in the mirror. The president’s mishandling of problems at the border has left him politically vulnerable in this election year.
Many Democrats have been dismissive of the public mood, seeing the focus on border security as evidence of a Fox News echo chamber. For too long, they ignored the growing problem and even pleas for action from big city Democratic mayors and blue-state Democratic governors. With the latest implosion on Capitol Hill, Biden is left holding the bag without some of the tools and funding the Senate bill would have provided.
Few issues are as complex and politically fraught as immigration policy. Immigration policy encompasses national security and humanitarian compassion. It brings together the interests of business and labor, of religious groups and advocacy organizations. It includes the claims by asylum seekers that nonetheless have overwhelmed the system; the question of how to handle those who cross illegally; and the long-standing question of what to do about the millions of undocumented immigrants now in the country, many for years or decades.
As pressure has built over many months to stem the surge on the border, Biden has adjusted course, moving toward tougher enforcement. But it has not been enough to shift public opinion. Some of his lowest approval ratings are on the question of how he has handled immigration. Nor has he been willing to confront his base directly or rhetorically.
As the Senate negotiators completed their work, Biden pleaded for the authority to shut down the border, which was contained in the proposed legislation. Trump and House Republicans guaranteed that would never happen. Once again, the prospects for bipartisan legislation have died in Congress, and a broken system remains in need of repair.