Joe Biden starts again where Donald Trump left off: the construction of the wall on the border with Mexico begins again. The Democratic president, under pressure over the refugee emergency, is reneging on one of his campaign promises and angering part of his base by pursuing immigration policies that are increasingly similar to those of his predecessor. The Biden administration is under pressure not only from Republicans who accuse it of laxity on illegal immigration, but also from Democratic mayors and governors who are no longer able to handle the reception of new arrivals.
The U-turn on the wall came secretly, almost hidden: a short communication from the Department of Homeland Security in the equivalent of the Official Gazette (it is the mega-department created after 9/11, it pools responsibilities). a Ministry of the Interior, border police and anti-terrorism functions). The administration statement states: “There is now an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads near the U.S. border to prevent illegal entry into the United States in these areas.” In fact, this is a green light to build another 20 miles (32 km) of wall to extend the barrier built by the Trump administration in Texas in the Rio Grande Valley: it is one of the most important transit points for illegal migrants. To proceed with immediate construction and carry it out in forced stages, the federal government is suspending all environmental laws that protect water, atmosphere and endangered species.
The expansion of the wall is small, at least for now: These 20 miles of additional construction compare to the 500 miles built during Trump’s presidency. However, Biden’s move has a symbolic and political value that is lost on no one. During the 2020 campaign, Biden promised to block construction of the wall, and other Democratic leaders had even called for the demolition of the wall that had already been built (the forerunner of this wall was also the fortress built in the 1990s by a Democrat named Bill). Clinton, on the California-Mexico border, between San Diego and Tijuana, to prevent the passage of drug traffickers).
Over the past two years, Biden has faced an influx of illegal migrants amounting to two million entries per year. This brought him severe criticism not only from Republicans, but also within his own party. On the right, the latest tug-of-war over the federal budget was also triggered by the illegal immigration emergency. Some of the Republican lawmakers who have blocked aid to Ukraine, for example, argue that America should not spend a single dollar on a foreign war until it regains control of its borders. In general, the migrant issue is one of the issues on which there is a risk that the vote will shift in favor of the Republicans in the next elections. It is an issue that also divides the left. On the one hand, there is the radical wing with an icon like New York Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, who theorizes the total opening of the border and even the abolition of the border police. On the other side are Democratic governors and mayors who are struggling with severe budget crises due to increasing spending on admitting foreigners.
An extreme case is New York, the largest of the left-wing metropolises that declare themselves “sanctuary cities” because they promise unlimited welcome and refuse to apply federal immigration laws. In New York, the city’s coffers are exhausted. Democratic Mayor Eric Adams has counted 122,700 asylum seekers since spring 2022. The mayor himself estimates the cost of including them at $12 billion over a three-year period. Adams is trying to partially override a law in his city that requires him to provide housing to all newcomers. For now, the mayor would be content to at least remove this burden from single adults and instead continue to provide housing for families with children. But it has to get the green light from the judiciary. Similar problems exist in Chicago, another Democratic-run city whose municipal finances are faltering because of the costs of welcoming foreigners. Even Chicago, like New York, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles, is being flooded with new arrivals, partly because the governors of Republican states like Texas are busing foreigners to areas where reception is guaranteed. Left-wing local governments, grappling with a voter base divided on these issues, have so far found no room for maneuver to remove “sanctuary city” status; They also take it out on Biden and blame him for his inability to stop the flows at the source.
In this context, two further recent innovations should be mentioned. Most significant is Biden’s decision to restart the repatriation of Venezuelans. Since the United States and Venezuela do not have diplomatic relations, the inability to agree on returns had led to an indiscriminate admission policy in favor of asylum seekers from that country. Now an agreement has been reached between Washington and Caracas, a partial thaw (certainly for a fee), according to which the regime of Nicolas Maduro will accept the direct repatriation of those displaced from the United States.
The other news is Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Mexico to explore new agreements with that country that will increase the capacity to detain migrants in local detention centers and prevent them from reaching the border. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is highly critical of Biden’s recent turn to return to “Trumpian” policies. At the same time, however, the Mexican leader knows that the Republican right is promising or threatening much more serious measures against him. There are members of Trump’s party who are now calling for military operations on Mexican territory, including missile launches to hit drug addicts’ power plants.