by Brian Lonergan
As the first year of a Biden presidency that has felt like a decade nears its end, only the most ardent Democratic partisans still insist that the country is on the right track. The rest of us are left to debate whether the rancid fruit of this regime is a result of incompetence or design. By analysis of this administration’s immigration agenda alone, the inescapable conclusion is that it is indeed the latter. The macabre consequences of this fact threaten to take America into one of the darkest chapters in its history.
These kinds of conclusions run contrary to the traditional American ethos. Those who grew up with Ronald Reagan’s “shining city on a hill” imagery or John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier vision experienced leadership that sought the best for America and its citizenry. In those eras, politicians from both major parties seemed to prioritize the good of the country; they only disagreed on the means to get us there.
Such notions seem quaint given today’s realities. Beneath the surface of Biden’s genial Uncle Joe schtick is an executive branch controlled by some of the most dogmatic left-wing apparatchiks ever seen in American politics. Among their witch’s brew of radical ideas, they have seized upon immigration as one of the quickest and most effective ways to transform the country to their vision.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to give this administration the benefit of the doubt on anything. That became nearly impossible after independent journalist John Solomon broke the news of a letter from recently departed Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott to Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate and its homeland security and governmental affairs committee.
In his letter, Scott described a culture in the current administration where inexperienced political appointees routinely ignore or reject common-sense recommendations from career immigration enforcement professionals.
Perhaps the most alarming part of Scott’s letter was this: “The Biden administration’s team at DHS is laser-focused on expediting the flow of migrants into the U.S. and downplaying the significant vulnerability this creates for terrorists, narcotics smugglers, human traffickers, and even hostile nations to gain access to our homeland.”
This kind of behavior can no longer be excused as faculty lounge naïveté. It is the sabotage of a nation via immigration policy. How else can a rational mind read Scott’s letter? How can one not conclude that this administration is engaging in a form of Cloward-Piven strategy to destabilize the nation for its own political benefit?
If we had a legitimate watchdog press in the country, it would treat the Scott letter as a bombshell story that demands answers from this administration. Because the press corps are mostly Biden allies, however, we get urgent reports of what ice cream flavor the commander in chief had over the weekend while thousands of potentially COVID-infected foreign nationals enter the country illegally.
Further insult is paid to the American people when this administration responds to the few critical questions it receives on the crises it has created. When pressed by Fox News reporter Peter Doocy on the duplicity of requiring vaccinations or negative COVID tests for those flying into the country but no such requirement for those walking across our southern border, White House mouthpiece Jen Psaki responded that the latter are “not intending to stay here for a lengthy period of time.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, lampooned as the Baghdad Bob of the administration, routinely insists that the border is closed, all evidence to the contrary. When legitimate questions or criticisms are offered of what is clearly a disastrous policy, the preferred response from the Left is to accuse that person of being nativist, xenophobic, or racist.
Beyond that, this White House is not above giving oxygen to absurd, social-media-fueled theories. Psaki recently criticized images of what some interpreted as federal agents in Texas on horseback using whips to corral Haitian migrants. Despite the outrage from blue-check warriors on Twitter including U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the charge was proven to be demonstrably false when what appeared to be a whip in a photo was actually the reins to control the horse.
For all the destruction this administration has caused on the border, there is evidence it also may be failing at its ultimate goal of owning the Hispanic voting bloc and cementing power for generations. A recent poll found that Biden’s support among Hispanic voters is cratering in Texas. It turns out they don’t want to live in an overcrowded country rife with poverty and lawlessness, either.
If there is one truly existential issue for America in 2021 and beyond, it is immigration. Americans need to take a side and fight for it, or else stop complaining as the country they once knew and loved slips away.
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Brian Lonergan is an adjunct fellow of the Center for American Greatness and director of communications at the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of mass migration.
