Well, lookie here. Biden is caught in another lie. This time on the border. Under pressure from Democrats, Biden takes executive action on the border.

Biden’s Border Election Gambit

After stating he could not shut the border without Congressional approval, President Biden issues an executive order limiting the number of illegal immigrants who can enter the country.

The Wall Street Journal comments on Biden’s Border Election Gambit.

More than three years into his Presidency, Joe Biden has discovered the border mess. On Tuesday he announced executive actions that he claims will stem a tidal wave of migrants. This looks like a tactical political retreat masquerading as a battle cry.

Polls show that the border has moved to the top of voter concerns, and a significant majority believe Donald Trump would do a better job handling it. Perhaps because he did. Encounters along the U.S.-Mexico border have nearly tripled since 2019 and they’ve increased more than six-fold since 2018.

Even Democrats who run big cities say they’re overwhelmed by migrants. Yet the Administration until Tuesday ignored their pleas for help while picking a fight with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over his efforts to protect the border.

Thus his executive order on Tuesday that would supposedly block migrants seeking asylum at the southern border when the average number of daily encounters between ports of entry hits 2,500 over a week. The border could reopen once the daily average declines to 1,500. Daily encounters this year have averaged about 6,000.

Mr. Biden’s executive actions might help reduce the flow somewhat if they are strictly enforced, and at least he’s admitting the problem. But the press release sounds better than the details. Migrants could still seek asylum at ports of entry using the CBP One mobile app, which would be excluded from the daily triggers.

During the 2020 campaign, Mr. Biden lambasted Mr. Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy, which required asylum seekers to wait south of the border. On his first day in office he rescinded the Trump policy and all but ended border enforcement.

His Administration has also eased its scrutiny in reviewing asylum claims. Over the last three years immigration judges have granted nearly 80% of claims, roughly double the share under Mr. Trump. Most migrants caught at the border are released into the U.S. Many never show up for their eventual hearing.

No doubt Mr. Biden will wave his new order as a shield during his debate with Mr. Trump this month. But the transparently political timing of his order invites voter skepticism.

Give Me the Power!

Reporter: “Have you done everything you can do with executive authority?”

Biden: “I’ve done all I can do. Just give me the power.”

Biden Proposes Ankle Bracelets and Commands Will Solve the Immigration Problem

On February 6, 2024, I commented Biden Proposes Ankle Bracelets and Commands Will Solve the Immigration Problem

• Ankle Bracelets? What is to stop someone from taking off the bracelet and vanishing forever in a sanctuary city?
• New Authority? Biden issued 64 regulations to open the border and now says he needs congressional authority to reverse them.
• The bill requires Biden has to shut down the border when the average hits 5,000 a day. But who’s doing the counting? And what does “shut down” mean? How? With what force?

The New Proposal Prelude

Earlier today, the White House issued A Proclamation on Securing the Border

As a complement to the Lawful Pathways rule and associated enforcement efforts, the Department of State and DHS have taken significant steps to expand safe and orderly pathways for migrants to enter the United States lawfully. Those steps include establishing Safe Mobility Offices in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Guatemala to facilitate access to lawful pathways; expanding country-specific and other available processes to seek parole on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit; expanding access to visa programs for seasonal employment; establishing a mechanism for noncitizens to schedule a time and place to present at ports of entry in a safe, orderly, and lawful manner through the CBP One mobile application; and expanding refugee admissions from the Western Hemisphere from 5,000 in Fiscal Year 2021 to up to 50,000 in Fiscal Year 2024.

As a result, from May 12, 2023, to May 1, 2024, my Administration removed or returned more than 720,000 noncitizens who did not have a lawful basis to remain in the United States, the vast majority of whom crossed the southwest land border.

Despite these efforts, and after months of reduced encounter levels following the changes put in place after May 12, 2023, encounter levels increased toward the end of 2023, and December 2023 saw the highest level of encounters between ports of entry in history, as increasing numbers of people migrated through the Western Hemisphere. The challenges presented by this surge in migration, which would have been even worse had the Lawful Pathways rule and other measures not been in place, were compounded by the fact that the surge was focused increasingly on western areas of the border in California and Arizona that are geographically remote, challenging to address, and without sufficient pre-existing infrastructure or resources to respond to the surge.

[Mish: Amazing. Biden is actually bragging about how well he has controlled the border.]

While my Administration has vigorously enforced the law within the constraints imposed by the existing system, the statutory framework put in place by the Congress is outdated. For the vast majority of people in immigration proceedings, the current laws make it impossible to quickly grant protection to those who require it and to quickly remove those who do not establish a legal basis to remain in the United States. This reality is compounded by the fact that the Congress has chronically underfunded our border security and immigration system and has failed to provide the resources or reforms it needs to be able to deliver timely consequences to most individuals who cross unlawfully and cannot establish a legal basis to remain in the United States.

[Mish: Whose fault is it that the border is underfunded. Did Democrats ram through spending bills without Republican support? Would Republicans have welcomed more funds to secure the border?]

In early February 2024, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced legislation (bipartisan legislative proposal) containing the toughest and fairest reforms of our asylum laws in decades that would have provided new authorities to significantly streamline and speed up immigration enforcement proceedings for individuals encountered at the border, including those who are seeking protection. Critically, the bipartisan legislative proposal included nearly $20 billion in additional resources for DHS and other departments to implement those new authorities.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service affirmative asylum backlog is now over 1 million cases and growing, with over 300,000 applications filed prior to 2021 still pending. At the end of Fiscal Year 2023, there were over 2.4 million cases pending in the immigration courts. Pending cases more than doubled from the end of Fiscal Year 2016 to the end of Fiscal Year 2020 and doubled again between that time and the end of Fiscal Year 2023. Between Fiscal Year 2006 and the end of Fiscal Year 2023, in tandem with historic increases in filings to initiate immigration court proceedings, the immigration courts’ pending caseload increased from approximately 170,000 to approximately 2.46 million.

[Mish: Once again, whose fault is this? Did Democrats ram through spending bills without Republican support? It was not until this year that Biden proposed a deal. And the proposed deal was a Trojan Horse. Biden did not want to restrict immigrants. He wanted open borders until perhaps now.]

The New Executive Order Details

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a)) and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, hereby find that, absent the measures set forth in this proclamation, the entry into the United States of persons described in section 1 of this proclamation under circumstances described in section 2 of this proclamation would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and that their entry should be subject to certain restrictions, limitations, and exceptions.  I therefore hereby proclaim the following:

     Section 1.  Suspension and Limitation on Entry.  The entry of any noncitizen into the United States across the southern border is hereby suspended and limited, subject to section 3 of this proclamation.  This suspension and limitation on entry shall be effective at 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on June 5, 2024.  The suspension and limitation directed in this proclamation shall be discontinued pursuant to subsection 2(a) of this proclamation, subject to subsection 2(b) of this proclamation.

     Sec. 2.  Applicability of Suspension and Limitation on Entry. (a)  The Secretary of Homeland Security shall monitor the number of daily encounters and, subject to subsection (b) of this section, the suspension and limitation on entry pursuant to section 1 of this proclamation shall be discontinued at 12:01 a.m. eastern time on the date that is 14 calendar days after the Secretary makes a factual determination that there has been a 7-consecutive-calendar-day average of less than 1,500 encounters, not including encounters described in subsection 4(a)(iii) of this proclamation.
     (b)  Notwithstanding a factual determination made under subsection (a) of this section, the suspension and limitation on entry pursuant to section 1 of this proclamation shall apply at 12:01 a.m. eastern time on the calendar day immediately after the Secretary has made a factual determination that there has been a 7-consecutive-calendar-day average of 2,500 encounters or more, not including encounters described in subsection 4(a)(iii) of this proclamation, until such suspension and limitation on entry is discontinued pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.
     (c)  For purposes of subsection (a) and subsection (b) of this section, unaccompanied children (as defined in section 279(g)(2) of title 6, United States Code) from non-contiguous countries shall not be included in calculating the number of encounters.

     Sec. 3.  Scope and Implementation of Suspension and Limitation on Entry. …..

     Sec. 4.  Definitions.  (a)  The term “encounter” refers to a noncitizen who:
     (i)    is physically apprehended by CBP immigration officers within 100 miles of the United States southwest land border during the 14-day period immediately after entry between ports of entry;
     (ii)   is physically apprehended by DHS personnel at the southern coastal borders during the 14-day period immediately after entry between ports of entry; or
     (iii)  is determined to be inadmissible at a southwest land border port of entry. …

     Sec. 5.  Severability.  It is the policy of the United States to enforce this proclamation to the maximum extent possible to advance the interests of the United States.  Accordingly, if any provision of this proclamation, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this proclamation and the application of its provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby. 

     Sec. 6.  General Provisions. (a)  Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

     (i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
     (ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b)  This proclamation shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c)  This proclamation is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

    IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
third day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.

                        JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

Trojan Horse Proposal

On January 30, I commented on the deal Biden offered Republicans: Biden’s Trojan Horse Immigration Deal Would Allow Another 1.8 Million Migrants.

Trojan Horse Deal Details

1. The agreement is expected to give the executive branch a new legal authority to effectively suspend asylum in between official ports of entry when migrant crossings surpass certain thresholds.
2. The power, which Mr. Biden referred to as an authority to “shut down the border” on Friday, would be mandated after average daily migrant crossings hit 5,000 over seven days, or 8,500 in a single day.
3. It could also be activated on a discretionary basis after average daily crossings surpass 4,000 in a week.
4. There would also be a limit on the number of days each year the president could invoke the authority.

Mish Synopsis

• Biden insisted he needed Congressional authority to restrict immigration. Now he says he doesn’t.
• Biden is bragging about how well he controlled the border.
• Biden blames Republicans for lack of funding despite the fact that he passed spending bills without Republican support.
• It’s interesting that the Trojan Horse deal Biden said needed Congressional approval would only have taken affect at a daily average count of 4,000. Now it’s 2,500. Biden said the deal was the toughest ever. Now, magically it’s tougher.
• The Trojan Horse deal also placed restrictions on how many times Biden could invoke authority to suspend immigration. His executive order has no such restrictions.

Conclusion

Biden is a liar on multiple fronts: About funding, about the success he touts, about needing Congressional approval, and about how tough the January proposed deal was.

Biden is acting now only because the situation is so out of hand that even Democrat governors are complaining.

One of Every Five New York City Hotels is Now a Migrant Shelter

New York City hotel prices have never been higher. Illegal immigration is part of the reason why. Mayoral graft is another.

On June 2, I commented One of Every Five New York City Hotels is Now a Migrant Shelter

The cost to the city is $10 billion. Taxpayers are on the hook for the cost.

The New York City mayor and the state governor want Biden to do something. The announcement today is Biden’s effort.

Where Do We Put 8 Million Illegal Immigrants?

On May 23, I commented on Competing Forces on Rent, then asked Where Do We Put 8 Million Illegal Immigrants?

Millions of immigrants keep pouring in. New residential construction has stalled and multi-family construction is in decline. Completions are rising, but is that enough housing?

We have at least a partial answer now.

Denver Health at “Critical Point”

On January 24, I noted Denver Health at “Critical Point” as 8,000 Migrants Make 20,000 Emergency Visits

The Denver hospital system is turning away local residents because it is flooded with migrant visits.

Illegal Immigrants Refuse to Leave Encampment Unless Mayor Agrees to 13 Demands

On May 9, I noted Illegal Immigrants Refuse to Leave Encampment Unless Mayor Agrees to 13 Demands

Please read the list of demands. The list is outrageous.

Who the hell do these people think they are, illegally breaking into the US and making demands?

I have seriously had enough of this. Immediately deport any illegal immigrants further breaking laws, making demands, or protesting.

However, it’s important to note that we just cannot round up 8-10 million illegal immigrants and deport them all as some want to do. The US economy would collapse. I intend to do a follow-up post on that idea.

We need a sensible immigration policy. Right now, all we have are disingenuous extremes coupled with lies.

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