The border is a mess. Does Biden have the guts to stand up to progressives and get a deal?
Immigration and inflation are two areas where the president gets the worst grades – nearly 70% of those surveyed disapprove of his performance on both issues.
Ingrid JacquesChristmas is right around the corner, but President Joe Biden doesn't appear to be all that jolly. In fact, he’s seemed downright cranky lately.
Biden is facing the unfortunate convergence of recent "records": a tanking record-low approval rating ... and record-high encounters with migrants on the border.
These unenviable benchmarks are connected.
A new poll from Monmouth University shows Biden’s job performance approval rating is at 34% – his lowest rating by the polling agency since he took office. Americans say they are peeved with Biden’s handling of a range of issues they care about.
No surprise, immigration and inflation are two areas where the president gets the worst grades – nearly 70% of those surveyed disapprove of his performance on both issues. Only 50% of Democrats approve of Biden's handling of immigration.
At the same time, the border situation is in free-fall. This week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) reported more than 12,600 migrants had been encountered at the southern border in a 24-hour period – the highest single day ever recorded, according to Bill Melugin of Fox News.
Border officials are running out of options. Last weekend, they were forced to close two rail bridges between Texas and Mexico because of the influx of migrants crossing illegally via freight train. CPB has had to close other border ports of entry in Arizona and California for similar reasons.
In fiscal year 2023, the country reached a new high of nearly 2.5 million encounters at the southwestern border.
Biden should take GOP deal on border
Biden’s response? It’s not really clear. The president’s entire immigration policy has centered on unraveling everything former President Donald Trump had put in place to curb illegal immigration and abuse of the asylum process.
Haley for the win:Nikki Haley could mop the floor with Biden. Is that enough to tear GOP away from Trump?
“We had policies that worked,” Lora Ries, an expert on border security and immigration at The Heritage Foundation, told me. “Anything that was associated with Trump, the Biden administration stopped. And now we're seeing the results of it.”
That result is pure chaos.
Luckily for Biden, Republicans in Congress might have a solution for him – if he’s smart enough to take it. Biden has rightly been pushing for additional aid for Ukraine and Israel, yet GOP lawmakers are holding firm that funding for those countries in conflict must be tied to securing our border.
It’s a fair ask. And it would give Biden the opportunity to show he’s actually a “deal-maker” while also signaling he’s open to some immigration enforcement.
After all, it’s not just Republicans and border officials who are complaining about unsustainable numbers of migrants. It’s also Democratic mayors of some of the largest cities in the country – Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Houston and Denver – who are begging Biden to do something. They can no longer afford to house and help all the undocumented individuals heading to their cities. It’s bankrupting them.
Last week, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, ordered the state's National Guard to assist law enforcement officers attempting to cope with the spike in migrants crossing the border: “With this Executive Order, I am taking action where the federal government won’t."
That's a brutal takedown of Biden given that it's coming from a leader in his own party.
Will progressives play along?
Biden is signaling he’s open to a compromise of sorts, but he’ll have to deal with the far-left faction of his party that seems to want open borders.
Hate on campus:Harvard president botched her testimony on antisemitism. Firing her would've made it worse.
Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has said that what Biden does on the border will impact her support for him next year.
“I cannot campaign for someone in which I can’t explain tangibly that they’re looking for relief, that they are strengthening the asylum status, improving legal pathways,” Ramirez told CNN. “My credibility is based on my ability to talk about those things and how we’re delivering.”
It’s unclear what an immigration deal in exchange for the foreign aid would look like, since we’re talking about Congress, and lawmakers can’t seem to agree on anything. Both the House and Senate are now on their holiday breaks, so this will be pushed into the new year.
But Republicans are likely to demand some of the Trump policies like “remain in Mexico” to curb asylum claims and other tougher border measures. Democrats may not like this approach, but doing nothing is not a solution.
It already could be too late to salvage Biden’s faltering poll numbers. Signing on to this immigration deal, however, would be a step in the right direction.
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques