The southern border is a complete mess. We have no one to thank for that but Joe Biden.
And Biden is gasping for air after Border Patrol hit him with a devastating reality check.
Border Patrol agents are divided but overwhelmingly opposed to a Republican proposal to reinstate Trump-era immigration protocols at the southern border, such as turning away and holding illegal immigrants.
Seven federal law enforcement agents who spoke with the Washington Examiner on Wednesday were intrigued by the idea of immediately returning border crossers to Mexico without giving them a chance to seek asylum, but most were skeptical that the Biden administration would follow through or said it would not be enough to stop the roughly 10,000 arrests that occur each day.
“Well, it’s better than what we have right now. I think about it this way, you can give a starving dog the cheapest piece of meat and he’ll be happy. Why? Cause it’s still better than nothing at all. And right now, it seems like we’re not enforcing any laws,” one agent in Texas wrote in a text message.
A second agent claimed it was “too little, too late” in light of the 6 million people apprehended at the border since Biden took office three years ago, the most in history.
“I and other agents would say a little too late since this influx of illegal aliens has been happening throughout Biden’s presidency at unprecedented numbers,” a third agent, a senior regional official in West Texas, wrote in a text.
According to CBS News, the White House has given Senate Democrats permission to proceed with a potential compromise that would involve returning to certain immigration protocols in exchange for Republican backing for an Israel-Ukraine supplemental funding bill.
A supplementary agreement has been in the works for more than a month, with progressive Democrats urging for no compromise on GOP demands for border security measures.
Border Patrol agents told the Washington Examiner that they had no reason to assume the crisis would end unless illegal aliens were removed and deported to their home nations.
“It might be quicker to deport them, but if there is no consequences, they will continue to come into the U.S.,” said a fourth agent, who is based in California.
A fifth agent pointed out that for Title 42 to be successful, Mexico would have to agree to welcome immigrants returning from the United States, as well as be willing to allow asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico throughout court procedures.
“Great ideas, but we will see if they agree. Mexico has to agree also,” said the fifth agent, a senior regional official in South Texas.
Detaining illegal aliens who cannot be returned over the border would provide its own set of challenges. The fifth agent stated that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would also require cash from Congress to expand the number of beds available to detain as many aliens as possible.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” a sixth agent wrote in a message. “We are limited to detaining anyone for more than 3 days. … In reality it would cost the U.S. government more to keep them detained rather than releasing them or removing/deporting them. Remove/deport is the only fix.”
However, such a shift would contradict President Joe Biden’s campaign vows to repeal Title 42, the name of the pandemic public health policy mentioned by former President Donald Trump in March 2020 in order to send away illegal immigrants rather than detain them.
More than 2 million immigrants detained since 2021 have been allowed into the United States to wait many years before commencing judicial proceedings to seek asylum.
A seventh Border Patrol agent questioned if the Biden administration would follow through on such an agreement.
“I don’t believe for a second that they would actually hold up their end of that deal. They’ve made so many promises and statements that they just don’t enforce over the last few years,” the seventh agent said.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
