Border Patrol agents believe President Joe Biden’s executive order to restrict border crossings is “too little, too late” given that he has already allowed millions of people to enter the U.S. illegally without penalty.
The Biden administration announced an executive order on Tuesday to close the border after encounters of illegal immigrants between ports of entry reached 2,500 a day for the seventh consecutive day.
Five Border Patrol agents told The Washington Post they believe the move is merely a facade, after three and a half years of inaction by the president has already caused irreparable damage to the nation’s security.
“It’s like trying to plug a leak on the Titanic with chewing gum. It’s too late. Trump is trying to get tough on the border, but we know Trump was the most open border administration ever,” one official said.
Although the measure has been labelled as a “crackdown,” it still amounts to 1.75 million new entry cases, when you add the 2,500 a day allowed into the country through the CBP One mobile app and other migrants allowed into the country through humanitarian parole channels.
Administration officials said Tuesday that the order, which is expected to take effect immediately, would lift border restrictions two weeks after the number of people crossing the border reached an average of 1,500 for seven consecutive days.
The border guards 7.6 million immigrants They crossed the southern border illegally. Under the Biden administration, an additional 1.7 million migrant “fugitives” are known to have secretly crossed the border illegally without being apprehended.
Additionally, roughly 500,000 people have entered the U.S. using the CBP One mobile phone application that Biden began using for this purpose.
And more than 400,000 migrants have crossed into the U.S. from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela using a separate parole program launched by Biden.
“It’s a joke. That’s not going to stop them. He can do whatever he wants. It’s not going to stop unless he deports or jails everyone who crosses the border,” the second agent said of Biden’s new plan.
Biden’s latest executive order is modeled in part on a bipartisan border bill that failed to pass the Senate in February, which would have given the president the power to expel migrants if a certain daily average number of migrants crossing the border is reached.
The bill would allow that authority to end two weeks after the seven-day average falls to 75% of those levels.
“This is too little, too late. It’s simply a morality gesture,” a third agent said.
“That’s ridiculous,” said the fourth agent. “Millions of people [the US] “Only now have they realised that the number of crossings per day is a problem. The damage has already been done and the administration is slowly trying to close the flood gates.”
“I’ve done everything I can,” Biden said in January, arguing that Congress needed to approve border legislation before he could take any action on the issue.
“Just give me the power. That’s what I’ve been asking for since the day I took office.” He said at the time: “Give me the Border Patrol, give me the people, give me the judges, give me the people who can stop this and make it work properly.”
The president has since changed his tune, and polls have consistently shown American voters are increasingly concerned about illegal immigration ahead of the November presidential election, with increased border security being cited as voters’ top concern.
“According to him, he couldn’t have just issued an executive order to Congress? So he was lying to us? That cover is a waste of time,” the fifth agent said.
Clay Thomas, a former lieutenant with the El Paso Police Department, also told The Washington Post that Biden’s plan has major loopholes that smugglers will exploit.
The loopholes include allowing entry to migrants who claim they are afraid to return to their home countries, as well as unaccompanied minors, victims of human trafficking and migrants in need of emergency medical care.
“We’ve given them an answer,” Thomas said of the cartels’ activities.
“They already know how to do this and are basically just rewriting their business plans based on what the Biden administration has outlined.”
