Speaking on Thursday's “NewsNation Now” broadcast, John Sandweg, who served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under President Obama, said the Biden-Harris administration has made a “major shift” in border policy “this year” and that Vice President Kamala Harris, a 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, “will have to answer the question of why the administration waited so long to take action at the border.”
“Her basic argument, as she made in the recent debate, is that Trump killed a bipartisan bill for political reasons. But does she need to do more to convince voters who care about this bill? Is that enough, or are some voters, especially swing voters, expecting more from her?” moderator Connell McShane asked.
Sandweg responded, “I think it's fair to say this: The administration, the Biden-Harris administration, has made a big shift this year, right? They approved that bill, they angered a lot of progressive groups, and they adopted a compromise that we've probably never seen before. So I think it's a powerful story. But, to be fair, for better or worse, even though she was not the border secretary, the question has to be answered as to why the administration waited so long.”
Sandweg continued, “There's some good news. Connell, one of the reasons why the immigration numbers are going down in the polls is that the number of migrants at the border has been going down since the president announced asylum reform. We've seen numbers in the mid-50,000s for five months in a row. That's a pretty significant drop from the quarter-million that was there before. I think the issue has become a little less important, and the polls reflect that. It's not that it's unimportant. It's a big issue in this election, but the numbers are going down, so the pressure on the vice president is a little bit less, so it's just gone down a little bit.”
Sandweg added, “The president claims he doesn't have the legal authority to take action at the border, and then he takes action at the border, right?” But the efforts this year have been “very effective,” and getting Mexico to step up enforcement has probably been the most effective action by the Biden-Harris administration.
“There are legitimate arguments in this election that people should consider: why it took so long to approve a bipartisan bill,” Sandweg added.
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