December was a really bad month for Joe Biden on immigration.An estimated 300,000 people south of the border intersection And the crossing attempt set an all-time record for a single month. His approval rating on immigration fell by 8 percentage points, to 38% compared to Donald Trump's 60% on the issue, which voters rank second only to prices and inflation.
Meanwhile, Democratic mayors of major cities begged He asked the White House for funding to deal with the influx of migrants. I camped At the Boston airport, the city's evacuation centers were full.
Biden faces a difficult choice. He could strike a deal with Republicans that would get aid to Ukraine and Israel in exchange for increased border security, or face a government shutdown plus disaster at Ukraine's border and at polling stations in November. There is also.
Given the gravity of this disaster, an agreement with Republicans would be the lesser of two evils. But it's going to be ugly, the only question is how ugly.
Right-wing House Republicans trying to tie Federal funding for border agreements will not be satisfied until it makes the Statue of Liberty weep. To obtain funding from Ukraine and Israel and avoid a government shutdown, Biden may need to sign off on higher standards for asylum seekers, tougher deportation policies, and even a portion of the border wall. unknown.
Such an agreement would break with the safe, welcoming, and secure policies that were central to Biden's 2020 campaign. humanitarian immigration system. During the 2019 presidential primary debate, Biden urged asylum seekers:undulation“To the border. We are a country that says, 'You want to escape oppression, so you should come.'”
Mr. Biden launched a historic package to fix a broken system, even though it included provisions he and his party deemed harsh if not cruel in an election year. Maybe we can learn from another president who signed the bill. The president did it without appearing weak or hypocritical and won reelection. He did it with flexibility.
I'm talking about Bill Clinton, the master of turning lemons into lemonade. He signed the 1996 welfare reform bill, called the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, passed by a Republican-controlled Congress.
This law, among other things, allowed states to strip or coerce benefits from legal immigrants. work requirements For low-income mothers who cannot afford more child care options. Donna E. Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration, fought In the Cabinet, several of Mr. Clinton's senior welfare aides resigned in protest, with influential Sen. Patrick Moynihan of New York predicting: children sleeping on top Slatted grid”
But the politically flexible Mr. Clinton acknowledged the law's “serious flaws” but took credit for “transforming a broken system.” House Republican leaders said they were reminded of Clinton's accomplishments. proverb“When you're chased out of town, jump forward and act like it's a parade.”
Could Joe Biden do a similar political pirouette?
An episode when Biden became president in July last year. announced The completion of President Trump's gap in the wall near Yuma, Arizona, is not a cause for celebration. He was legally forced to spend money appropriated by Congress to build a wall, but when asked if he thought a border wall would work, he firmly answered “no.” Biden thus managed to break his campaign promise not to complete “another leg” of Trump's wall while stripping himself of his credit for improving border security.
He didn't need to be so inflexible.During the Obama administration, when Biden was vice president Build miles of new barriers (as opposed to a wall) than Donald Trump. The Biden administration's 2023 budget for the Department of Homeland Security states that a border wall would “impede and deter illegal cross-border activity by extending law enforcement response times.”
If Mr. Biden wants to save Ukraine, reduce chaos at the border, keep the government open, and, like Mr. Clinton, win a second term, he has no choice but to be flexible.
Gregory J. Wallance He was a federal prosecutor in the Carter and Reagan administrations and a member of the ABSCAM prosecution team that convicted a U.S. senator and six members of Congress on bribery charges. his book, To Siberia: George Kennan's epic journey through Russia's cruel and frozen heartjust published by St. Martin's Press. Follow @GregoryWallance.
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