Joe Biden’s open borders policy has done so much damage to the country that Democrats in Congress are very worried about the political consequences and are seeking refuge. In the House, some of the weakest Democrats just voted with Republicans for legislation that would overturn Biden’s policies and restore Trump-era toughness; in the Senate, Democrats just voted to set outrageous modern precedents just to cover themselves. But despite their best efforts, the problem simply won’t go away – in poll after poll, the issue is at the top of voters’ priority lists and trailing Biden and his peers by a 2-to-1 margin.
According to federal government data, there have been many such cases over the past six months 1,340,801 meetings on our southwestern border. We would otherwise call these encounters “arrests,” except that “arrest” means detention after detention, and under Biden and his Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, the order was issued not to detain them, but to release them into the interior of our country. At current rates, we will “see” nearly 2.7 million illegal aliens this fiscal year. This will be the highest annual total ever recorded, and given the millions who have already been allowed to enter the country since Biden took office, it will mean 9.3 million illegal aliens who will arrive in just four years – and not counting known escapes or unknown escapes. Is it any wonder that the crisis at our southern border is a problem that simply cannot be solved?
Recent Harvard/Harris study shows that immigration is a major issue for voters. When asked, “What do you think are the most important issues facing the country today,” 35 percent of the sample answered “immigration,” putting it at the top of the list.
Worse yet for Democrats, their party’s leader — who is not only the man responsible for cleaning up the policies that caused the mess, but also the candidate who leads their ticket — is significantly underwater on this issue. Recent Economist Poll/YouGov, released last week, asked: “Do you approve or disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling immigration?” Just 29 percent of respondents said they approved, while 61 percent said they disapproved and 49 percent said they “strongly” disagreed.
At least some vulnerable Democrats in the House of Representatives recognize this deadly threat to their political future. Therefore, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), Jared Golden (D-ME), Mary Peltola (D-AK), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), and Don Davis (D-NC) everyone voted two weeks ago for HR 3602 “End the border disaster act” Each is seeking re-election in a competitive race – Golden, Davis and Perez in races rated by the “Toss Up” rankings. Cook Political Reportwhile Peltola and Gonzalez are running in races rated by the same handicaps as “Lean Democrat.”
Only one of these vulnerable Democrats in the House of Representatives – Gonzalez – is running for re-election in the so-called “border state.” Peltola in Alaska, Perez in Washington, and Golden in Maine are about as far from the southwest border as you can be and still be in the U.S., but it doesn’t matter because, as Tea Party Patriots have been saying for a decade, every state is now a border state.
These five vulnerable Democrats followed their votes by issuing a statement: common call that President Biden “apply the authority vested in the executive branch by Congress to immediately reimplement 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(C) and we call on leaders in both the House and Senate today to pass legislation to restore the Border Patrol’s removal authority, which expired last year.” They called for the re-imposition of the Remain in Mexico policy and the restoration of Title 42 authority, which allowed U.S. law enforcement to prevent foreigners from entering our country in the first place.
(Of course, it’s unlikely that one vote and one joint press release would have saved any of the five. If they were really solemn about border security, they would have voted to fire Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and voted for H.R. 2 of the Border Security Act.)
It’s even worse in the Senate. Senate Democrats such as Jon Tester in Montana, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Bob Casey Jr. in Pennsylvania, Jacky Rosen in Nevada, and Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin, were concerned about the consequences of conducting an impeachment trial of Secretary Mayorkas. These Senate Democrats – each of whom is running for re-election this year in contested races – did not want the nation to hear the evidence against Mayorkas. Senate Democrats were so concerned that they decided to cover up the matter before anyone presented any evidence.
They did this through a parliamentary maneuver that allowed them to avoid having to vote on the “guilty” or “not guilty” pleas. Instead, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer raised a point of order, arguing that the first article of impeachment against Mayorkas “did notnot allege conduct that constitutes a serious crime or misdemeanor, in accordance with the requirements of Art. II section 4 of the United States Constitution and is therefore unconstitutional” and should be dismissed. He did the same with the second article of impeachment. So the two key votes that effectively dismissed the charges against Mayorka were actually votes to uphold (or “adopt” in parliamentary parlance) the points of the rules. Upholding the formal motions – made by a basic majority – would dismiss the charges without anyone having to present evidence.
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah opposed it. Specifically referring to the second article of impeachment, which found Mayorkas guilty of lying to Congress, Lee said: “Article II charges him with knowingly making false statements. This is a violation of 18 USC Section 1001 – a criminal offense. If this isn’t a high crime and misdemeanor, what is? If this isn’t irrefutable, what is? What precedent will be set?”
But Democrats I voted down his motion 51-49. Republicans weren’t going to back down. Ten more times they submitted motions to postpone the meeting, close the closed session or postpone it to a later date. Ten more times, Senate Democrats reduced the vote by the same 51-49 margin.
There is no denying this matter. Americans are paying attention – polls show it is the number one issue on voters’ minds. Polls also show that American voters know who is responsible for the crisis at the southern border – which is why Biden’s approval rating on the issue is 2 to 1. Democrats in Congress have spent the last three years writing about the Biden administration’s open borders policy and the mess. that she created. And now the chickens are coming home to roost.
Jenny Beth Martin is the honorary president of Tea Party Patriot Action.
