The New York Times reports that the president’s domestic policy advisor, Susan Rice, is stepping down.
This comes a week after the paper reported that Rice had complained that the administration’s policies were driving the entry of tens of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children.
That was a rare — albeit off the record — moment of truth from a White House that has repeatedly denied any responsibility for its border disaster.
Things at the border were much different before Biden arrived, largely thanks to the last administration’s policies.
He ended the successful Remain in Mexico policy and, in a switch from all his predecessors, abandoned deterrence of illegal entrants as a border policy.
Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, says there are now “safe, lawful, and orderly pathways” for unauthorized aliens to enter the United States.
But the results have been anything but.
“Orderly” — Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 2.2 million illegal migrants at the southwest border in FY 2022, an all-time record. That doesn’t include an additional 599,000 “gotaways,” illegal immigrants who crossed and successfully evaded apprehension. Agents are now overwhelmed, and increasingly unable to stop the flood of cartel drugs into our communities.
“Safe” — Tragically, at least 890 migrants died at the border last fiscal year, drawn by the administration’s permissive policies and the hope of living here permanently. That’s an increase from 568 deaths in FY 2021 (most on Biden’s watch), and more than in all of FY 2018 to FY 2020 combined. The death toll would have been higher had agents not performed 22,000 rescues last year, nearly as many as in the prior three fiscal years.
“Legal” — On March 8, US Judge Keith Wetherell found that Biden’s migrant release policies— which he asserted were “akin to posting a flashing ‘Come In, We’re Open’ sign’” at the southwest border — violated congressional mandates requiring those aliens, with only limited exceptions, be detained.
By my count, Biden has released 2 million-plus illegal migrants at the southwest border since taking office, including more than 277,000 migrant kids.
It’s the job of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) at the Department of Health and Human Services to place those children with responsible “sponsors” in the United States, but a recent House oversight hearing revealed that ORR’s negligence under Biden has “endangered” migrant kids, leaving more than more than two-thirds working at “illegal, full time jobs, often in factories and in hazardous conditions.”
Worse, ORR has apparently lost contact with 85,000 of them.
The Biden administration has chosen efficiency over safety in finding sponsors for those vulnerable kids.
In FY 2020 under Donald Trump, migrant children spent 102 days on average in ORR’s care while it vetted would-be sponsors. Today, that same process takes just 25 days.
Immigration policy is in Rice’s portfolio, but few know who’s really calling the shots at the border.
Regardless, Title 42 is scheduled to end May 11, and with that, DHS expects migrant entries to double.
Rice may be responsible for Biden’s feckless immigration policies, but nobody would blame her for getting out before things get a lot worse.
Andrew Arthur is the Center for Immigration Studies’ resident fellow in law and policy.