The Biden Administration Is About to Make a Big Mistake
The White House’s involvement in Congress’s border talks appears to be taking a hard-right turn.Immigration officials in the Biden administration have signaled to Senate Republicans that they’re open to a swath of Democrat-opposed border policies, including some that were previously tried by Donald Trump, reported The Wall Street Journal.Those include alterations to the asylum process that would make it harder for migrants to get full asylum, by tightening the initial screening procedure, and expanding a fast-track deportation program for use across the country instead of just at the border. The administration has also said it’s open to designating other countries as “safe third countries” as possible deportation zones.It also appears to be in favor of adding 12,000 beds to detention centers, raising the total to 46,500 beds, in an apparent attempt to compromise on a Republican proposal to detain asylum-seekers instead of releasing them with a court date, according to the outlet.At stake for the administration is a contentious foreign aid package to Israel and Ukraine that the GOP has effectively held hostage in exchange for bigger changes at the border—though it also comes as the latest in a series of blows that Biden has made against his own voting base, particularly young voters and people of color, making it harder for the president to turn to their linchpin support again in the upcoming election.“Extreme Republicans are playing chicken with our national security, holding Ukraine’s funding hostage to their extreme partisan border policies,” Biden told Congress in a speech on Wednesday. “And I’m willing to do significantly more. But in terms of changes to policy and to provide resources that we need at the border, I’m willing to change policy as well.”“I’ve asked for billions of dollars for more border agents, more immigration judges, more asylum officers,” he added. “Republicans have to decide if they want a political issue or if they want a solution at the border. Do they really want a solution?”Young voters have also come out in droves against Biden’s unwavering support of Israel, a move that could radically depress voter turnout for the incumbent.A November survey by The New York Times/Siena College showed that the president was neck and neck with Trump among voters younger than 30, with Biden pulling at 30 percentage points and Trump at 29 percent. Meanwhile, conspiracy-touting independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. inspired 34 percent of the surveyed young voters.“We write to you to issue a very stark and unmistakable warning: you and your Administration’s stance on Gaza risks millions of young voters staying home or voting third party next year,” read an open letter to Biden penned by March for Our Lives, GenZ for Change, and the Sunrise Movement.
The White House’s involvement in Congress’s border talks appears to be taking a hard-right turn.
Immigration officials in the Biden administration have signaled to Senate Republicans that they’re open to a swath of Democrat-opposed border policies, including some that were previously tried by Donald Trump, reported The Wall Street Journal.
Those include alterations to the asylum process that would make it harder for migrants to get full asylum, by tightening the initial screening procedure, and expanding a fast-track deportation program for use across the country instead of just at the border. The administration has also said it’s open to designating other countries as “safe third countries” as possible deportation zones.
It also appears to be in favor of adding 12,000 beds to detention centers, raising the total to 46,500 beds, in an apparent attempt to compromise on a Republican proposal to detain asylum-seekers instead of releasing them with a court date, according to the outlet.
At stake for the administration is a contentious foreign aid package to Israel and Ukraine that the GOP has effectively held hostage in exchange for bigger changes at the border—though it also comes as the latest in a series of blows that Biden has made against his own voting base, particularly young voters and people of color, making it harder for the president to turn to their linchpin support again in the upcoming election.
“Extreme Republicans are playing chicken with our national security, holding Ukraine’s funding hostage to their extreme partisan border policies,” Biden told Congress in a speech on Wednesday. “And I’m willing to do significantly more. But in terms of changes to policy and to provide resources that we need at the border, I’m willing to change policy as well.”
“I’ve asked for billions of dollars for more border agents, more immigration judges, more asylum officers,” he added. “Republicans have to decide if they want a political issue or if they want a solution at the border. Do they really want a solution?”
Young voters have also come out in droves against Biden’s unwavering support of Israel, a move that could radically depress voter turnout for the incumbent.
A November survey by The New York Times/Siena College showed that the president was neck and neck with Trump among voters younger than 30, with Biden pulling at 30 percentage points and Trump at 29 percent. Meanwhile, conspiracy-touting independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. inspired 34 percent of the surveyed young voters.
“We write to you to issue a very stark and unmistakable warning: you and your Administration’s stance on Gaza risks millions of young voters staying home or voting third party next year,” read an open letter to Biden penned by March for Our Lives, GenZ for Change, and the Sunrise Movement.
