America is entering an immigration crisis less than two months into President Joe Biden’s first term in the White House.
United States Customs and Border Protection announced that the southern border has seen a massive surge in illegal crossings. In February alone, the agency reported 100,441 attempted entries — a 28% increase since the previous month.
The situation quickly led to an influx of unaccompanied minors in government custody; the number of children under Customs and Border Protection tripled in the last two weeks alone. Currently, federal officers are holding over 3,200 unaccompanied minors in government facilities — or, as Biden and members of his administration styled them before inauguration day, “kids in cages.”
According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, the Biden administration is “creating a humanitarian, security, and health crisis with words and deeds that have sparked the greatest surge of illegal migration in our nation’s history.”
Though President Biden is presiding over the highest number of “kids in cages” ever, he campaigned for the White House on the promise of reuniting children with their parents. However, as Cabot Phillips notes, “rather than breaking the pattern of detaining children, he’s breaking the record for detaining children.”
Some Americans are old enough to remember the Biden-Harris platform’s declaration that a “moral failing” is evident when “children are locked away in overcrowded detention centers and the government seeks to keep them there indefinitely.” The Democrats promised to “immediately reverse the Trump Administration’s cruel and senseless policies that separate parents from their children at our border” within the first 100 days of Biden’s presidency.
As his administration marks its fiftieth day, President Biden is running out of time.
Here are examples of President Biden and Vice President Harris condemning Trump for putting “kids in cages” before they began doing essentially the same at far higher rates.
President Biden
‘Huddled Masses Yearning To Breathe Free’
In 2019, Biden remarked that the United States is “not a country that detains migrant children indefinitely or denies them access to soap, toothbrushes, or beds.”
We are not a country that detains migrant children indefinitely or denies them access to soap, toothbrushes, or beds.
We are a country that welcomes those in search of a better life—the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
Trump doesn't get that. https://t.co/g6JoyGaHrb
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 27, 2019
“We are a country that welcomes those in search of a better life — the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” he said. “Trump doesn’t get that.”
Less than two years later, Biden would indeed fulfill his promise to welcome the “huddled masses” to America — more specifically, to “temporary shelters” on the southern border.
‘Tossing Aside Our Values’
Commenting on his 2019 immigration roundtable in Nevada, Biden condemned the Trump administration for “ripping apart immigrant families” and “putting children in cages.”
One year ago, this Administration began ripping apart immigrant families. Putting children in cages. As I told @Astrid_NV and other brave activists today, we can fix our broken immigration system without tossing aside our values. pic.twitter.com/zYCz1PViOX
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 8, 2019
Biden also insisted that the United States could “fix our broken immigration system without tossing aside our values.”
Perhaps the White House will “circle back” on that promise sometime soon.
‘Cruel And Abhorrent’
“It is cruel and abhorrent to strip migrant children of the few protections they have,” said Biden in August of 2019. “It’s not enough this administration puts children in cages without soap and beds, now it wants to keep them there indefinitely. This isn’t who we are.”
Nevertheless, roughly 1,400 children currently detained at the southern border by the Biden administration have been in custody past the typical 72-hour limit.
Biden promised to “eliminate President Trump’s decision to limit asylum and undo his executive orders that eliminated Obama-Biden enforcement priorities on national security and public safety,” on “day one.”
Though it is unclear which policies Biden specifically had in mind, perhaps he was referring to President Obama’s decision to build the cages in the first place?
Vice President Harris
‘American Can Be Better Than This’
Then-Senator Kamala Harris said that Trump’s policies — including “children in cages” — indicated that the nation was “facing a leadership crisis in the White House.”
We’re facing a leadership crisis in the White House. From referring to white supremacists as “very fine people,” to putting children in cages, to sabotaging our country’s health care, we know America can be better than this — but it's on us to build it. https://t.co/hgY8EFul0k
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 22, 2019
“We know America can be better than this,” she quipped.
As with her former primary debate comments accusing Biden of racism, Harris must have lost these remarks in a Ministry of Truth memory hole.
‘Inhumane’
Commenting on a video about the medical effects of child detention, Harris expressed concern that “the trauma these children experience will live on for decades to come.”
The trauma these children experience will live on for decades to come. It’s absurd that it needs to be repeated: ripping babies away from their parents to put them in cages is inhumane. pic.twitter.com/w76tiZUJmC
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) February 20, 2019
“It’s absurd that it needs to be repeated: ripping babies away from their parents to put them in cages is inhumane,” she added.
‘Immigration Justice Is On The Ballot’
During her campaign for the Democratic nomination, Harris declared that “justice for immigrants is on the ballot” when “children are ripped from their parents and put in cages.”
When children are ripped from their parents and put in cages, immigration justice is on the ballot. pic.twitter.com/gtSlFQAn5V
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 11, 2019
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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