Joe Kent complains about “Joe Biden’s lax border policies,” but he fails to mention that the Biden administration is obligated to follow the law (“Democrats hypocritical on border,” Local View, March 2). President Biden could have invoked executive action, but as Republicans know, and as they said in 2019, “we need to change the laws.”
A coalition of Republicans and Democrats tried to do just that. They worked together to come up with a bipartisan immigration bill. It would, among other things, have provided $20 billion for border security, $1.4 billion for cities and states, 4,300 asylum officers, raised the legal standard for seeking asylum, and restricted border crossings when they rise about a certain daily average.
It passed in the Senate, but was dead on arrival in the House, simply because Trump told his followers in the House to vote against the bill. Why would he do that? He wants to use the threat of migrants invading the U.S. to campaign on. He said the bill, if passed, would be “a great gift to Democrats.” He also bragged about preventing the bill from passing.
Republicans, including Kent and Trump, don’t want to solve problems. They just want to complain.
