Here’s one for the ages: during the 2024 presidential campaign, Democrats told the American people that the border couldn’t be closed without legislation and that candidate Donald Trump had directed the Republicans in Congress not to vote for a bill that purported to shut the border. Was that claim stupid or evil? It was certainly nonsense. What was going on?
Two things, of course. First, the Democrats were simply lying to the American people (claiming that any bill was necessary)—but there was nothing new in that. They had lied repeatedly:
And then they had the nerve to lecture America on the danger Trump presented to the country! You can’t make this stuff up.
But back to the border, which is now essentially closed (in case you’ve been secluded in a monastery for the last six weeks praying . . . for a secure border).
Remember: It couldn’t be done without legislation!
Joe Biden said in January 2024, “I’ve done all I can do. Just give me the power I’ve asked for from the very day I got into office. Give me the Border Patrol. Give me the people, the judges. Give me the people who can stop this and make it work right.”
He’s the one person whom we may be able to forgive: he was so demented by then, he may (emphasis on “may”) actually have thought he needed legislation to close the border. Other Democrats don’t have that excuse.
Here’s Kamala Harris in December 2022: “Reform of our immigration system can only happen through Congress in terms of the passage of an immigration bill that allows for a legal pathway to citizenship and a legal presence in the country.” Actually, she is thought to be so stupid, she may even have believed that—reason enough, of course, why she should not be president.
But what excuse do the rest of the Democrats have? Here are comments from a gaggle of either ignorant or dissembling Democrats.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said in June 2024: “My belief from the beginning has been that you need legislation in order to shut down the border absent a public health emergency, and I think that’s probably what the courts will conclude.”
Here’s Karine Jean-Pierre (Biden’s White House press secretary) in January 2024: “Congress needs to act. They must act. Speaker Johnson and House Republicans should provide the administration with the policy changes and funding needed.”
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), February 2023: “If you listen to my Republican colleagues, you’d believe Joe Biden single-handedly broke our immigration system and refuses to fix it. They keep this lie alive by perpetuating a series of myths about Democrats and the border.”
Alberto Benitez (professor, director of George Washington University Law School’s “Immigration Clinic”), February 2024: “A president doesn’t have the unilateral authority to shut down the border. If a president did, the prior president would have done it. Even the prior president, who had a particular perspective on immigration, never shut down the border. There needs to be buy-in from Congress that a border shutdown is necessary, which there never has been.”
Kathleen Bush-Joseph (policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute think tank), February 2024: “President Biden needs Congress to be able to address the situation at the border. That is the simplest way to put it.”
Taylor Levy, immigration attorney, February 2024 (AP News): “Just point blank, that Biden could do this on his own is just not true. There’s simply not enough asylum officers.”
And finally, for now, CBS News, February 2024: “After the Title 42 pandemic-related border restrictions ended last spring, the Biden administration enacted a regulation that presumes migrants are ineligible for asylum if they enter the U.S. without using any of the legal immigration pathways it created and have passed through a third country without seeking asylum. But the administration has not been able to implement the asylum restriction at scale because it does not have the necessary officers, detention facilities and money. . . . Only Congress can change U.S. asylum law.”
But—surprise, surprise—the border is now essentially closed, without the help of Congress. According to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, only 200 illegals were encountered at the southern border on February 22, down from nearly 30,000(!) in January.
And the American people are happy with the result of Trump’s policy. On immigration, 56 percent approve of Trump, while Biden was at only 34 percent. Eighty-one percent support “deporting immigrants who are here illegally and have committed crimes.” Seventy-six percent support “closing the border with added security and policies that discourage illegal crossings.”
So which was it? Were the Democrats who said it couldn’t be done without legislation stupid or evil?
Don’t rule out both.
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Daniel Oliver is Chairman Emeritus of the Board of the Education and Research Institute and a Director of the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy in San Francisco. In addition to serving as Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission under President Reagan, he was Executive Editor and subsequently Chairman of the Board of William F. Buckley Jr.’s National Review.
Email Daniel Oliver at Daniel.Oliver@TheCandidAmerican.com.