It’s a tale of two immigration policies, and for illegal aliens, the Biden years were the best of times.
Since President Trump’s inauguration in January, the United States has returned to an aggressive posture on the enforcement of immigration law and the integrity of our nation’s borders. The president and his cabinet have been clear they will use the full force of federal law enforcement and all the diplomatic tools at their disposal to properly detain and deport illegal aliens and deter them from coming. The administration is deporting illegal aliens to foreign countries. In El Salvador, that nation’s that nation’s maximum-security prison (CECOT) is accepting criminal illegal aliens deported from the U.S., many of them known violent gang members. While these policies have been criticized in the media and challenged in the courts, their intent is to keep Americans safe.
This is a stark difference from the Biden Administration’s immigration enforcement activities– or the lack thereof. President Biden oversaw the largest influx of illegal aliens into the U.S., not only allowing the illegal entry of approximately 10 million aliens but also using taxpayer money to facilitate the entry of migrants.
The administration’s goal was to reduce the number of southern border crossings – not by strict enforcement, but just the opposite. It was concerned about safety and convenience for (you guessed it) illegal aliens.
The Biden administration used a little-known program to open Safe Mobility Offices (SMOs) in foreign countries, including Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Guatemala, essentially recruiting would-be border crossers to assist them with paperwork and logistics of relocating here while bypassing the border entry process altogether.
The Biden State Department described the program: “The Safe Mobility Initiative, launched in June 2023, is part of the U.S. government’s holistic approach to promote safe, orderly, and humane migration management.” The goal was to “manage” illegal immigration instead of stopping it. Management evidently meant the quick placement of illegal immigrants throughout the U.S.
The House Judiciary Committee investigated this Biden priority. It found that the State Department partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to facilitate the entry of aliens in a way that reduced the risks associated with border crossing. Biden’s State Department employed teams of people ready to assist these migrants at SMOs with novel legal theories and procedures for entering the U.S., potentially abusing humanitarian asylum process. For example, if an alien was found not to be eligible for entry, SMO staff would consult with UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to try to find alternative and aggressive options for their entry. Upon approval of their relocation, these foreign aliens became eligible for loans to facilitate their travel to the U.S. and upon arrival, they then became eligible for all the same federal safety net benefits available to citizens, including Supplemental Security Income, Medicaid, and SNAP.
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Fortunately, SMOs were largely unsuccessful. Although the Biden administration did not release a public goal for the number of migrants it wanted to help get into the country, per the House Judiciary committee, as of October 2024 only 66,758 had been referred for potential settlement in the U.S.
More investigative work is necessary on SMOs. That’s why my organization, Center to Advance Security in America, has filed suit this week to uncover records and communications on the creation, direction, and implementation of these offices. The American people deserve to know why their tax dollars were being used by an American administration to coordinate with unelected UN bureaucrats to recruit, and facilitate the travel of foreign migrants into the U.S.
The Trump administration is off to a great start, but transparency on SMOs and other Biden era immigration failures is crucial to establishing a sound, long-term law and order immigration policy.
James Fitzpatrick is the Director of the Center to Advance Security in America, a former official in the Trump 45 administration, and an Army veteran.