During his visit to the southern border, former President Donald Trump rightly argued that the Biden administration did not inherit the border crisis.
“Blame Trump” seems to be the mantra of the Biden White House. And lately, it has been using this drawn-out tactic to avoid blame for the mess on the southern border.
“We inherited a tough situation,” Vice President Kamala Harris said last week in El Paso, Texas. In April, President Joe Biden complained that his administration had “one god-awful mess at the border.”
On his visit to the border today, Trump seized the opportunity to defend his administration’s record on border security. He touted his efforts to combat drug and human trafficking. And he highlighted the successes of the “remain in Mexico” policy and the end of both “catch and release” and “chain migration.”
Trump’s policies certainly stemmed the flow of migrants across the southern border. From fiscal year 2018 to fiscal year 2020, Border Patrol encounters of people in a family unit fell by 56%. Encounters with unaccompanied and accompanied minors decreased by 43% and 50%, respectively.
The once-feared border wall was effective for Customs and Border Protection agents. Apprehensions in the El Paso sector decreased during fiscal year 2020. And since the implementation of the wall system, Zone 1 of the Rio Grande Valley Sector has seen a drop in apprehensions and narcotics seizures.
On drug trafficking, the former president’s record is more mixed. From fiscal year 2018 to fiscal year 2020, southern border seizures of marijuana, cocaine, and heroin dropped by 31%, 23%, and 5%, respectively. However, CBP data also suggests that seizures of meth and fentanyl on the southern border increased by 108% and 139%, respectively, in the same period.
It is important to note, though, that a Department of Homeland Security press release stated that the border wall system could redirect drug smuggling operations to ports of entry where they are more likely to be seized.
Contrast the relative successes of the Trump administration with the clear failures of the current administration. Since day one, Biden has sought to undo many of his predecessor’s border security policies.
The result? CBP encounters of unaccompanied minors have risen by 140% since fiscal year 2020. In response to travel restrictions, criminal organizations have shifted their operations. And more cocaine and more fentanyl have been seized so far in fiscal year 2021 than in all of fiscal year 2020.
The Biden administration is right when it acknowledges that the situation on the border is “one god-awful mess.” But make no mistake: It did not inherit the crisis from Trump.
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Tags: Donald Trump, Greg Abbott, Texas, Border Crisis, Immigration, Republicans
Original Author: Samuel Kim
Original Location: Trump is right. Biden did not inherit the border crisis
