Since last Thursday morning, on the U.S.–Mexico border:This morning, Geraghty notes,From October to March, in the current fiscal year, the Customs and Border Patrol has apprehended 5,018 individuals with criminal convictions — about double the total for fiscal year 2020, higher than fiscal year 2019, and below the total for fiscal year 2018.
- McAllen Border Patrol station agents encountered a large group of 107 illegal aliens entering south of La Joya, Texas.
- Rio Grande Valley Sector agents disrupted three human-smuggling events resulting in 15 arrests.
- Other border agents in the Rio Grande Valley arrested three sexual predators and a gang member within 72 hours.
- Border Patrol agents arrested the leader of a human-smuggling organization, a 43-year-old Mexican national who had “become a top target for San Diego Sector after several investigations indicated he orchestrated smuggling events throughout San Diego County.”
- CBP agents at the Pharr International Bridge apprehended a man after discovering he had an arrest warrant from the Dallas Police Department for felony child-sexual-assault charges.
Those apprehended so far this year have been convicted of 576 counts of assault, battery, and domestic violence; 265 sexual offenses; 381 counts of burglary; 162 counts of illegal weapons possession or transport; 832 counts of driving under the influence; and three counts of homicide or manslaughter. (One individual may be convicted of more than one of those crimes.)
[T]here is no mention of these particular events or the situation at the border on the front pages of the New York Times, the Washington Post, or USA Today. CNN mentions that the Biden administration has secured agreements for Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala to tighten their borders with more troops in an effort to stem the flow of migration.That first sentence is not surprising, but the second sentence is. Mr. Biden is evidently adopting, at least partially, one of the measures employed by Donald Trump. Had he of course built on Trump's border policy rather than tearing it all down, and for no better reason than that it was Trump's policy, we wouldn't have this mess on the border in the first place.
In any case, it's encouraging to see that the president is inching back toward sensible actions to stem the tsunami of people seeking to cross our border.
Who knows, perhaps we'll soon be reading that President Biden has authorized completion of the border wall and implementation of a "Remain in Mexico" policy that will require anyone seeking asylum in the U.S. to remain in Mexico until their case is adjudicated.
Just kidding. I very much doubt that Mr. Biden will embrace Mr. Trump's tactics, and if he does he almost certainly won't give Mr. Trump credit for getting it right or even acknowledge that he's adopting the policies of his predecessor.
It would, after all, be humiliating for Mr. Biden to implicitly acknowledge that Mr. Trump was right and he, Biden, was wrong on immigration, so it'd be shocking if he were to adopt Trump's plan for dealing with the problem. Better to muddle along leaving the present calamity unresolved than have to confess that the immigration policy of the detestable Trump was wiser than his own.
