The ability of presidents to make immigration policy decisions unilaterally has long been plain. Barack Obama, , was denounced by some progressives as the “deporter-in-chief” over his istration’s relatively aggressive efforts beginning in 2009 to remove undocumented individuals — then praised for his Deferred Acceptance for Childhood Arrivals initiative in 2012 that allowed more than 800,000 young people to work lawfully, get educated and go about their lives without fearing deportation. When President Donald Trump took office in 2017, he imposed the strictest rules on immigration seen in decades. Despite court challenges, Obama’s and Trump’s policies survived largely intact.
This backdrop makes President Joe Biden’s years of depicting himself as powerless to prevent the 7.8 million illegal border crossings seen since he took office in 2021 all the more bizarre. These crossings were a direct result of executive orders he swiftly issued that led to the phenomenon of migrants who entered the U.S. without permission seeking out border agents and turning themselves in. On Tuesday, as polls showed unchecked immigration to be a huge cause of concern for voters across the political spectrum, Biden abruptly reversed ground and issued a new order meant to decisively limit immigration.
Many progressives saw the decision as inhumane and indefensible. Many conservatives saw it as full of loopholes. But in the larger picture, Biden’s handling of the issue is deeply frustrating to those who don’t fit neatly in either camp and who have long ed comprehensive immigration reform and more legal immigration — including The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board. Biden’s policies haven’t just soured those on the right. They’ve turned some leaders of very liberal cities into immigration bashers. It wasn’t a shock jock or a paleoconservative who said migrants threatened to “destroy New York City.” It was New York Mayor Eric Adams.
Biden accepted the arrival of millions of people into the U.S. without doing remotely enough to add the resources needed to determine who had legitimate cause to seek asylum because of persecution in their home countries — and without providing nearly enough resources to first border communities and then the cities across the nation that had to deal with the influx.
The contrast with Obama is striking. After careful review, he upheld the idea that asylum should not be extended to economic refugees. He then concluded existing rules were simply not fair to individuals brought to the U.S. while very young. His vice president’s initial one-size-fits-all approach to immigration invited the backlash America is now witnessing.
If Trump returns to office, he promises his own one-size-fits-all approach — a radical plan for massive deportations. In previous eras, this would have alarmed many millions of people. After the Biden chaos, it no longer seems unfathomable — or even unpopular. This ominous and alarming development could have been avoided with smarter leadership from the Oval Office.
