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The Title 42 order that former President Trump imposed early during the COVID-19 pandemic blocked migrants from seeking asylum and allowed the U.S. to expel migrants from the border. President Biden’s effort to lift the order was temporarily halted by the U.S. Supreme Court last month, maintaining border patrol agents’ authority to expel. Straight Arrow News contributor Ruben Navarrette believes that despite Biden’s attempts to lift Title 42, the sitting president “stole” much of Trump’s immigration playbook and Republicans are “too dumb” to convert Latino Biden supporters to their side.
Trump proposes to build a wall, a big beautiful wall on the U.S.- Mexico border, but he only manages to complete a small portion of it. Biden criticizes the wall while running for president. But once he’s elected, now, what’s he doing? His administration has been spending its time and resources trying to patch up whole sections of that same wall.
Trump invokes Title 42 to keep foreigners out of the country under the pretense of stopping the spread of disease and protecting public health. Biden criticizes the policy while running for president. But then, once he’s elected, he keeps it in place for the first two years of his administration.
Trump creates the “remain in Mexico” policy to warehouse asylum-seekers on Mexico soil while their court cases are being heard. Biden condemns the policy, naturally, while he’s running for office. Once he gets into office, sure enough, he ends it. But Republican governors take Biden to court to get him to reinstate the policy. And the Supreme Court ultimately sides with Biden and authorizes him to allow asylum-seekers to stream back across the U.S.-Mexico border. But Biden, who is in no hurry to see that kind of spectacle, let alone on the eve of an election year, isn’t celebrating. Rather, his staff at the White House is busy trying to devise a plan to keep asylum-seekers south of the border. Now who does that sound like? And this is the open-border guy? That’s what they say.
How dumb are Republicans? Do they not see what Biden is actually doing? Or do they see it but then they turn around and outright lie about it to the American people? Either way, what’s dumb is that by continuing their broken record mantra, accusing Biden of being lenient on the border, Republicans are not hurting Biden. With who? Conservatives? They’re not going to vote for him anyway.
If you want to hurt a politician, go after the votes he’s getting from the people who are already supporting him. Here, the GOP is squandering the chance to weaken Biden support among the pro-immigration Left, including the Latino voters who helped put him in office. The GOP has the opportunity to drive a wedge between Biden and his Latino supporters, and maybe even send some of those disgusted Latinos into the waiting arms of Republicans. All they have to do is stop lying about what Biden is doing, and start telling the truth. But Republicans won’t do that. You know why? They’re too dumb.
