Get ready—the next great legislative battle of the 117th Congress finally may be here. In yet another radical move, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) formally inquired whether Democrats could use something called budget reconciliation to pass Joe Biden’s $2 trillion “infrastructure” bill.
Consider the old bromide that “politics ends at the water’s edge.” This was rooted in the idea that while there may be robust discussion internally on issues of international import, there is an assumption that in the end a bipartisan consensus must be established around policies that touch upon our international relations.
From that iconic moment when he rode down the escalator at Trump Tower through the end of his one term as president, few deny that Donald Trump’s driving legacy as Commander-in-Chief was immigration reform. His promise to combat illegal immigration and “build the wall” rallied Americans and upset the balance of power centered around the political establishment in Washington.
As it continues to ignore the wholesale breach of our nation’s borders, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) just announced the launch of “Uniting for Ukraine,” a historic effort to welcome 100,000 Ukrainians into the U.S. through various admission pathways—most prominently through humanitarian parole.
The full details have yet to be announced, but early indications are that this program will be yet another example of the Biden administration usurping congressional authority through an expansive and illegal use of humanitarian parole.
A new report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimates that the illegal alien population has increased to approximately 15.5 million as of the end of 2021, up from 14.5 million in 2020. The report also estimates that this population now costs American taxpayers a net of at least $143.1 billion annually – an increase of $9.4 billion from last year.
Since taking office, the Biden administration has made a point of not just rolling back everything that former President Donald Trump did to secure the southern border and deter illegal immigration, but also dismantle nearly all immigration enforcement measures on the books. This undermining of immigration enforcement ranges from protecting nearly all illegal aliens (including most serious criminals) from deportation to reinstating the Obama-era practice of catch-and-release.
With the turn of the calendar and the unofficial start of the 2024 campaign cycle, President Biden took two steps designed to quell the growing furor over his handling of the raging, self-inflicted border crisis.