Joe Biden’s open-border policies have caused so much damage to the country that Congressional Democrats are very worried about the political ramifications and are running for cover. In the House, some of the most vulnerable Democrats just voted with Republicans for legislation that would overturn the Biden policies and return to Trump-era toughness; in the Senate, Democrats just voted to establish outrageous new precedents simply to cover themselves. Yet, despite their best efforts, the issue just won’t go away – in poll after poll, the issue is at the top of voters’ priority lists, and it cuts 2-to-1 against Biden and his ticket-mates.
Over the last six months, according to the federal government’s own figures, there have been 1,340,801 encounters at our southwest border. We would otherwise call these encounters “arrests,” except that “arrest” connotes detention after apprehension, and under Biden and his Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, the order has been given not to detain them, but instead to release them into the interior of our country. At the current rate, we’ll “encounter” almost 2.7 million illegal aliens this fiscal year. That'll be the highest yearly total ever recorded, and with the millions that have already been allowed to enter the country since Biden took over, it will amount to 9.3 million illegal aliens entering in just four years – and that’s not counting the known gotaways, or the unknown gotaways. Is it any wonder the crisis at our southern border is the issue that simply won’t go away?
A recent Harvard/Harris survey shows that immigration is the top issue for voters. When asked, “What would you say are the most important issues facing the country today,” fully 35 percent of the survey sample responded “immigration,” placing it at the top of the list.
Even worse for Democrats, their party leader – who isn’t just the man responsible for ordering the policies that created the mess, but is also the candidate who leads their ticket – is significantly under water on the issue. A recent Economist/YouGov poll, fielded just last week, asked, “Do you approve or disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling immigration?” Just 29 percent of the respondents said they approve, while 61 percent said they disapprove – with 49 percent saying they “strongly” disapprove.
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At least some vulnerable House Democrats recognize this mortal threat to their political futures. That’s why Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), Jared Golden (D-ME), Mary Peltola (D-AK), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), and Don Davis (D-NC) all voted two weeks ago for H.R. 3602, the the “End the Border Catastrophe Act.” Each of them is running for reelection in a competitive race – Golden, Davis, and Perez in races rated “Toss Up” by the Cook Political Report, while Peltola and Gonzalez are in races rated “Lean Democrat” by the same race handicappers.
Only one of these vulnerable House Democrats – Gonzalez – is running for reelection in what used to be called a “border state.” Peltola in Alaska, Perez in Washington, and Golden in Maine are about as far away from the southwest border as one can be and still be in the U.S., but that makes no difference, because, as Tea Party Patriots has been saying for a decade, every state is now a border state.
These five vulnerable Democrats followed up their votes by issuing a joint call for President Biden “to use the authority given the executive by Congress to immediately reimplement 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(C) and we are calling today on leaders in both the House and Senate to pass legislation to give Border Patrol back the expulsion authority that expired last year.” They called for the reimposition of the Remain in Mexico policy and the reinstatement of Title 42 authority, which allowed U.S. law enforcement authorities to prevent aliens from entering our country in the first place.
(Of course, one vote and one joint press release is unlikely to save any of the five. If they’d been truly serious about border security, they would have voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and they would have voted for H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act.)
In the Senate, it’s even worse. Senate Democrats like Jon Tester in Montana, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Bob Casey, Jr., in Pennsylvania, Jacky Rosen in Nevada, and Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin were all alarmed about the implications of holding an impeachment trial for Secretary Mayorkas. These Senate Democrats – each of whom is running for reelection this year in contested races – did not want the nation to hear the evidence against Mayorkas. These Senate Democrats were so worried that they decided to bury the case before anyone ever presented any evidence.
They did so by means of a parliamentary maneuver that allowed them to avoid having to vote “guilty” or “not guilty” on the charges. Instead, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer raised a point of order, claiming that the first article of impeachment against Mayorkas did “not allege conduct that rises to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor, as required under article II, section 4 of the U.S. Constitution and is, therefore, unconstitutional” and must be dismissed. He did the same with the second article of impeachment. So the two key votes, the votes that effectively dismissed the charges against Mayorkas, were actually votes on whether or not to sustain (or “take,” in parliamentary language) points of order. Sustaining the points of order – something done by simple majority vote – would dismiss the charges without anyone ever having to present evidence.
Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah objected. Referring specifically to the second article of impeachment, which claimed that Mayorkas was guilty of lying to Congress, Lee said, “Article II accuses him of knowingly making false statements. This is a violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1001 – a felony offense. If this is not a high crime and misdemeanor, what is? If this is not impeachable, what is? What precedent will be set?”
But the Democrats voted down his motion, by 51-49. The Republicans would not roll over. Ten more times, they offered motions to delay, or to go into closed session, or to adjourn until a later date. Ten more times, Senate Democrats muscled the votes down by that same 51-49 margin.
There is no hiding on this issue. The American people are paying attention – the polls show that this is the number one issue on voters’ minds. And the polls also show American voters know who’s responsible for the crisis on the southern border – that’s why Biden’s approval rating on the issue is 2-to-1 against him. Congressional Democrats have spent the last three years covering for the Biden administration’s open-borders policy and the mess it has created. And now the chickens are coming home to roost.
Jenny Beth Martin is Honorary Chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action.
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