Well, actually, no. They're not making progress. They created a little bit of fleeting 'progress' by changing some rules for a brief period of time, but the cartels have adapted -- conditions at the border have again deteriorated dramatically in recent weeks. It's unclear whether our chronically unprepared and apathetic border czar/Vice President is aware of what's happening on the ground, given her striking lack of interest in the issue, or whether she's just intentionally distorting reality for political reasons.
She's doing one or the other here, or a little bit of both:
"So you think the [border] strategy is working — despite the numbers being up?"
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 10, 2023
KAMALA HARRIS: "Overall, we are seeing progress, but we're not gonna have a constant. There are gonna be fluctuations. That is normal, just like the weather fluctuates..." pic.twitter.com/y0elWFYaGV
Blather about "fluctuations" is meaningless. The crisis started raging as soon as Biden took office and hasn't relented. It's historically, unsustainably disastrous. And the fact that she's still stuck on "root causes" nonsense means that she hasn't bothered updating her useless talking points since she was first assigned this job. She doesn't even bother to pretend to take it seriously. The crisis has very little to do with the situations in other countries. It is overwhelmingly about what our policies and incentives are in this country, and those policies and incentives have resulted in roughly seven million illegal crossings on the current administration's watch. And counting. Nothing about this is 'normal,' a word Harris uses, unwisely. According to a new CBS News poll, Americans are not terribly impressed with the women who's one heartbeat away from the presidency:
Vice President Kamala Harris' job approval – at 41% overall - continues to track closely with President Biden's.https://t.co/a8VumFwO6E pic.twitter.com/8KvYoMHSQn
— CBS News Poll (@CBSNewsPoll) September 10, 2023
Less than one-third of independents approve of the job she's doing in the role, with 60 percent hearing or knowing little-to-nothing about what she's even doing. They might be even less impressed if they actually followed her, um, 'work.' Among Democrats, these aren't exactly indications of strong or growing enthusiasm about her either:
Dems’ enthusiasm about Harris on the ticket is lower now than it was when she joined it in 2020.
— CBS News Poll (@CBSNewsPoll) September 10, 2023
Today most Dem voters are satisfied w/ Harris as Biden’s running mate in 2024, but fewer are enthusiastic. pic.twitter.com/E6zSZvkv7V
A 28-point drop in enthusiasm, giving way to more resigned "satisfaction," with dissatisfaction among the party faithful doubling since the summer of 2020. Returning to the border crisis, Texas is already shooting down a trial balloon about he administration trying to relieve the crisis-fueled crunch on blue cities and states by forcing more illegal immigrants to stay in Texas and down at the border. The Lone Star State's governor is having none of it:
Recommended
Biden considers forcing migrant families to remain in Texas.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) September 8, 2023
This scam was tried years ago & was shot down by a judge.
We will send Biden the same swift justice.
And, we will add even more buses of migrants to Washington D.C.https://t.co/732FdGZ8jB
Speaking of that wildly successful bussing policy, a few more notes on the numbers and the logistics:
And Texas has only bused <40,000 people in total.
— Anna Giaritelli (@Anna_Giaritelli) September 8, 2023
2 million people have been released from the border and traveled into the US interior ... only 2% took Abbott's buses
Question is where are the other 1,960,000 people https://t.co/Es3phPTVE9
Los Angeles Media (@latimes 👀) - stop with the misinformation.
— Seth W. Christensen (@christensen2023) September 10, 2023
Claims that passengers on Texas’ Border Buses don’t have anything to eat throughout the ride are absolutely 💯 false.
Here’s a reminder of the steps taken ahead of each bus mission⬇️ https://t.co/7p8eiaS1Q1