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Blue State Democrats Really Do Misunderstand the Border Crisis

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  January 16, 2024 6:15 PM

To say there's a problem at the southern border would be an understatement, especially since what is truly a crisis has been made worse under President Joe Biden and his policies. Handling the issue is now the subject of a messy spending fight in Congress. There's some Democrats who acknowledge there's a problem, like Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), but far too many elected Democrats are not giving the issue the attention and concern it deserves.

For many Democrats, especially as Republican governors like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis send migrants over to their cities and states, it's been a display of hypocrisy. That was perhaps no more on display recently than it was with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker's appearance on ABC News' "This Week." 

The governor was asked by host Jonathan Karl about the president's handling of immigration, with a CBS News poll showing that 68 percent disapprove of Biden's handling of the issue. 

"Democrats have been at the table for decades now, wanting immigration reform. Republicans refused. So, finally, they're at least in discussion. My hope is that they'll get something done," Pritzker claimed in part. "But not enough has been done, there's no doubt about that. And I think that the president needs to do more. The Congress needs to do more."

Not only did Prtizker play the blame game, he also brought up Abbott sending over illegal immigrants to sanctuary states all on his own. "Cities out here that are the target of this political game that Governor Abbott is playing, are suffering," he whined, as if border states such as Texas are not.

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"And here in Illinois, it's minus 29 degrees outside with the wind chill. We have migrants that arrive from Texas virtually every day, hundreds, and we don't have places to put them. We don't have enough shelter space here," he went on to say before going for his truly done deaf remarks. 

"There are plenty of other cities where, you know, if he's going to send people, they could be sent, but no. He's choosing only Democratic states, Democratic cities. And when we've asked him to stop sending people because of the weather, because the dangerous nature of this winter storm that we're experiencing now, he's refused to stop sending them. So, he does not care about people. He doesn't care about the, the migrants, he doesn't care about the fact that they're going to suffer if they're sent to certainly the Upper Midwest, as he is doing now," Prtizker added, completely ignoring how Abbott is "choosing only Democratic states [and] Democratic cities" because they're sanctuary states where they're supposed to be accepting these people and be proud of it. 

As Spencer has covered, Abbott, whose office indicates that Texas has sent 30,800 illegal immigrants to Chicago since August 2022, has made clear that the Lone Star State will continue to send these people to sanctuary cities and states until "Biden reverses course" on his open border policies. 

Pritzker isn't just the governor of a Democratic state who evidently doesn't understand what their sanctuary status means. Just as he did on Sunday, he also more recently blamed Republicans for our crisis at the southern border, with some rather surreal spin.

"It's Republicans who haven't been able to come to the table for decades, when Democrats have been at the table," he claimed despite how the Republican-controlled House passed the "Secure the Border Act of 2023" back in May. 

"And Joe Biden is at the table right now, ready to make comprehensive immigration reform a reality, and to secure the border, and it's Republicans who are refusing to do so," he claimed, as he told those in attendance to "take note of who actually wants something done at the border, and who doesn't."

Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) was also asked about the crisis at the southern border, during his appearance on NBC News' "Meet the Press," though he wasn't so willing to regard it as such. 

"Do you think it's a crisis, what's happening at the border," host Kristen Welker directly asked him, though he refused to give a direct answer. 

"Well, I think it could be fixed. I think 'crisis' is-- you know, we certainly have this – I don't want people living outside in Minnesota right now. I think there's the humanity piece of this, and then there's the right that every sovereign nation has a right to control its borders, as we should," he finally said. "More could be done, but they're doing nothing. Congress is doing nothing. The president's asking for more aid for border patrol, not getting it," he claimed, similarly as Pritzker did. 

When asked "do you think the border's secure," Walz first began by applauding border patrol folks before acknowledging we could "absolutely" do better. He went on to give a laughable defense of the president, though, who rescinded many immigration policies of the former president. "And again, if the executive branch had their way, it would have happened on day one. So, I encourage folks... get something done. Send the resources over. We in the executive branch, as a governor, whatever, we follow the laws that are written by the Congress. And there is a broken system," he declared, also looking to place the blame elsewhere. 

It's quite noteworthy that Pritzker and Walz are both working to get Biden reelected. Walz's unwillingness to refer to the crisis for what it is certainly doesn't help the president when it comes to his bid for reelection, though it's not just he who is facing trouble over the issue. After years of Republicans talking about it and planning for it, the House is taking concrete action to impeach Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas over his mishandling of the crisis at the southern border. The House Homeland Security Committee held its first impeachment hearing last Wednesday. 

When it comes to the CBS News poll that Karl mentioned on "This Week," it indeed shows bad news for Biden on the issue. CBS News put out a whole headline last Sunday devoted to the issue, noting "Americans increasingly see border as crisis, call for tougher measures, CBS News poll finds." 

Sixty-eight percent of overall respondents disapprove of Biden's handling "matters concerning the U.S.-Mexico border," while 70 percent say they disapprove of him on the more general issue immigration. 

The poll also shows that 45 percent of respondents describe what's going on at the border as "a crisis." When those respondents, and the 30 percent who said it was "a very serious problem but not a crisis" were asked about their concerns, the response people were most likely to choose had to do with "U.S. resources and ability to handle more people," which 86 percent said they had a concern with, followed by the 81 percent who were concerned with "National security."

"Most say the border situation is very serious, and nearly half now say it's a crisis — up from May — a change in sentiment driven primarily by Democrats and independents," the poll write-up noted, which makes Walz come off as even more tone deaf for his hesitancy. 

Another finding that's particularly telling is how 63 percent of respondents think the Biden administration should be "tougher on immigrants trying to cross at the border," which is an increase from September, and is the highest percentage yet. A plurality of majority of virtually every demographic agrees, except for the 34 percent of those who identify as liberal who say so, while 38 percent of this demographic say the administration "is handling things about as they should be."

But, 43 percent of Democrats say the administration should be tougher, as do 58 percent of Hispanic respondents. 

A plurality of respondents, at 48 percent, responded that "the recent immigrants who have been crossing the U.S.-Mexico border will make American society" will be "worse in the long run."

The poll was conducted January 3-5 with 2,157 U.S. adult residents and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. 

That CBS News poll is not the only one spelling trouble for Biden. As Guy highlighted, an ABC News/Ipsos poll shows Biden with just an 18 percent approval rating for his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border, while 63 percent disapprove. 

Besides the polls, the reality of the effects of illegal immigration don't look good for Biden. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) recently laid out a table pointing to 64 Biden administration actions as well as the monthly number of encounters. Spencer also further broke down just how bad the crisis at the southern border has become under Biden in his VIP column from last Thursday discussing the table. 

Pritzker, Walz, and fellow Democrats can try to spin the issue all they want to, but it's not looking good for their guy.