OPINION:
The most glaring omission from President Biden‘s speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night was his shameful failure to address — or even acknowledge — the illegal-immigration crisis at the southern border.
A “mea culpa” would have been nice, but that was neither in the cards, nor on the teleprompter.
Speaking to the nation on the eve of his 100th day in office, Mr. Biden called perfunctorily for “comprehensive immigration reform,” but not until nearly an hour into his unimpressive and unpersuasive 67-minute speech.
Even then, he did so without taking responsibility for the out-of-control surge of illegal immigration into Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico that has occurred since he took office on Jan. 20.
Mr. Biden lit the fuse on that time bomb within hours of arriving in the Oval Office by rescinding most of the actions his predecessor, President Donald Trump, had taken to secure the border. Among other things, he halted construction of the border wall and ended the “stay in Mexico policy” for migrants and would-be asylum-seekers.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures, 172,331 migrants were taken into custody at the southwest border in March alone, the highest monthly total since at least 2006. That was up from 100,441 in February and 78,442 in January.
The president didn’t mention the human tsunami he loosed on the border, but Rep. August Pfluger did.
“No mention of the crisis at our border,” the Texas Republican complained on Twitter shortly after Mr. Biden finished reciting his multitrillion-dollar to-do list.
“Biden just said, ‘Doing nothing is not an option.’ If that’s the case, Mr. President, why hasn’t your administration taken action on the crisis at our border?” Mr. Pfluger tweeted. “Doing nothing is jeopardizing the safety of Americans.”
Mr. Biden isn’t “doing nothing,” exactly. He did order immigration officials to stop referring to “illegal aliens” and call them “undocumented noncitizens” instead.
In an interview on the Fox Business cable network on Thursday, the morning after Mr. Biden‘s address, Mr. Trump said illegal immigration is “out of control.” He added that if it continues unabated, “it will destroy our country.” That’s hardly hyperbole: A country that loses control of its borders loses its sovereignty.
Mr. Trump noted that all Mr. Biden had to do was leave in place the strong border controls it inherited.
He didn’t, of course, which is how he brought the problem on himself and the country. That, in turn, explains why the president didn’t mention it in his speech.
Even more indicative of the disturbing nonchalance with which his administration has treated the explosion of illegal immigration is Mr. Biden‘s having tapped Vice President Kamala Harris as his point person on the issue back on March 24.
More than five weeks later, she has yet to visit the border. That’s beyond irresponsible.
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