Joe Biden's not going to fool anybody. This last-ditch election ploy to curb the flow of illegal immigrants coming into the U.S. looks to be vague, riddled with exceptions and frankly unenforceable.
Then again, does anybody really believe Mr. Biden wants to enforce any limits to illegal immigration? Don't think so.
I mean, here's a guy whose policies have already let in at least 10 million illegals, with all the horrors that accompany that number, including sex trafficking, drug trafficking, kidnapping, crime — an enormous expense to taxpayers.
Joe Biden refuses to invoke Section 287(G) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which empowers the border authorities to work with local police enforcement in sanctuary cities in order to identify, catch and then deport criminals. Now, an effort like this would pay huge dividends and would send the right message to the illegals themselves, wherever they're from.
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There will be a numbers game coming out of the White House, but frankly, nobody's going to believe it. I've seen estimates that when migration is limited to 2,500 per day, if you put that out for a full calendar year, the crossings would hit about 912,000, but hundreds of thousands more have come in using the CBP One phone app.
Of course, Biden just recently issued an executive order to let in roughly 400,000 through a mass parole scheme. Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans — they can all fly directly into America. That's another 400,000.
So, an analysis in the New York Post suggests Biden's new crackdown could still permit 1.75 million new arrivals every year. Now, does anybody have confidence he'll even implement that? My thought is: How about zero illegals entering into the U.S. each year?
Personally, I'm very much in favor of legal immigrants, maybe a million or so each year. That, by the way, was a number proposed by then-President Trump, but let's not blur the distinction between legal and illegal.
Legal immigrants who speak English, who know some American history and civics, who can provide evidence that they have a job waiting for them, or are going to make a significant investment into American business — these are all ideas that were put forward by the Trump administration, using a point-based system that shows "qualifying" or "non-qualifying."
This policy, by the way, copied from countries like Canada, New Zealand and Australia — who have very successful legal immigration programs — but the Democratic Congress would have none of Trump's plan. Now, Joe Biden never mentions a plan for legal immigration reform, and that's a pity, because a good plan would solve so many problems.
Now, one more point: In his brilliant speech in Waukesha, Wis., earlier in May, Mr. Trump talked about the spiraling cost of illegal immigration and how that's going to damage major entitlement programs. Take a listen to what he said.
FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP: I mean, it's just, it's going to end up cutting Social Security by allowing millions and millions, which is not sustainable, of people coming into our country through the southern border. | You're going to destroy Social Security. You're going to destroy Medicare. You're going to destroy the fabric of the country. It's not sustainable. It's not affordable by any country.
This is such an important point. So far, cost estimates for food and housing and health care are running upwards of $150 billion — that’s according to the House Budget Committee. In all likelihood, the true cost is much greater, but Trump’s point is so important. The spiraling costs of illegal immigration will, in fact, crowd out America's basic entitlement system, and this is a problem that no one but Mr. Trump has dared raise.
On the other hand, just ask taxpayers on the street who are already footing the high-cost bills of illegal immigration. Joe Biden can pretend all he wants that he's solving this problem, but the reality is nothing is going to change. Nothing is going to change until, that is, the White House changes hands.
This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the June 4, 2024, edition of "Kudlow."
