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Notes -
Biden has signed an Executive Order "that will temporarily shut down asylum requests once the average number of daily encounters tops 2,500." Given that the current number of asylum requests far exceeds this figure, the border is effectively shut down now.
On one level, this vindicated conservative commentators and legislators who argued that Congress didn't need to pass any bills to shut down the border. Biden apparently agrees!
On the other level, does this take away some steam from Republicans seeking re-election? That's probably what the Democrats are hoping. "See? We care about border security too! Ignore our behavior for the last 40 months." But is it actually going to be effective? And will they just turn on the spigot once the election is over?
Going back to the bill, was there anything on the bill that would have been allowed Biden to accomplish this executive order better? Does the DHS and Border Patrol need more funds to enact this Executive Order? Or is this something well within their existing abilities?
It also appears that this Executive Order contains some gaping holes. It does not apply to the obvious categories (US Citizens, lawful immigrants who make appointments ahead of time) as well as:
Does this render this toothless and just good PR? Or are Border Patrol Agents likely to be very restrictive in their interpretation of the order?
I generally think most people’s minds are now set (ie Biden is for open borders). The latest change maybe reaches a handful of voters. But the retort is very easily made (ie you could’ve done this at any time but left our border open for years and only changed it within months of the election; shame on you for the harm caused + we don’t trust you).
The other danger for Biden is will he stand up to his left flank (to date he hasn’t).
I predict this will get overwhelmed in the news cycle by Biden shitting his pants at a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of D-day.
Hm. In my feed, both topics are losing out to breathless Hunter trial coverage. At least the pants-shitting would be relevant.
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