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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   8033 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 7, 2026

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Biden didn't really ignore the law on immigration. One could make the argument (which I would agree with) that he ignored the spirit of what the law intended, but his parole abuse followed the letter since every applicant technically received an individual decision, and the DHS asserted individualized "significant public benefit" findings. The definitions of those things were so wishy washy that it could mean almost anything. Republican states tried to sue, then fell victim to another way in which immigration law was busted: technicalities around standing. They actually did fix that issue in 2025 though with the Laken Riley Act.

Biden didn't really ignore the law on immigration. One could make the argument (which I would agree with) that he ignored the spirit of what the law intended, but his parole abuse followed the letter since every applicant technically received an individual decision, and the DHS asserted individualized "significant public benefit" findings. The definitions of those things were so wishy washy that it could mean almost anything.

I would consider "pretending words mean what we want them to mean instead of what they actually mean so we can technically follow the law" the same as just ignoring the law.

Biden's interpretation wasn't so egregious that a "reasonable" person would say it's completely unfounded based on the text alone. Usually we'd have courts decide these sorts of things, and they almost did! But then the court case got thrown out for lack of standing because, again, US immigration law is a trainwreck and badly in need of reform.

aka: Biden interpreted "shall" to mean "only when I want to, and I never want to", and TheAntipopulist will never, ever, ever, ever recognize it or grapple with it.

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