National Populist Newsletter
May 7th-14th
News:
United States
Immigration
Title 42, the last remaining Trump-era immigration enforcement regulation, ended this week. As many of you know, Title 42 was created to remove migrants due to the COVID-19 health crisis quickly.
The border was a disaster even before the end of Title 42, but ending the program this week has made the situation so much worse. Over 83,000 migrants illegally crossed the border this week, the highest amount ever recorded during a seven-day period. To give a reference point, that’s more migrants being apprehended at the border in the last seven days than from Feb. to May 2017.
It’s important to remember that while Title 42 is responsible for expelling more than 2 million migrants, more than 5 million were able to enter the interior of the U.S. It should not be viewed as a solution to help our situation at the border. It helped, but only a little.
When migrants come in these large waves or caravans, it’s to overwhelm the system, so they will be released into the interior of the country with a notice to appear in court. Breitbart News reported that many asylum seekers' notices aren’t until 2027 or 2033. If they manage to have a child during that time period, their removal process will slow to a crawl. Many administrations, both Republican and Democrat, are less likely to deport people if they have children who are citizens. Once the child is an adult, they can sponsor their parents for a family visa (what’s known as chain migration.)
President Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy slowed that process by forcing migrants to wait on the other side of the border to process their asylum claims. It wasn’t perfect, but it helped. President Biden ended Remain in Mexico when he came into office, though it’s still in place for people from select countries like Haiti, Cuba, and Venezuela. It’s important to note that a majority of all asylum claims are denied.
Yet, as much as organizations like the ACLU, Catholic Charities, and other religious organizations want to say it’s about lawful asylum claims and helping out those persecuted in their home countries, it’s not. The Toronto Star did a feature on an Afghan national named Najib, who entered ten countries to get to the Mexican/American border. Najib said he was being persecuted by the Taliban and needed asylum, but if it was just about public safety, why didn’t he declare asylum in any of the other ten countries? Plenty of Middle Eastern and Arab-majority countries take refugees where he would more likely know the language and integrate more easily into society. Because no other countries have such loosely enforced immigration laws, birthright citizenship, and a generous welfare state, this has nothing to do with asylum.
The asylum laws currently on the books are some of the biggest problems when it comes to our immigration laws and absolutely need to be reformed.
The Daily Caller reported that the Tucson and Yuma sectors of the border are 219 percent and 269 percent over capacity, respectively. Up from 154 percent and 136 percent from last week.
With the number of migrants overwhelming border agents, most stay in border custody for just a few minutes before entering the interior of the United States. (Washington Free Beacon)
We’re only one week into the border crisis, and politicians on both sides of the aisle are fearing the fallout. Immigration is an issue that overwhelmingly helps Republicans more than Democrats. Most registered independents and swing voters are more closely aligned with the GOP when it comes, especially to the border. The seminal issue helped Donald Trump win the Republican nomination and the White House. Politico reported that Democrats in a number of swing states, including Ohio, West Virginia, Arizona, and Montana, are already beginning to sweat. Sens. Brown, Manchin, Sinema, and Tester have signed on to a proposal to extend Title 42 until 2025 when they will no longer be up for re-election. They’re facing stiff resistance from liberals in their coalition. Sens. Schumer and Durbin are working on a different security bill. Remember, last year, nine Senate Democrats voted in favor of a border security bill that was just shy of passing, showing how nervous they were about the issue.
In the House, Republicans passed a border security bill that would address many concerns addressing our entire immigration system. The New York Times reported that the bill cuts funding to NGOs that shelter and transport migrants, constructs a full border wall, reinstates the “Remain in Mexico” policy, increases the number of immigration judges and border agents, as well instituting E-Verify to mandate that companies don’t hire illegal aliens. The bill passed on partisan lines, with only two Republicans (Massie and Duarte) voting against it. A previous version of the bill which would have cracked down on bogus asylum claims, was watered down substantially by liberal Republicans like Tony Gonzalez from Texas. The bill is unlikely to become law, but it’s both a marker for where House Republicans stand on the issue and can be used against House Democrats in November 2024 if the situation becomes worse.
The Biden Administration is spinning from political fallout and pressure from vulnerable Democrats. The Washington Post reported that the administration is at war with themselves, deeply divided on how to tackle the subject. Roberta Jacobson, a former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, and Katie Tobin, a former U.S. asylum officer who had worked in Mexico for the United Nations, issued a memo calling for more detentions and deportations, but it met opposition from progressive White House immigration advisers Esther Olavarria and Tyler Moran.
Unlike Trump, Biden is taking lawsuits from both sides of the aisle. Republicans in Florida successfully sued the Biden Administration to stop from “paroling” migrants through the southern border without a court appearance, allowing them quick entry into the interior of the U.S. At the same time, progressive activists in California are suing the Biden Administration over a new rule that limits asylum applications for migrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, and Nicaragua who enter through the southern border instead of the new pathway in their home country. (The Los Angeles Times)
Parole is a term you may hear a lot over the next few weeks. “Paroling” a migrant is when the government forgoes many of the judicial oversight to grant a migrant the ability to enter the US, work, visit family, and do various other things they’re limited to as a regular asylum seeker waiting to see a judge. This was created for rare circumstances granted on an individual basis, like if a foreigner needed to enter the US to visit a dying family member. Since then, multiple administrations (especially Obama and Biden) grant sweeping parole to thousands of people at a given time. Axios reported that Congressional Democrats are asking the President to grant sweeping parole of migrants to allow them to work while they’re waiting for a court hearing. This will only increase the magnet for illegal aliens entering the US.
It’s not just Democrats in Washington. States and municipalities across the country are overwhelmed by the number of migrants coming across the border. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has temporarily suspended the city’s guarantee of shelter for anyone who needs it. The New York Times reported that Adams said, “We’ve reached our limit.” Gov. Hochul announced she supports the decision by the mayor. More than 61,000 migrants have come to the city in the last year, and that’s expected to increase to 1,000 per day now that Title 42 has been lifted. The situation is so dire in the city that public schools are being used to house migrants.
Even upstate New York is feeling the pressure from the overwhelming number of migrants coming to the country. The New York Post reported that two dozen struggling veterans were booted from their hotel rooms to make room for migrants.
New York isn’t alone. The city of Denver is expected to burn through $20 million in the next six months to tackle the crisis. In Portland, Maine, basketball arenas are housing hundreds of migrants. The border crisis is going to bring many of these cities, which already were struggling financially, over the brink. Many will have to start cutting services to accommodate the number of migrants. Keep an eye out for that to be a key talking point during November’s local elections in places like New Jersey, Virginia, New York, and Pennsylvania.