Biden reversed the most successful border security policy ever created

December 9, 2021

By Tom Homan

From its first days in power, the Biden administration has claimed the border crisis was created because they inherited a broken and dismantled immigration system. I have heard Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Alejandro Mayorkas all make this claim. They then added that it was due to climate change, violence and poverty. Most of these claims can be disproven by simply comparing the current situation to border operations during the Trump years.  

When illegal immigration was down to nearly a 40-year low under President Trump, where was the climate change? Where was the violence and poverty? Sadly, they were all there, but the Trump administration proved that you could still have a secure border despite these factors. It is also important to remember that climate change, violence and poverty are not legal justifications to claim asylum or to make a credible fear claim as laid out in the federal laws explaining the asylum process, at least it wasn’t until the Biden administration changed it.

The talking point that they inherited a broken immigration system is just a distraction from what they are doing. The fact is that the Biden administration inherited the most secure border in my career. The data on arrests and asylum claims clearly show that.

If anyone is dismantling the immigration system, it is the Biden administration. While they systematically reversed the most successful border security polices ever created, they have been lying to the American people and projecting their failures onto their predecessors.

Within the first few days of taking office, Biden discontinued the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP), better known as the Remain in Mexico program. He ended it despite the fact that it was the most successful border security program ever created and resulted in a significant decrease in illegal immigration. Even after officials from the Trump administration, including myself, consulted with his transition teams on multiple occasions about the risks of ending MPP along with the data that clearly shows it was a game changer, Biden dismantled it anyway.

He also ended the Safe Third Country agreements the Trump administration had put in place with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, the homelands of a majority of the illegal migrants entering the U.S. This policy was also effective at stemming illegal immigration into the U.S. and helping to prevent thousands of fraudulent asylum claims. This policy made it possible for migrants who claimed to be fleeing fear and persecution from their home government to make an asylum claim in the first safe country they entered.   

The Biden administration then dismantled the deportation process by placing a moratorium on all deportations. To end consequences for illegal behavior only brings more illegal behavior. The proof can be seen in the caravans and accelerated flow of migrants since Biden assumed office.  

These are just some of the many effective border security policies that have been ended by this administration. As I have said many times before, the border crisis isn’t because of mismanagement or incompetence, it is by design. This was and is the plan of this administration. 

They will continue to dismantle our legal system to import who they believe will be future Democrat voters so they can have perpetual power. That is their plan. There is no other reason to unsecure the most secure border ever. Cartels will make billions of dollars, more women will be sexually assaulted, more children will die and more drugs will flow into the U.S. It is a sickening dereliction of duty by this president and his administration.

I have served six different Presidents starting with Ronald Reagan. Even though I didn’t agree with all of them on matters of border security and illegal immigration, I respected them all because they were the president. Each had his own ideas on how to secure the border and how to address illegal immigration, but they all tried in some manner to do something to uphold our laws in some way.

However, we never had a president until now who would purposely make a border less secure which has resulted in a humanitarian crisis, a public safety crisis, a public health crisis and a national security crisis. Lawsuits against these policies will continue, and I will not tire of doing what I can to assist in any lawsuit that helps to secure our border. Without a border, we are not a country.

Tom Homan is a senior fellow at the Immigration Reform Law Institute and the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Also published at: Tom Homan, Biden reversed the most successful border security policy ever created, The Washington Times, December 9, 2021.