The Biden Administration Continues To Mishandle the Border and Misuse the Military

There is a crisis on the southern border that continues to grow exponentially and unbelievably.  What is even more unbelievable is the Biden Administration’s break from reality and denial of what is going on—and the corresponding lack of an appropriate response to what is taking place. The seriousness of what is happening on our southern border cannot be overstated at this point.  The United States is in danger on multiple levels because of what is taking place and there is literally no response from the Biden team that matches the threats we are facing.

Drug cartels have operational control of the U.S. border.  They control who crosses, when they cross, how many are in each group, and the amount of money that is required to enter the United States.  While people are caught trying to smuggle drugs or people into the U.S., the cartels know the U.S. border agents are overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people who illegally cross. Thus, they use the porous border and its huge expanse to smuggle people and drugs into the country at places where there are no border agents.

Meanwhile, the crowds continue to surge at the border.  In the last two fiscal years, over 4 million people have been apprehended crossing illegally.  Experts estimate that almost one million more have crossed without being apprehended, the so-called got aways.  While some are deported, hundreds of thousands are admitted into the U.S. and asked to appear at an immigration hearing on a distant date, most of whom never show up for the court proceeding.  Then there are also thousands of people temporarily held on the U.S. side of the southern boundary.  These people must be housed, fed, clothed, and supervised while they are being processed.

This is where the Biden Administration came up with a plan that is both impractical and insulting.  A memo was distributed at the Pentagon this week encouraging people in the U.S. military to volunteer for duty along the southern border.  The deployment will be in 60-day increments.  But they will not be there to guard the border, assist the border patrol, or interdict the massive amounts of drugs being smuggled into our country.  No, our military is asked to serve as housekeepers and errand runners for the illegal aliens.  The request for assistance is from the Department of Homeland Security and the listed duties include, among other things, picking up trash, cleaning refrigerators, going to pick up prescription medications for the immigrants, and helping in the sorting, cleaning, and distribution of the immigrants’ clothes and other personal possessions. Other federal agencies have also been asked to send volunteers.  But at the Pentagon, a memo was distributed with instructions to give it high priority.

This is a vivid illustration of how the Biden Administration does not understand the military.  It also illustrates how senior leadership at the Pentagon—civilian and uniformed leaders—do not grasp the diminishing morale in the ranks.  The Department of Defense is missing its recruiting goals by tens of thousands.  Senior leaders have given enlisted service members instructions on how to apply for food stamps.  Our troops, like most everyone else, are struggling with inflation and the cost of food, gasoline, and other necessities.  Service personnel are turned off by some senior leaders’ emphasis on critical race theory and accusations of domestic terrorism in the ranks.  And now, military leaders want their people to be separated from their families for 60 days so they can do housekeeping for people who came to the U.S. illegally?  And it is not that troops believe they are too good for this duty.  They believe in selfless service.  But this is not what they train to do; janitorial and errand services are not the purpose of the military.

The border has devolved into an emergency.  The border is not secure, in spite of the disingenuous declarations of the White House and DHS.  Fentanyl is killing thousands of people in the U.S.  Sex trafficking, and other forms of human trafficking, are at an all-time high.  People crossing the border unlawfully are not just from Central and South America.  They are more and more from all over the world, including Iran, Afghanistan, Africa, Europe, and Russia.  Almost 100 of those apprehended are on the terror watchlist.  We do not know how many people in the got away group are also terrorists.

There are answers to the border crisis.  But in order to address a problem, one first has to admit there is a problem—something the Administration refuses to do. But that answer is not sending uniformed military volunteers to help care for immigrants.  The answer does mean that our President and Vice President should volunteer to go to the border—even for one day.  Neither of them has been there and witnessed the chaos and the human tragedy. 

The answer is to have a secure border wall.  The answer is for Congress to immediately quit the partisan games and enact comprehensive immigration reform.  The answer is to enforce the existing immigration laws, as crossing the border without permission is against the law.  The answer is not to add 87,000 additional IRS agents, but rather to increase the size of the border patrol—where CBP agents are overworked and underpaid.  Perhaps, the answer is to declare fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction (since 100,000 Americans each year are being poisoned by the drug) and designating the Mexican cartels as terrorist groups.

Americans must demand that our political leaders acknowledge the crisis at our border and be intentional about doing everything possible to fix it.  One way to give voice to that demand is to vote in the November midterm elections.  We can also sign the ACLJ petitions here to stop human trafficking and stop the humanitarian crisis on the border that impacts children.

Your voice can make a difference.