Biden at the border: long overdue visit does not hide immigration crisis

Joe Biden's visit to the country's southern border was, in addition to being brief and superficial, long overdue. Specifically, it came two years after taking office as president, in which he has presided over the biggest migration crisis in U.S. history.

The data speaks for itself. During Biden's presidency, illegal border crossings from Mexico have increased significantly. Last year, Border Patrol apprehended more than 2.3 million illegal immigrants at the southern border, an all-time high. In 2021 this number was 1.7 million.

These are figures far removed from those recorded during the Trump administration. In Trump's first year in office, there were fewer than half a million immigrants apprehended at the border, the lowest since 1971. The figure remained low until fiscal year 2019, when illegal alien crossings increased to close to one million. These numbers are still far below those recorded during Biden's two years in office.

Change of course

Despite these numbers, the Biden administration continually refuses to take action regarding the immigration crisis. Neither the petitions of the affected states, which went so far as to declare the crisis as an invasion, nor the alarming scenes at the border a reaction from the president

However, once the midterms concluded, Biden finally decided to show up at the border for just a few hours and establish new measures to try to reduce the migratory flow. These measures include maintaining Title 42, a measure promoted by the Trump administration which was harshly criticized at the time by the Democratic Party, led by Joe Biden.

Biden's visit was a delayed reaction to a situation that is almost certainly doomed to failure, which several leaders blame on Biden's inaction. Others simply see the move as trying to save face. Former Republican Congresswoman Mayra Flores outlined this with a photo she shared on Twitter: