風蕭蕭_Frank
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得州政府武力抗拒聯邦移民政策，政府無解，讓，德州得寸是死，不讓，立刻決裂聯邦，死。
得州屯兵怒懟白宮，拜登前途掛在鐵絲網上
第一財經•昨天 21:46聽新聞
作者：孫卓 責編：謝涓舉報
伊格爾帕斯（Eagle Pass）是美國得克薩斯州馬弗裏克縣的一個小城，與墨西哥接壤。沿著伊格爾帕斯主街散步時，街上的精致店鋪展示著皮革製品、陶器和衣服鬥篷等，再加上獨具風格的建築，以及餐館裏供應的正宗墨西哥菜肴，讓人恍如置身於墨西哥。
這座寧靜的小城，近日因為一場移民危機陷入了劍拔弩張、屯兵抗令的風暴中。
伊格爾帕斯附近的一小部分美墨邊境，正是得州政府與聯邦政府在邊境管理和安全問題上對峙的風暴眼。
在美國得克薩斯州邊境城市伊格爾帕斯，巡邏人員走在新建的邊境牆邊。新華社資料
根據新華社的報道，得州國民警衛隊在美墨邊境設置帶刺鐵絲網等屏障拒絕非法移民進入，同時也將美國聯邦執法人員拒之門外。
當地時間1月29日，得克薩斯州副州長帕特裏克（DanPatrick）稱，盡管最高法院上周下令允許聯邦執法部門拆除該州設置的屏障，但該州將繼續在美墨邊境修建刀片刺網和其他圍欄。“我們正在盡一切努力架設電線。”帕特裏克說，“我們會繼續。我們不會停止。如果他們（聯邦政府）砍掉它，我們就會繼續更換它。”
帕特裏克威脅稱，如果拜登政府派遣邊境巡邏隊清除障礙，得州將與聯邦政府“對抗”。
“孤星行動”獲得25個州支持
“上周五（1月26日）我們前往州軍隊去感謝他們、支持他們，希望在拜登政府向那裏派遣邊境巡邏隊的情況下能與他們站在一起。”帕特裏克還表示，“明智的是，拜登政府沒有這樣做。我們很慶幸他們沒有這樣做。我們不想發生對抗，但我們希望邊境安全。”
白宮稱，得州國民警衛隊封鎖了聯邦邊境巡邏隊進入伊格爾帕斯靠近邊境地區的謝爾比公園（Shelby Park）的通道，該地區曾經被聯邦機構用於臨時的移民處理中心。
美國最高法院在上周裁定，聯邦政府可以取消得克薩斯州在該地區的障礙，確保聯邦執法部門能夠進入邊境的所有地區。
得克薩斯州州長阿博特立即回應稱，該州有權擊退“非法移民入侵”，州執法部門可以“逾越”聯邦法律。
3名移民馱著兒童穿越美國得克薩斯州伊格爾帕斯附近的美墨界河格蘭德河，試圖進入美國。新華社資料圖
阿博特此前宣布了耗資110億美元的邊境安全計劃“孤星行動”，其中包括多項措施阻止非法移民進入該州，包括設置刀片刺網、在格蘭德河放置大型水浮標以及修建部分州邊境牆。
在今年1月，州長阿博特部署的得州國民警衛隊控製了謝爾比公園後，聯邦邊境巡邏人員稱，他們無法在該地區處理闖入的非法移民。
負責監督邊境巡邏隊的國土安全部上周要求得州總檢察長帕克斯頓（Ken Paxton）在周五之前“允許聯邦特工進入謝爾比公園”。然而，帕克斯頓拒絕了這一要求，並稱得州官員不會允許國土安全部將該地區變成“非官方和非法的入境口岸”。
“你的請求特此被拒絕。”帕克斯頓在信中寫道。
帕克斯頓承諾，“得州將努力保護其南部邊境，防止拜登政府破壞該州憲法自衛權的一切行為。”
得州執法部門在聲明中稱，謝爾比公園地區仍向公眾開放，但美國海關和邊境保護局已被禁止進入該地區。
當地時間25日，25個州的共和黨州長共同簽署了一份聲明稱，他們支持得州州長阿博特在邊境管製問題上與聯邦政府進行“激烈鬥爭”。
共和黨州長協會網站周四發布的這封聲明批評拜登政府，並表示得州擁有憲法規定的自衛權。“我們與州長阿博特和得克薩斯州團結一致，利用一切工具和策略，包括鐵絲網，以確保邊境安全。”
“得州正在為他們的州和這個國家的主權而戰。”佛羅裏達州總檢察長穆迪周一在X（前為Twitter）上寫道。“我和其他25名州檢察長一起致信給拜登總統和國土安全部部長馬約卡斯，傳達的信息很簡單：如果你們不能自己執行法律，那就讓開，這樣各州可以自己來。”
在上周五的新聞發布會上，白宮發言人皮埃爾（Jean-Pierre）稱，阿博特州長“無視聯邦法律”是可恥的。“我們繼續看到這些政治噱頭，我們繼續看到這些政治遊戲。”皮埃爾說，“這不安全。這無助於解決問題。”
皮埃爾還表示，移民政策的任何改變都必須經過國會批準，並重申簽署方應與其參議員和眾議員合作，推進立法改革。
移民議題幾乎與經濟同等重要
作為美國數十年來政治分歧最大、最複雜的問題之一，移民與邊境危機正在成為2024年大選的首要問題。
2024年美國總統選舉黨內初選階段正在展開。以剛剛結束的艾奧瓦州黨團會議和新罕布什爾州初選為例，盡管美國這兩個提前投票的州距離美國西南邊境數千英裏，當被問及“在共和黨總統初選中哪個問題最重要”時，有大量的選民認為，移民議題幾乎與經濟同等重要。
移民和邊境安全一直是美國前總統特朗普在2016年競選成功的一項核心內容，主張在美墨邊境大規模修建邊境牆。在宣布參加2024年的競選後，特別是在目前非法移民激增和邊境危機愈演愈烈之後，特朗普在最近每一場的競選演講中都會號召他的支持者“團結起來對抗‘拜登邊境危機’”。
特朗普稱，如果當選，他計劃嚴厲打擊非法移民，甚至也要打擊合法移民。特朗普發誓要實施“美國曆史上最大規模的國內驅逐”，並將簽署一項終止出生公民權的行政命令。紐約州和伊利諾伊州等多個“移民庇護州”多次批評特朗普和共和黨州長“反移民、反民主”。
在被民主黨點名批評後，得州州長阿博特開始將大量非法闖入的移民通過巴士運往民主黨所在的庇護州。數月後，不堪移民大巴重負的民主黨州長和市長開始“反轉”，要求拜登“立即采取措施，解決邊境移民闖入問題”。
“在整個拜登政府中，它（移民問題）使其他一切問題都黯然失色。”跨黨派的移民政策研究所（Migration Policy Institute）高級研究員奇什蒂（Muzaffar Chishti）表示。
根據美國移民局的數據，在2023年12月，美墨邊境非法闖入的移民數量達到創紀錄的30.2萬人次，逮捕人數在2022財年達到創紀錄的220萬人次。在2023年，有超過10萬名移民已被運送到華盛頓、洛杉磯和紐約等城市。
“當社會對移民進行有序吸收時，這通常不會被注意到。但突然出現戲劇性數量的一群人時，這就變成了一種不同的問題。”奇什蒂說。
最新的民意調查顯示，移民正在成為拜登的一個主要政治弱點。目前，拜登在移民問題上的支持率隻有18%，這是自ABC新聞和華盛頓郵報2004年1月開始進行相關民調以來，所有美國總統的最低支持率。
拜登正在競選連任美國總統。他日前表示，白宮團隊正在同國會兩黨議員就一項移民法案進行談判，以嚴肅應對“邊境危機”。
據新華社報道，美國專欄作家胡利奧·裏卡多·巴雷拉認為，輿論壓力或讓拜登在移民問題上采取更強硬的立場和政策，以對衝特朗普在移民問題上的優勢，但可能會減損進步派和拉丁裔群體對他的支持。
有分析認為，邊境安全是特朗普贏得2016年美國總統選舉的主要抓手，支持他的選民群體包括白人藍領、未受過大學教育者等，他們希望聯邦政府實施更強硬的移民和邊境政策，加上拜登在移民問題上處於劣勢，特朗普競選或將主要圍繞移民問題展開。
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得邊境係統已經壞了，拜登移民政策戲劇性轉變
據紐約時報1月30日報道 拜登總統上任第一天就暫停了幾乎所有的驅逐行動。他發誓要結束川普政府的嚴苛做法，對那些希望來到美國的人表示同情，並確保南部邊境的安全。
對拜登來說，這是一個原則問題。他希望向世界展示美國是一個人道的國家，同時也向他的同胞們證明政府可以重新發揮作用。
但是，隨著邊境的混亂和拜登連任希望的渺茫，這些早期的承諾基本上被擱置一旁。越境進入美國的人數達到了創紀錄的水平，比川普執政時期增加了一倍多。庇護製度仍然支離破碎。
上周五，總統懇求國會授予他關閉邊境的權力，以便他能夠遏製美國曆史上規模最大的一次失控移民潮，這與早期的情況相比發生了戲劇性的轉變。
“如果被賦予這種權力，”拜登在一份聲明中說，“我會在簽署法案使之成為法律的當天就使用它。”
造成這場危機的一些情況超出了拜登的控製範圍，比如委內瑞拉的崩潰、全球移民人數的激增，以及試圖阻撓他解決這些問題的共和黨人的頑固。他們拒絕提供資源，阻撓更新法律的努力，並公然藐視負責維持2000英裏邊境線安全和秩序的聯邦官員。
但《紐約時報》基於對超過35名現任和前任官員及其他人的采訪，對拜登過去三年的記錄進行了調查，結果顯示，總統未能克服這些障礙，邊境和全美各大城市的人道主義危機日益加劇。許多選民現在表示，移民問題是他們最關心的問題，而他們對拜登正在解決這一問題沒有信心。
拜登為移民開辟了合法途徑，並開始重建難民係統，同時也接受了前總統川普的一些更具限製性的策略。但這些努力很快就被抵達邊境的龐大人數所淹沒，拜登有時也未能注意到兩黨日益增長的憤怒情緒。
在2020年競選期間，拜登表示，他將成為其前任反移民政策的一劑良藥。但他在白宮內部主持了一場激烈的鬥爭，顧問們主張加大執法力度，而反對者則力主更加歡迎移民。這場爭論也隨著這個國家的轉變而展開。在經曆了多年的通貨膨脹、經濟困境和政治兩極分化之後，公眾在美國是否應該吸收更多移民的問題上出現了分歧。
拜登從2020年誓言“結束川普對移民社區尊嚴的攻擊”的候選人，變成了2024年 ”願意在邊境問題上做出重大妥協”的總統。這一轉變可以從五個關鍵時刻中看出。
兒童抵達
2021年春天，來自中美洲的兒童開始成千上萬地穿越邊境，其中許多孩子非常小，他們希望與已經在美國的親人團聚。總統的第一反應是同情。在羅斯福廳舉行的一次會議上，他命令他的高級助手前往邊境，了解那裏令人絕望、人滿為患的情況。
他還要求查看照片。拜登認為，他當選總統是為了以人道的方式處理移民問題。成千上萬的移民兒童被塞進擁擠的邊境拘留所，這與大多數人對拜登總統任期的想象大相徑庭。
這是對拜登移民議程的第一次重大考驗，也是對他所承諾的“更友好的方式”能否奏效的第一次考驗。在2020年競選總統期間，拜登承諾暫停驅逐出境，限製移民和海關執法局（Immigration and Customs Enforcement）的突襲行動，投資庇護係統，關閉私人移民監獄。上任第一天，拜登就向國會提出了一項龐大的移民法案，為數百萬已經生活在美國的無證移民提供入籍途徑。
但共和黨人予以反擊。他們宣告拜登的移民改革方案將胎死腹中，並警告說，人販子和走私者將利用新總統開放邊境的虛假承諾將移民輸送到美國——據幾位現任和前任美國官員說，政府內部的一些人也同意這種風險。
總統駁斥了這些批評。他從來就不是一個想要廢除移民和海關執法局或將越境合法化的民主黨人。但他的一位長期助手稱，他決心向選民證明，政府是可以發揮作用的，尤其是在經曆了川普總統任期的混亂之後。
孩子們在擁擠的難民營裏的畫麵與他想要展示的完全相反。他一度對邊境的混亂感到沮喪：“要解決這個問題，我需要解雇誰？”
據參加會議的一名高級官員透露，在白宮西翼，總統的顧問們就是否將這些孩子送回墨西哥舉行了緊急會談，但拜登拒絕了。
總統說，把他們送回去是不合情理和不人道的。
遣返海地人
拜登的歡迎姿態很快受到了考驗。
2021年4月，他擴大了逃離本國幫派暴力的海地人在美國的居留人數。但美國政府同時決定，如果大批海地人湧入邊境，美國將利用新冠時代的一項名為“第42章 ”的權力將他們遣送回國。
沒花多長時間，2021年9月，在為期16天的時間裏，19752名海地人進入了德克薩斯州德爾裏奧國際大橋（Del Rio International Bridge）下的臨時營地。
拜登迅速譴責了邊境巡邏人員騎馬圍捕移民的令人震驚的畫麵，並承諾這些人員 “將付出代價”。
但一位前官員表示，白宮也施加了巨大壓力，要求清理大橋。白宮西翼的國家安全顧問們每天兩次通電話，協調政府應對人道主義危機，這場危機隨後也迅速演變成了一場政治危機。
由於邊境巡邏隊將海地人驅逐出境的能力有限，許多海地人被允許留在美國，並被通知在移民法庭出庭。但數千人被驅逐出境。在一些日子裏，有多達39架航班滿載著移民飛往海地首都太子港（ Port-au-Prince）。
政府稱之為“減壓”。
快速的驅逐行動暴露了政府內部的分裂，而這種分裂隻會隨著時間的推移而加劇。
與拜登關係密切的人士表示，他一直支持執法。他的一些高級助手，如直到去年夏天一直擔任他的國內政策顧問的蘇珊·賴斯（Susan E. Rice）和他的國家安全顧問傑克·沙利文（Jake Sullivan），都體現了這種強硬的態度。
“移民和尋求庇護者絕對不應該相信那些在該地區兜售的想法，即邊境會突然全麵開放、對所有人進行處理，”賴斯在拜登就任總統之初曾說過。
但政府中的其他人則認為，對待海地人的做法背叛了拜登承諾維護的價值觀。
在會議上，顧問們抱怨說，一些移民在沒有機會請求庇護的情況下就登上驅逐航班，也沒有被告知他們要去哪裏。
總統的前海地特使丹尼爾·福特（Daniel Foote）說：“最初他們說，‘我們要擺脫川普政府的東西’，但後來他們意識到，那是我們把人擋在外麵的唯一辦法。”他在政府把海地人遣返後辭職，以示抗議。
拜登麵臨的壓力越來越大，他必須找到一個解決方案。
他把目光投向了一個可以通過有意義的新移民法的地方，但幾十年來一直沒有這樣做：國會。
民主黨的抗議
華盛頓的共和黨人基本上無視拜登的請求，沒有坐到談判桌前幫助修複移民係統。而在國內，共和黨官員提出了他們自己的計劃。
在2022年4月的一次新聞發布會上，德克薩斯州州長格雷格·阿博特（Greg Abbott）發誓要“把邊境交給拜登總統”，將成千上萬的移民送往民主黨領導的城市。
這隻是個噱頭，但卻奏效了。
6月中旬，巴士抵達洛杉磯市中心。去年9月和平安夜，他們在副總統卡瑪拉·哈裏斯（Kamala Harris）的家門前放下了移民。佛羅裏達州州長羅恩·德桑蒂斯（Ron DeSantis）將一飛機的人送往自由派精英的度假勝地瑪莎葡萄園（Martha’s Vineyard）。大巴湧入紐約市。
民主黨領導人應接不暇。他們呼籲總統出麵，稱湧入的人群消耗了他們的資源。紐約市長埃裏克·亞當斯（Eric Adams）說，如果沒有聯邦救助和邊境管製，移民潮 “將摧毀紐約市”。
要求邊境安全的人不再隻是川普或前總統的首席移民顧問斯蒂芬·米勒（Stephen Miller）這樣的共和黨人。
政府爭先恐後地滿足民主黨的要求，提供更多資金，加快工作許可的辦理。
但對移民大巴的討論顯然改變了圍繞這一問題的討論。民調開始顯示，美國國內越來越多的人支持曾經受到民主黨譴責、卻得到川普支持的邊境措施。
抑製庇護
2023年元旦過後不久，拜登發表了他總統任期內唯一一次關於移民的演講。這次演講之所以引人注目，部分原因在於總統很少像在氣候變化、稅收公平或支持烏克蘭問題上那樣，利用職權推動變革，這使得共和黨人得以將他描繪成軟弱無能的人。
但在羅斯福廳的演講中，他宣布了對庇護的嚴厲新限製，幾十年來，美國的法律體係一直是全球流離失所者和恐懼者的避難所。
拜登多次指責“極端共和黨人”阻撓他使美國移民法現代化的努力，拒絕為邊境安全提供數十億美元資金，並拒絕兩黨談判。
“他們可以繼續利用移民問題在政治上得分，”他說，“或者他們也可以幫助解決問題。”
總統的講話是數月來政府內部就如何應對危機的挫折和爭論的高潮。但各方的反應凸顯了其中的困難：人權組織譴責總統講話過於嚴厲；共和黨人則認為講話仍然過於寬鬆。
拜登所應對的是第二次世界大戰以來規模最大的流離失所者運動，數百萬人逃離經濟衰退、政治動蕩和幫派暴力，他們來自中美洲、南美洲、非洲和其他地區。
這並不像川普經常聲稱的那樣，是滿載罪犯或恐怖分子的大篷車。但這些人也並非都有正當理由申請庇護以永久留在美國。
一些試圖在這個問題上打動拜登的顧問最終感到幻滅，離開了政府。留下來的人鼓勵總統聽從自己的想法：邊境局勢日益惡化，需要加大執法力度。
共和黨人說，新規定仍然過於軟弱，並指出拜登已經主動放棄了對第42章授權的執行。移民活動人士也批評拜登，說他並不比川普好多少。
政治轉變的影響很快變得顯而易見，國會山的共和黨人要求對邊境進行鎮壓，以換取他們對拜登的一項首要任務的投票：向烏克蘭提供更多軍事援助。
三年前，民主黨人可能會反對。但現在不會了。2023 年10月，來自馬薩諸塞州的民主黨議員在國會閉門會議上向國土安全部部長亞曆杭德羅·馬約卡斯（Alejandro Mayorkas）發泄了深深的不滿。
他們向國土安全部部長傳達的信息是：你們必須做點什麽。這必須停止。
拜登很快就察覺到了利用這一動態變化的機會，並於12月6日正式表態。
“我願意在邊境問題上做出重大妥協，”他說。“我們需要修複破損的邊境係統。它已經壞了。”
阻止入境
在拜登擔任總統近三年後，幾乎每周都有新的證據表明邊境係統功能失調。
在新墨西哥州，由於移民蜂擁而至，當地一所高中一個月內多次被關閉。在得克薩斯州，房主一覺醒來發現移民睡在他們的車庫裏。
2023年12月，邊境人員突然關閉了從墨西哥進入德克薩斯州的鷹口貨運列車橋（Eagle Pass）。原來，列車長被人收買，在火車北上穿越墨西哥時放慢了速度，以便讓成千上萬的移民跳上火車，越過邊境。
關閉大橋是遏製邊境的最後努力，但它已經失敗。在鷹口，一個帳篷式的設施計劃用於容納1000名被拘留的移民，但現在卻容納了6000人。進入美國的人數比以往任何時候都多：12 月，每天有超過1.1萬名移民穿越邊境。
在憤怒的鐵路管理者和沮喪的地方官員的壓力下，拜登致電墨西哥總統安德烈·曼努埃爾·洛佩斯-奧夫拉多爾（Andrés Manuel López Obrador）。由於缺乏資金，墨西哥當月暫停了自己的移民驅逐行動。據幾位美國官員透露，拜登說，這種情況必須改變。
洛佩斯-奧夫拉多爾敦促總統立即派出代表團來討論這個問題，這促使拜登的最高外交官和其他幾位官員放棄了假期計劃，在最後一刻展開了爭奪。
國務卿安東尼·布林肯（Antony J. Blinken）去年大部分時間都在烏克蘭和中東，他和馬約卡斯以及總統的國土安全顧問利茲·舍伍德-蘭德爾（Liz Sherwood-Randall）趕赴墨西哥城。一天後，他們帶著墨西哥的承諾返回——這是一個相對較小的勝利，但仍然是一個勝利。
拜登正在競選白宮的第二個任期，毫不掩飾地呼籲在邊境實施更多和更嚴格的執法。
白宮發言人安德魯·貝茨（Andrew Bates）說，“絕大多數美國人都同意拜登總統在他的第一天改革計劃中所強調的，我們的移民係統已經崩潰，我們必須確保邊境安全，並有尊嚴地對待移民。”
上周六，拜登在南卡羅來納州的一場競選活動中，為挽救國會兩黨達成的移民協議而奮力爭取，並為全麵打擊移民問題提出了強有力的理由。
他似乎準備在競選中更多地扮演一個決心將人們拒之門外的領導人，而不是流離失所者的擁護者。
拜登在掌聲中說：“如果法案今天成為法律，我現在就會關閉邊境，並迅速加以解決。”
How the Border Crisis Shattered Biden's Immigration Hopes
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/us/politics/biden-border-crisis-immigration.html#:~:text=
An examination of President Biden's record reveals how he failed to overcome a surge in new arrivals and political obstacles in both parties.
The Biden administration has created pathways for legal immigration and also embraced some of former President Donald J. Trump’s harsh tactics.Credit...Maansi Srivastava/The New York TimesShare full article
By Michael D. Shear, Hamed Aleaziz and Zolan Kanno-Youngs Jan. 30, 2024
The authors have collectively reported on the border and immigration politics for more than two decades. They reported from Washington.
On President Biden’s first day in office, he paused nearly all deportations. He vowed to end the harsh practices of the Trump administration, show compassion toward those wishing to come to the United States and secure the southern border.
For Mr. Biden, it was a matter of principle. He wanted to show the world that the United States was a humane nation, while also demonstrating to his fellow citizens that government could work again.
But those early promises have largely been set aside as chaos engulfs the border and imperils Mr. Biden’s re-election hopes. The number of people crossing into the United States has reached record levels, more than double than in the Trump years. The asylum system is still all but broken.
On Friday, in a dramatic turnaround from those early days, the president implored Congress to grant him the power to shut down the border so he could contain one of the largest surges of uncontrolled immigration in American history.
“If given that authority,” Mr. Biden said in a statement, “I would use it the day I sign the bill into law.”
Some of the circumstances that have created the crisis are out of Mr. Biden’s control, such as the collapse of Venezuela, a surge in migration around the world and the obstinance of Republicans who have tried to thwart his efforts to address the problems. They refused to provide resources, blocked efforts to update laws and openly defied federal officials charged with maintaining security and order along the 2,000-mile border.
A Border Patrol officer in Sunland Park, N.M., last year.
But an examination of Mr. Biden’s record over the last three years by The New York Times, based on interviews with more than 35 current and former officials and others, shows that the president has failed to overcome those obstacles. The result is a growing humanitarian crisis at the border and in major cities around the country. Many voters now say immigration is their top concern, and they do not have confidence that Mr. Biden is addressing it.
A veteran of the decades-long search for a bipartisan immigration compromise by the late Senators John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, the president sought balance. He created legal pathways for migrants and began rebuilding the refugee system even as he embraced some of former President Donald J. Trump’s more restrictive tactics. But those efforts were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people arriving at the border, and at times Mr. Biden failed to appreciate the growing anger in both parties.
During the 2020 campaign, Mr. Biden said he would be an antidote to his predecessor’s anti-immigrant approach. But he has presided over a fierce struggle inside the White House between advisers who favored more enforcement and those who pushed to be more welcoming. That debate played out as the country also shifted. After years of inflation, economic suffering and political polarization, the public is divided about whether the United States — which is home to more immigrants than any other nation — should absorb more.
Mr. Biden went from a 2020 candidate who vowed to “end Trump’s assault on the dignity of immigrant communities” to a 2024 president who is “willing to make significant compromises on the border.” That shift can be seen through the prism of five key moments that document the administration’s shifting approach on a defining issue of his presidency and of the next election.
Unaccompanied migrant children were held at a detention center in Donna, Texas, in 2021.Credit...Pool photo by Dario Lopez-Mills
The Children Arrive
When children from Central America started crossing by the thousands in spring 2021, many very young and seeking to join a relative already in the United States, the president’s first instinct was compassion. In a meeting in the Roosevelt Room, he ordered his top aides to travel to the border to see the desperate, overcrowded conditions.
He also demanded to see the pictures. Mr. Biden believed he had been elected to deal with immigration in a humane manner. The sight of thousands of migrant children jammed into crowded border detention facilities, some of whom would later end up in dangerous and brutal jobs elsewhere in the United States, was not what most people imagined under a Biden presidency.
It was the first big test of his immigration agenda, and of whether the more welcoming approach he promised would work. During his campaign for the White House in 2020, Mr. Biden pledged to limit raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, invest in the asylum system and close private immigration prisons. On his first day in office, he proposed a vast immigration bill to Congress that would have provided a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants already living in America.
The next day, he paused deportations for 100 days, and even though a federal judge later blocked that policy, some migrants took it as a sign that it was worth a dangerous trek to the U.S. border.
Republicans seized the moment. They declared Mr. Biden’s immigration overhaul dead on arrival and warned that human traffickers and smugglers would funnel migrants to America with the false promise that the new president was throwing open the border — a risk that some inside the administration agreed with, according to several current and former U.S. officials.
The president dismissed the criticism. He had never been a Democrat who wanted to abolish ICE or decriminalize border crossings. But longtime aides described him as determined to prove to voters that government can work, especially after the chaos of the Trump presidency.
The images of the children in overcrowded camps were the exact opposite of what he wanted to project. At one point, he exploded in frustration about the chaos at the border: Who do I need to fire, he demanded, to fix this?
In the West Wing, the president’s advisers held urgent talks about whether to send the children back to Mexico, but Mr. Biden said no, according to a senior official who was in the meeting.
Sending them back, the president said, would be unconscionable and inhumane.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent tried to stop a Haitian migrant from entering an encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande near the Del Rio International Bridge in Texas in 2021.Credit...Paul Ratje/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Sending Haitians Back
Mr. Biden’s more welcoming stance was quickly tested.
In April 2021, he had expanded the number of Haitians who could stay in the United States after fleeing gang violence in their country. But the administration also decided that if a surge of Haitians arrived at the border, the United States would send them right back, using a Covid-era authority known as Title 42.
It did not take long. During a 16-day period in September 2021, 19,752 Haitians crossed into a makeshift camp under the Del Rio International Bridge in Texas.
Mr. Biden quickly condemned shocking images of Border Patrol officers on horseback rounding up migrants and promised that the officers “would pay.”
But there was also intense pressure from the White House to clear the bridge, one former official said. National security advisers in the West Wing held calls twice a day to coordinate the administration’s efforts to deal with the fallout from a humanitarian crisis that swiftly became a political crisis as well.
Many of the Haitians were allowed to stay in the United States, with notices to appear in immigration court, because of limits on the Border Patrol’s capacity to remove them from the country. But thousands were deported. Some flights took migrants back to Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, while others flew them to less crowded parts of the border within the United States, a practice the administration called “decompression.”
Officials estimated that thousands of migrants converged on Del Rio, Texas, in 2021.Credit...Julio Cortez/Associated Press
The rapid deportations exposed a split in the administration that would only grow over time.
People close to Mr. Biden said he had always supported enforcing the law. Some of his top aides, such as Susan E. Rice, who served as his domestic policy adviser until last summer, and Jake Sullivan, his national security adviser, embodied that tough-minded approach.
“Migrants and asylum seekers absolutely should not believe those in the region peddling the idea that the border will suddenly be fully open to process everyone on Day 1,” Ms. Rice had said early on in Mr. Biden’s presidency.
But others in the administration saw the treatment of Haitians as a betrayal of the values that Mr. Biden had promised to uphold.
In meetings, advisers complained that some migrants had been told to board deportation flights without a chance to ask for asylum and without being told where they were going.
“Originally they said, ‘We’re going to get rid of Trump administration stuff,’” said Daniel Foote, the president’s former envoy to Haiti, who resigned in protest after the administration sent the Haitians back. “But then they realized that this is the only way we can keep people out.”
Pressure was building on Mr. Biden to find a solution.
He looked to the one place that could pass meaningful new immigration laws, but has not done so in decades: Congress.
Migrants arriving in New York City last year.Credit...David Dee Delgado for The New York Times
The Democratic Revolt
Republicans in Washington largely ignored Mr. Biden’s entreaties to come to the negotiating table to help fix the immigration system. And out in the country, G.O.P. officials came up with their own plan.
During a news conference in April 2022, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas vowed to “take the border to President Biden” by busing thousands of migrants to Democratic-led cities.
It was a stunt, but it worked.
Buses arrived in downtown Los Angeles in mid-June. They dropped off migrants in front of the home of Vice President Kamala Harris in September and again on Christmas Eve. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida sent a planeload of people to Martha’s Vineyard, a vacation getaway for liberal elites. Buses streamed into New York City.
Democratic leaders were overwhelmed. They called for the president to step in, saying the influx was a drain on their resources. Mayor Eric Adams of New York said that without a federal bailout and clampdown at the border, swelling migration “will destroy New York City.”
The people demanding border security were no longer just Republicans like Mr. Trump or Stephen Miller, the former president’s top immigration adviser. They were members of Mr. Biden’s own party.
The administration scrambled to meet the Democratic demands, providing more money and speeding up the processing of work permits.
But the busing of migrants clearly shifted the discourse around the issue. And polling began to show growing support in the United States for border measures once denounced by Democrats and championed by Mr. Trump.
Mr. Biden last year repeatedly accused “extreme Republicans” of blocking his efforts to modernize the nation’s immigration laws during his only immigration speech.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
Curbing Asylum
Not long after New Year’s Day in 2023, Mr. Biden delivered the only immigration speech of his presidency. It was notable in part because the president rarely used the power of his office to press for change the way he did for climate change, tax fairness or support for Ukraine, allowing Republicans to paint him as weak and ineffective.
But in his speech from the Roosevelt Room, he announced tough new restrictions on asylum, the system of laws that has for decades established the United States as a place of refuge for displaced and fearful people across the globe.
Mr. Biden repeatedly accused “extreme Republicans” of blocking his efforts to modernize the nation’s immigration laws, refusing to provide billions of dollars for border security and rejecting bipartisan negotiations.
“They can keep using immigration to try to score political points,” he said, “or they can help solve the problem.”
The president’s speech was the culmination of months of frustration and debate inside the administration on how to confront the crisis. But the reaction underscored the difficulties: Human rights groups condemned it as too harsh. Republicans said it was still too lenient.
Migrants from Venezuela in Chicago. Cities across the United States have faced a growing number of migrants.Credit...Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times
Mr. Biden was responding to the largest movement of displaced people since World War II, with millions fleeing economic decline, political instability and gang violence — from Central America, South America, Africa and elsewhere.
It was not, as Mr. Trump often claimed, caravans full of criminals or terrorists. But neither was it people who all had legitimate reasons for claiming asylum to stay in the United States permanently.
Some advisers who tried to appeal to Mr. Biden’s heart on the issue eventually left the administration, feeling disillusioned. The ones who remained encouraged the president to listen to his head: The situation at the border was getting worse, and more enforcement was needed.
Republicans said the new rules were still too weak, noting that Mr. Biden had voluntarily dropped enforcement of the Title 42 authority. Immigration activists criticized Mr. Biden, too, saying he was no better than Mr. Trump.
The impact of the political shift soon became obvious, as Republicans on Capitol Hill demanded a crackdown on the border in exchange for their votes on one of Mr. Biden’s top priorities: sending more military aid to Ukraine.
Three years earlier, Democrats might have balked. But not anymore. Deeply frustrated Democratic lawmakers from Massachusetts vented to Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, in a closed-door session at the Capitol in October 2023.
Their message to the secretary was driven by the financial costs of dealing with the migrants in their state: You have to do something. This has got to stop.
Mr. Biden soon sensed an opening to capitalize on the changing dynamic, and on Dec. 6 he made it official.
“I am willing to make significant compromises on the border,” he said. “We need to fix the broken border system. It is broken.”
Migrants rode a freight train en route to the U.S. border last year.Credit...John Moore/Getty Images
Keeping Them Out
After nearly three years of Mr. Biden’s presidency, just about every week brought new evidence of the dysfunction.
In New Mexico, a local high school went on lockdown several times a month because of migrants swarming across school grounds. In Texas, homeowners woke up to find migrants sleeping in their garages.
In December 2023, border officers abruptly closed the bridge carrying freight trains from Mexico into Texas at Eagle Pass. It turned out conductors were being bribed to slow down as the trains made their way north through Mexico, allowing thousands of migrants to jump on and cross the border.
Closing the bridge was a last-ditch effort to contain the border, and it was failing. In Eagle Pass, a tent-like facility designed to hold 1,000 detained migrants was housing 6,000. And the number of people coming into the United States was higher than it had ever been: In December, more than 11,000 migrants were crossing the border each day.
Under pressure from angry rail executives and frustrated local officials, Mr. Biden called President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico. Mexico that month had suspended its own migrant deportations, which help prevent people from traveling north toward the United States, because of a lack of funding. That had to change, Mr. Biden said, according to several U.S. officials.
Mr. López Obrador urged the president to send a delegation right away to discuss the issue, prompting a last-minute scramble as Mr. Biden’s top diplomat and several others abandoned holiday plans.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, who had spent much of the year in Ukraine and the Middle East, rushed to Mexico City with Mr. Mayorkas and Liz Sherwood-Randall, the president’s homeland security adviser. They returned a day later with a commitment from Mexico to resume enforcement — a relatively small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Mr. Biden’s record over the past three years shows that his efforts on immigration have largely failed.Credit...Fred Ramos for The New York Times
As he campaigns for a second term in the White House, Mr. Biden has become unapologetic in his calls for more, and stricter, enforcement at the border.
“The American people overwhelmingly agree with what President Biden underlined in his Day 1 reform plan,” said Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, “that our immigration system is broken and we have an imperative to secure the border and treat migrants with dignity.”
On Saturday, as he fought to save a bipartisan immigration deal from collapse in Congress, Mr. Biden made a forceful case for a sweeping crackdown on immigration during a campaign event in South Carolina.
He appears ready to run more as a leader determined to keep people out and less as a champion of displaced people.
“If that bill were the law today,” Mr. Biden said to applause, “I’d shut down the border right now and fix it quickly.”
A correction was made on Jan. 30, 2024
An earlier version of this article misstated how many flights of migrants were sent back to Port-au-Prince in September 2021. There were 58 expulsion flights that month, not up to 39 flights per day.
How we handle corrections
Michael D. Shear is a White House correspondent for The New York Times, covering President Biden and his administration. He has reported on politics for more than 30 years. More about Michael D. Shear
Zolan Kanno-Youngs is a White House correspondent covering a range of domestic and international issues in the Biden White House, including homeland security and extremism. He joined The Times in 2019 as the homeland security correspondent. More about Zolan Kanno-Youngs
