An article in Politico published this morning by David Siders talks about how Biden’s ineffective immigration policies have been helping Donald Trump’s quest for a second term in office. On the campaign trail, Trump has argued that the solution to the immigration issue is rounding up “millions” of immigrants, placing them in camps across the country and deporting them in mass. This, in addition to what he already did in his first term – draconian restrictions for immigrants based on religion and the mass refusal of asylum seekers. Biden ran for office on the promise of doing away with Trump’s wall on the border and making immigration more along of the lines of the America ideals.
But The Guardian’s headline on October 6 alludes to, “why is Joe Biden campaigning for Donald Trump?,” the Biden Administration has capitulated to Trump and it shows among El Paso voters. The article, by Moustafa Bayoumi, argues that Biden’s reversal on the Trump Wall by building 20 new miles of the wall on the U.S.-México border shows that Biden has begun to embrace Trump on the immigration issue, in essence delivering Trump the 2024 election. Biden had promised on the campaign that “not another foot” of the wall would be built. Now he is building 20 more miles and the immigration issue remains untenable.
Yesterday Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a measure that allows Texas law enforcement to arrest immigrants who cross the border unlawfully. The Texas law challenges the 2012 legal precedent set in Arizona v. United States that decided the federal government sets immigration policies. Although it is expected that the Texas law will be challenged in court, the fact remains that across the nation the immigration issue is becoming more anti-immigrant vindicating Trump’s hard stance on immigration, in the eyes of the voters.
The Democratic Party for the most part has remained sidelined on immigration and Biden’s recent immigration stance tacitly allows Trump to claim victory providing him with the political narrative to regain the presidential seat.
As the Politico article explains, El Paso’s strong Democratic leanings shows the Democrats ceding the 2024 election to Trump.
Rev. Rafael Garcia told Politico that “the fact that someone like Donald Trump is still the frontrunner” reveals that American voters seem to “almost…want a dictator” as their next president.
Politico’s columnist interviewed several individuals in El Paso who feel that Biden has failed on immigration and that Trump had done a better job. Daniela Simental told Politico that “everything’s gone to shit,” referring to the immigration surge in El Paso. Simantel argued that although she didn’t vote for Trump in 2016, she’s now “thinking differently about it.” Simantel, who is an immigrant from Chihuahua, added that “now” she wants “Trump back.”
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According to Politico, Veronica Escobar agrees that “fundamentally, all people are frustrated with politicians,” adding that “unfortunately Democrats are getting the brunt of that right now, and people have brainwashed themselves into thinking that somehow Donald Trump solves this.”
In May, Escobar and Florida Republican Maria Elvira Salazar announced an immigration bill that would “revamp” immigration. The Dignity Act of 2023 (HR-3599), a 500-page bill seeks to address immigration through a bipartisan plan. The bill has not reached the House floor.
Escobar told Politico that “we (Congress) have failed over and over again” on immigration, adding that it isn’t Biden’s fault, but Congress who is at fault. Escobar adds that “I do worry that Democrats will get blamed simply because the president is in the White House.”
However, as the Politico reporter discovered in talking to voters in the recent District 2 city council race, El Paso voters aren’t that concerned about immigration. Instead, voters are concerned “about taxes, or inflation, or streetlights or competency at City Hall.”
Although immigration “is a local issue” for El Paso, El Pasoans use the immigration issue as “a stand-in for deeper frustrations,” like a broad sense that “there is not a steady hand at the helm.”
Biden’s popularity in El Paso is trending down even though most El Paso voters don’t think much about immigration. Instead, El Paso voters are concerned about Biden’s age and what happens if Trump regains the presidency. Josh Acevedo, who is in a runoff against Verónica Carbajal for the District 2 seat told Politico that the problem is that he senses a “frustration of inaction” by the Biden administration on the issues like immigration.
Acevedo, like El Paso voters, wants Biden to do something instead of remaining ineffective on the issues. As El Paso Democratic Chair, Michael Apodaca, told Politico, the El Pasoans are asking, “is Biden really the right person” for the country. Apodaca expressed to Politico that the El Paso voters he has spoken to are “feeling that we’re not getting anywhere” under Biden.