WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden sought to address a major problem facing his reelection campaign by taking executive action to significantly limit asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
But it is unclear whether his efforts will be enough to change the minds of voters, who have increasingly expressed alarm over the record influx of migrants under his watch. Polls show that immigration and border security are a top issue this election year, one that has also been seized upon by former President Donald Trump and his campaign.
Biden has moved far to the right on immigration since his winning campaign four years ago, when he criticized Trump’s immigration priorities and promised to restore asylum protections. Many Democrats recognize that Biden now faces a very different political reality, even as key parts of his base push him to reject the border restrictions and compare his move to Trump’s policies as president.
Sue-Ann DiVito, a 61-year-old real estate agent from the Philadelphia suburb of Jenkintown who became an immigration advocate during the Trump administration, says Republicans have succeeded in spreading anti-immigrant messages in communities like hers, leaving some of her friends Are Democrats concerned about the large number of people arriving in the US
“I think that’s why we’re seeing people who would normally support immigrants being quieter now,” DiVito said.
A challenge for Biden among Democrats and Latinos
The border has been a top issue for voters during the presidential campaign so far.
According to Gallup’s monthly data, Americans cited immigration as the top issue facing the country in February, March and April, even surpassing the share cited by the economy despite persistently higher prices. Immigration came up less frequently as a top issue in Gallup’s May poll as attention shifted to the criminal case against Trump and the number of illegal crossings declined. The issue was still related to the government and the economy, which were seen by voters as the country’s most important problem.
Most Americans, 56%, say Biden’s presidency has hurt the country on immigration and border security, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in April. That’s much higher than the number — 37% — who said the same about Trump’s time in office.
Even among Democrats, only about three-in-ten say Biden’s presidency has done more to help the country on immigration and border security, while about the same share say it has hurt. Nearly nine in 10 Republicans say Trump’s presidency has helped on this issue.
Latin American adults are also more likely to think Trump’s presidency has helped the country with immigration and border security, compared to Biden’s. About half of Hispanic adults said in March that Biden’s presidency had done more to hurt the country on immigration and border security — a potentially alarming number as Trump’s campaign tries to boost Democrats’ advantage over of Spanish-speaking voters.
“President Biden had no choice. He saw what was happening at the border. The numbers were higher than ever in terms of people trying to seek asylum here, and he knew he had to do something,” said Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist.
Frank Luntz, a longtime pollster who has worked for Republicans, said immigration earlier this spring seemed to have a special resonance across the political spectrum in a way it never has before.
He said he believes Biden is particularly vulnerable because of African-American men under 40 who worry about newcomers competing for jobs and Latinos who may resent coming in illegally.
“The reason immigration is so important to so many is that it is a living, breathing illustration of Washington’s inability to solve what everyone else in America sees as a crisis,” he said Tuesday. “Biden’s decision seems too little, too late. The audience thinks he doesn’t care, and therefore thinks he doesn’t understand.”
Trump’s record includes family separation
Trump has been campaigning on the border and immigration since launching his 2016 bid with a speech in which he labeled migrants from Mexico as criminals and rapists and promised to build a southern border wall.
During his time in office, his administration separated immigrant parents and children to deter families from crossing the border illegally, a move that drew widespread condemnation.
The number of border crossings reached record highs — albeit far below the levels they reached under Biden — until they fell sharply when the COVID-19 pandemic began.
As he attempts to return to the White House this year, Trump has escalated his already alarming rhetoric, accusing Biden of orchestrating a “bloodbath at the border” and highlighting cases of women and children have been murdered by people who entered the US illegally. He has pledged to carry out the largest deportation operation in American history if re-elected.
His campaign quickly sought to portray Biden’s efforts as ineffective and as one that would allow thousands of migrant crossings every week.
“This executive order from Biden can only be understood as a pro-invasion, pro-illegal migration executive order,” former Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller, who orchestrated some of Trump’s harshest immigration policies, said during a call with reporters hosted by the campaign prior to Biden’s announcement.
Trump researcher John McLaughlin said the campaign believes the issue has particular resonance among a group he calls “safety moms”: suburban, college-educated women concerned about crime and the safety of their families.
“There is a feeling of insecurity,” he says. “It’s not just the border communities, it’s all over the country.”
Trump has always turned to alarmist rhetoric at the border in election years. According to Trump campaign officials and pollsters, the difference is now the reality voters see every day.
Crime is down overall and immigrants — even those who entered the country illegally — commit fewer crimes than those born in the U.S., a survey of available data shows. But in Democratic-run cities like New York, local news reports earlier this year were flooded with images of migrants clashing with police and alarm about tight city budgets and resources to deal with an influx of people coming from the border.
Conservative media and Trump’s campaign also used high-profile incidents such as the murder of nursing student Laken Riley. A Venezuelan man has pleaded not guilty to charges in her death in the US illegally.
Splits in the Democratic base
Biden’s announcement exposed lasting divisions among Democrats, with some left-wing lawmakers and immigration advocates who are a key part of his coalition criticizing Biden’s actions as a return to the measures that marked Trump’s term.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she was “deeply disappointed.” During a news conference with immigration advocates outside the Capitol, Jayapal urged the administration to take action that would provide relief to immigrants already in the US.
Jayapal, D-Wash., said Tuesday’s order “means we have people, desperate people seeking asylum who should be able to apply, and yet they’re not going to be able to.”
Senator Alex Padilla, a California Democrat who has been involved in the Biden campaign’s outreach to Latino communities, called the order a revival of “Trump’s asylum ban” in a press release on Tuesday.
“You can build a wall as high as you want. You can make it as difficult to apply for asylum as you want. It will not sustainably reduce the number of people who want to come to the United States,” Padilla told reporters.
Still, other Democrats praised Biden’s move as a necessary measure to respond to voters’ concerns and gain control of a southern border that has been chaotic at times in recent years.
“The president is saying, ‘I hear you, I know this is a problem, and I’m taking action,’” said Rep. Tom Suozzi, who helped form a group of House Democrats focused on border security.
Suozzi, who won a special election in New York this year with a campaign calling for tougher immigration enforcement measures, also called for action to help immigrants already in the country.
DiVito, the immigrant advocate in the swing state of Pennsylvania, tried to make up the difference from a Democratic perspective.
“There is a choice in November and whatever negative policies Biden implements, Trump will make it a million things worse,” she said. “And we all know that.”
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Gomez Licon reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price, Amelia Thomson DeVeaux and Linley Sanders contributed to this report.
