President Joe Biden’s attention recently has been focused on the Ukrainian border. Unfortunately for the United States, that is the wrong border to focus on.
The quagmire between Russia and Ukraine is an important issue. Tensions between the Russian Federation and NATO have risen to the brink of military conflict. Russia is threatening to attack the sovereign nation of Ukraine and has mobilized thousands of troops along the Ukrainian border.
In return, the U.S. has warned Russia not to take any military action. Yet, despite all of the geopolitical attention the Biden administration is focusing on the issue, in reality, the Ukrainian border has little to do with the security or welfare of the U.S. The border that Biden should prioritize is the one the U.S. shares with Mexico.
For years, the inability to implement meaningful and efficient border security has plagued the country. The situation showed stability under the Trump administration. The construction of the border wall and a tough stance on fake asylum claims helped cut down illegal immigration. Data show that the number of illegal immigrants arrested at the U.S. border in 2018 was the fifth-lowest total in 45 years. The Trump administration wasn’t perfect. However, they were able to significantly improve issues with illegal immigration going back to 2014 through 2016. Under Biden, the border has spiraled out of control and developed into a full-blown crisis.
Consider the data from Biden’s first year. By March 2021, CBP had encountered 172,000 immigrants at the border. It was the highest total in years. The trend continued upward, growing to 178,622 in April and exploding to a yearly high of 214,593 in July. By the end of the fiscal year 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced 1.7 million encounters at the border, the highest yearly total on record.
Furthermore, many of these illegal immigrants were looking to do harm in the U.S. Consider the crimes reported by the CBP just in January 2022. In one instance, CBP officers seized over $300,000 in cocaine. In another, CBP officials seized over 2,027 pounds of marijuana from an incoming commercial shipment trailer. Also, CBP arrested two people attempting to smuggle in $116,000 worth of methamphetamine through an immigration checkpoint. Another report detailed the arrest of 14 illegal immigrants and five U.S. citizens who were smuggling in a stash of illegal firearms. And these are just some of what occurred in January.
Since his inauguration, an influx of illegal immigrants has overwhelmed CBP officials at the border. Whether it was smuggling drugs, weapons, or even human trafficking, the security of our country is at stake. The safety of Americans is predicated on securing the U.S.-Mexico border, not the Ukraine-Russia border. This is the preeminent security issue — an issue the Biden administration has not taken seriously.
