As the United States continues to experience record numbers of apprehensions at the southern border, many Americans are concerned about the current state of the crisis and what that means for our future as a nation.
A study conducted by Pew Research Center found that the share of Americans who believe illegal immigration is a “very big” national problem increased by 20 percentage points from 2020 (28 percent) to 2021 (48 percent). While Republicans are far more likely to cite illegal immigration as a “very big” problem than Democrats, there was an increase of 14 percentage points from 2020 to 2021 among Democrats and a 29-point increase among Republicans. Clearly, the crisis at our border created by President Biden’s policies has the concern of many Americans.
While there are certainly partisan differences in many of the priorities highlighted in the study, there is general bipartisan agreement on several issues.
First, the study found that nearly 60 percent of Americans oppose providing a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens. President Biden touted a mass amnesty throughout his campaign which created the ongoing crisis at our southern border. If an amnesty were to pass, more than 14 million illegal aliens would be provided a pathway to citizenship, and so far, the president’s proposal does not plan to exclude criminal aliens, nor those who have little to offer this country from an economic standpoint.
Second, approximately 85 percent of Americans believe it is “very or somewhat important to increase available staff both to patrol and police the border.” Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is currently facing limited resources as it is overwhelmed by the masses of migrants crossing our southern border illegally. The agency has begun releasing illegal aliens without court dates as an effort to speed up processing. In March alone, CBP apprehended 172,331 illegal aliens at our border. Due to the catch and release policy reinstated by the Biden administration, a majority of these aliens are then released into the interior of the country.
Additionally, majorities in both parties believe that the Biden administration has done “a bad job of dealing with the increase in asylum seekers” (86 percent of Republicans, 56 percent of Democrats). Furthermore, 79 percent say it is “very or somewhat important to reduce the number of asylum seekers coming to the United States.” The Biden administration has already dismantled all of the protections instituted by his predecessor which cracked down on fraudulent asylum claims, such as the Migrant Protection Protocols and the Northern Triangle agreements. As a result, asylum claims – most of which are assumedly fraudulent – are once again rising rapidly.
The American public continues to strongly disapprove of how the Biden administration is handling their self-made immigration crisis. Apprehensions continue to soar, and an increasing number of illegal aliens are simply released into the country, many without even a notice to appear. The president is meant to serve the interests of the citizens he represents, so it is about time he listens to his constituents and start putting America first.