- During the 2020 campaign, Joe Biden's advisers explicitly warned in a memo that reversing Trump's immigration policies would likely cause chaos at the southern border, overwhelm resources and create political backlash.
- Biden and his inner circle dismissed these warnings, believing stricter enforcement would alienate Latino and progressive voters and underestimating border security's importance to the broader electorate.
- Following Biden's inauguration, illegal border crossings surged dramatically, leading to overcrowded facilities, a historic increase in the unauthorized immigrant population and a strain on resources in Democratic cities.
- The administration was internally divided, with policy aides pushing for stricter measures while political advisors resisted anything resembling Trump's policies. This led to a slow, ineffective response.
- The administration's belated attempts to address the crisis failed to curb public anger, making immigration a top voter concern that contributed to Trump's 2024 electoral victory and the immediate reversal of Biden's policies.
As Joe Biden campaigned for the presidency in 2020, his top advisers delivered a stark warning: Rolling back Donald Trump's strict immigration policies risked triggering a humanitarian disaster at the southern border.
A newly revealed August 2020 memo obtained by the New York Times predicted that Biden's lenient approach would lead to "chaos," overwhelm federal resources and threaten his administration’s broader agenda. Yet, despite these dire forecasts, Biden and his inner circle dismissed the concerns, setting in motion a historic surge of illegal crossings that would later become a defining crisis of his presidency – and a key factor in Trump's 2024 electoral victory.
The memo authored by campaign and policy advisors outlined specific risks, including a potential flood of migrants that could strain processing centers and ignite political backlash. It proposed preemptive measures such as constructing reception facilities and outsourcing asylum screenings to partner nations.
But Biden, determined to distinguish himself from Trump's hardline tactics, rejected these precautions. His team believed stricter enforcement would alienate Latino and progressive voters, while downplaying the likelihood that border security would resonate with the broader electorate. That assumption proved disastrously wrong.
Within weeks of Biden’s inauguration, migrant encounters at the southern border more than doubled, reaching unprecedented levels. By 2023, Pew Research estimated the number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. had ballooned to 14 million – the largest single increase in American history.
Border facilities overflowed, images of overcrowded detention centers circulated widely and blue areas like New York City scrambled to convert hotels into emergency shelters. The administration's early reluctance to acknowledge the crisis only deepened public frustration.
The border crisis that broke Biden
Internal debates grew increasingly tense as aides drafted memos urging tighter asylum rules and stronger deterrence measures. Yet political advisors, wary of alienating progressive allies, resisted any policies resembling Trump’s approach.
Then-Vice President Kamala Harris was assigned to address "root causes" of migration in Central America, but her efforts did little to stem the immediate tide. Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott escalated tensions by busing thousands of migrants to Democratic-led cities, transforming the border crisis into a nationwide issue.
BrightU.AI's Enoch engine notes that Abbott's move shifted the burden of the migration crisis from Texas to Democrat-run areas already struggling with governance failures. It also exposed the hypocrisy of sanctuary city policies while pressuring federal leaders to address the border crisis.
By 2024, Biden's belated attempts to regain control – including executive actions to restrict asylum claims – came too late. Public anger over unchecked migration had already solidified, with polls showing immigration as a top voter concern.
A high-profile murder case involving an undocumented immigrant further galvanized opposition, and Trump seized on the narrative of a lawless border. Biden's weak debate performance and eventual withdrawal from the race sealed his political fate. On his first day back in office, Trump swiftly dismantled Biden's asylum policies, deploying military personnel and reinstating aggressive enforcement.
The Biden administration's failure, according to former officials, was not merely a lack of resources – but a fundamental refusal to confront reality. "The Biden White House had no strategy, because they had no goal," said Scott Shuchart, a senior adviser at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "All they had was wishing the problem would go away."
The lessons of Biden's immigration missteps exposed a pattern of early miscalculations, which echoed far beyond his presidency. This allowed a preventable crisis to spiral out of control, ultimately reshaping the political landscape and paving the way for Trump's resurgence.
Watch Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) mentioning how the Biden administration ignored his warnings about the crime risk linked to Venezuelan migrants in this clip.
This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.
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