BEIJING, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Last week, the U.S. federal government and the state of Texas were at loggerheads over whether to dismantle the barbed wire fence that Texas had laid on its own border with Mexico. Joseph Biden's "tough" statement on the 27th on closing the US-Mexico border if necessary was interpreted by some Americans as "softness" to the Republicans.
On April 24, 2023, Biden attended an event at the White House in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Aaron) In response to the border barbed wire dispute, Biden called on Congress to pass an immigration bill as soon as possible, but the future of the bill is uncertain. Analysts believe that in the first year, the Republican Party is bound to hold on to the immigration issue in order to weaken the Democratic Party's election results.
Push the bill hard.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier last week allowing Border Patrol to remove barbed wire fences erected in Texas. The ruling was firmly resisted by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and former US governor Donald Trump and the governors of 25 Republican-ruled states expressed their support for Abbott.
Patrol officers walk along a newly constructed border wall in the U.S. border city of Eagle Pass, Texas, Jan. 7, 2022. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Nick Wagner) Seemingly in response to Abbott, Biden said at a political event in South Carolina on the evening of the 27th: "A bipartisan bill will be beneficial to the United States and help repair our broken immigration system." ”
The immigration bill, which has been in the works for months, is intended to strengthen border controls and give the federal government new powers.
According to the Associated Press, Biden earlier wanted Congress to approve continued military aid to Ukraine and Israel, and Republican senators took the opportunity to propose that additional military aid must be linked to a tougher border control bill. As the negotiations progressed, the framework of the bill gradually took shape. And the barbed wire strife has once again thrust the issue of migration into the spotlight.
That night, Biden urged Congress to pass the immigration bill as soon as possible. "This bill gives me, as the United States, the emergency authority to close its borders until it is back in control," he said. If it becomes law, I'll close the border now and fix it (the border) quickly. ”
Some Americans** believe that Biden's tough statement is as if it came from Trump's mouth, and his statement is more about bipartisan struggle than really concerned about immigration policy.
During the Trump administration, the Republican Party cracked down on illegal immigrants and built a wall at the border. After Biden took office, he relaxed immigration policies, halted border wall projects, and eased restrictions on immigration. This has also led to a surge in migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, with southern border cities complaining.
The Associated Press commented that Biden is now eager to dispel the criticism of the American people for his poor handling of immigration. CNN said Biden's statement was a political signal: Biden is willing to make concessions to Republicans as long as the immigration bill can be passed.
It was difficult for the House of Representatives to let go.
According to the Associated Press 30**, several core members involved in the consultation on the content of the bill hope to release the content of the bill within this week.
This is the Capitol after snow in Washington, the capital of the United States, on January 17. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Aaron) The Associated Press reported that the bill includes provisions to tighten immigration policies, such as reducing the processing period for asylum seekers from the current years to six months, and raising the threshold for applying for asylum. In addition, the bill would give the federal government more authority to suspend the asylum process at official ports of entry when the number of immigrants entering the country reaches certain thresholds, what Biden calls an emergency authority.
Conservatives argue that the bill still doesn't go far enough to restrict illegal immigrants from entering the country. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, has "sided" with conservative Republicans on the immigration bill. He said on the 26th that if the report on the content of the bill is true, then the bill "will die as soon as it reaches the House of Representatives."
And a growing number of Democrats are beginning to criticize Biden's immigration policies, saying that he has shifted too much to the right and is not humane enough.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who participated in the consultation on the content of the bill, said in an interview with CNN on the 28th that the two parties have reached an agreement on the bill and "we are completing the text work."
"The question is whether Republicans listen to Trump, who wants the border to remain chaotic [during the campaign]," Murphy said. ”
Analysts believe that although the above bill was previously promoted by Republican lawmakers, but in the first year, especially after Trump has won two party primaries, the Republican Party is bound to continue to hype up the immigration issue in order to weaken the Democratic election, so congressional Republicans may not easily cooperate with Biden in the legislative process.
Earlier this month, a CBS poll showed that 45% of Americans believe the current status quo on the U.S.-Mexico border constitutes a "crisis"; 63% believe Biden** should enforce the law harsher against illegal immigrants, up from 55% in September last year; 68% are dissatisfied with Biden**'s border control measures.
The Democratic and Republican parties in the United States are sharply opposed over the immigration issue, and the "transfer of migrants" from Republican-run states to Democratic-run cities has become a means of partisan struggle in the United States. According to CNN, the Democratic-run city of Chicago plans to begin deporting some of its illegal immigrants from the city's shelters later this week.
CNN reporter Priscilla Alvarez commented on Biden's immigration policy, saying that when Biden took office, he promised to reorganize the work of migrants seeking asylum and border control in a "humane" way, but since he took office, the US-Mexico border issue has faced a grim reality, and the immigration issue has become a major weakness of the Democratic Party in the partisan struggle. (Guo Qian).