Biden stays on wrong path by building wall

In the end, President Joe Biden’s immigration strategy turned out to be nothing more than just a grab bag out of former President Donald Trump’s “build the border wall” stunts.

Nobody is buying Biden’s explanation that he must build about 20 miles of border wall in Texas because money appropriated for that purpose must be spent by year’s end.

There’s always a choice. The administration could have left the money unspent and risk lawsuits from immigration hard-liners.

Biden instead elected to placate critics assailing him over asylum-seekers who have flooded the U.S.-Mexico border and the millions permitted onto American soil since the beginning of his presidency.

3.6 million migrants in the past three years

Biden’s border wall won’t work to keep migrants out or to placate critics.

“Walls don’t work. They are climbed over, cut through, and even blown over by the wind,” Arizona Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva said in a statement. “They are a cheaply-conceived – yet exorbitantly expensive – political stunt that does nothing to address a deeply complex humanitarian issue.”

The president himself reiterated the point yet went ahead with it. Why?

Because he’s in the middle of a reelection campaign and immigration – and his inability to handle it – are his biggest liability.

At least 3.6 million migrants have crossed the United States border under temporary or conditional status in the past three years, according to The Arizona Republic.

The demand to help those migrants and the countless others crossing illegally are overwhelming Democratic-strong enclaves that initially had welcomed them – such as New York, Chicago and Massachusetts.

Democratic leaders from those states and elsewhere are clamoring the president for financial help to meet the demand for services.

At the same time, congressional Republicans stand ready to shut the federal government down over border security that includes resuming building the wall, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Biden’s actions on immigration have been one big mess

This is such a hot mess for Biden that he dared to waive 26 federal laws, including the Clean Air, the Safe Drinking Water and the Endangered Species acts.

This angered environmentalists, who surely won’t forget it when they go to the ballot box next year.

What exactly is Biden’s immigration strategy?

He went from “there will not be another foot of wall constructed” to let’s build it.

He went from promising to restore America’s commitment to humane immigration policies to a series of confusing directives, among them maintaining some of Trump’s harsh restrictions such as “Remain in Mexico,” making it harder for asylum-seekers to qualify and swiftly deporting them.

Nothing has worked. And millions of migrants face legal limbo because immigration courts are overwhelmed and can’t adjudicate cases quickly.

What can Biden do? Advice the president would be wise to heed.

“Walls don’t work. They are climbed over, cut through, and even blown over by the wind. They are a cheaply-conceived – yet exorbitantly expensive – political stunt that does nothing to address a deeply complex humanitarian issue.”

Rep. Raul Grijalva D-Arizona

What can Biden do then? Vanessa Cárdenas of America’s Voice, which champions reforms to help immigrants gain legal status and citizenship, has good ideas. First, she said in a statement, Biden needs to level with the American people over his options to deal with complex immigration.

What else? Get immigrants to work to fill worker shortage, provide safe and orderly legal pathways to take pressure off the border, more public and private initiatives to get people signed up for work permits and a fair adjudication of their asylum claims.

Finally, greater coordination between federal and local agencies to address housing and shelter shortages.

At this point, though, it is anybody’s guess what Biden will do next on border security and the massive wave of people seeking refuge in the United States.

What we know for sure is that Biden broke his campaign promise of “there will not be another foot of wall constructed” and failing to set up a humane and orderly immigration process.

Elvia Díaz is the editorial page editor for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, where this column first published. Reach her at elvia.diaz@arizonarepublic.com or follow her on X (formerly Twitter): @elviadiaz1