Americans will be sick to their stomachs to learn that by the end of September, the Customs and Border Protection agency had documented an average of 7,300 to 7,500 migrants being encountered each day at the southwest border.
According to these averages, the total for the month falls between between 219,000 and 225,000. A analysis of available CBP statistics reveals that any total that falls within that range marks the worst September for migrant border crossings in the annals of United States history. The number of people who crossed the border in September 2021 was 192,000, which was the previous record for the worst September in the annals of history.
The numbers come at a time when governors of conservative states are becoming more and more upset with Joe Biden’s reaction to the situation at the border. In an effort to draw attention to the White House’s lack of progress in controlling illegal immigration, Republican Governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas have begun sending migrants to cities and towns that are primarily Democratic voting areas, such as Martha’s Vineyard and Chicago. Their goal is to highlight the White House’s failure to make progress in this area.
A senior official with the Department of Homeland Security said that the “record-breaking numbers we’re witnessing at the border have become the new normal.” The question that has to be answered is, “How much worse will it get?”
The end of September also serves as a marker for the conclusion of the fiscal year 2022. According to Fox News, the overall number of interactions with migrants for the fiscal year 2022 surpassed two million, which is the largest amount ever recorded in the history of the United States.
Earlier in September, Karine Jean-Pierre, WH Press Secretary responded dismissively to complaints of the administration’s handling of the situation at the border. Jean-Pierre responded that the White House has “taken unprecedented action over the past year and a half to secure our border and rebuild a safer and orderlier process system.” This was in response to a question about how to explain the flood of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers entering the country through the southwest border. Jean-Pierre has stated that even while everyone agrees that the border is safe, there is still further work to be done.
Polling reveals that the problem at the border is consistently ranked as the most important subject of concern among Americans. According to a poll conducted by NPR in the month of August, the majority of Americans feel that their country is now being threatened by a “invasion” along its southern border.
This survey of 1,116 individuals in the United States was carried out on the 28th and 29th of July. Ipsos’ findings suggest that “most” Americans “get into the concept of a ‘invasion’ at the southern border,” which is itself a type of “spin.” When was the last time you heard a polling organization discuss how many Americans are “getting into the concept” of, for example, a second presidency held by Joe Biden?
In spite of this, a total of 28 percent of people who participated in the survey had the opinion that it is “absolutely accurate” that there is an invasion taking place at the border. This includes 51 percent of Republicans, 24 percent of independents, and 12 percent of Democrats.
A further 25 percent of respondents were of the opinion that the assertion that there is an invasion along the border between the United States and Mexico was “somewhat true.” The fact that 29 percent of Democrats are part of this group, in addition to 25 percent of Republicans and 23 percent of independents, is particularly alarming for the administration.
Nineteen percent of people polled considered the concept of an invasion to be “totally incorrect,” with Democrats being the most likely to have this view (34 percent), followed by independents (18 percent), and Republicans (8 percent). 36 percent of independents, 25 percent of Democrats, and 16 percent of Republicans fall into the “don’t know” category, bringing the total to 27 percent.
There are less than ninety days until the midterm elections for the United States Congress; as a result, this portends difficulties for the president and the other partisans who support him, while providing a chance for the Republican Party (if they were willing to seize it).
Immigration is a topic that motivates Republicans to go to the polls, but the swing voters in close elections will be undecided independents, and they are more than twice as likely to see the disarray at the Southwest border as an invasion as they are to not see it as an invasion.
Worse yet, Democrats, as a whole, are more willing to consider the concept of an invasion of the border than they are to categorically reject the idea, with 41 percent being the former and 34 percent being the latter. That probably doesn’t matter much to “progressives” or casual Democrats in Vermont or Minnesota, but there is a major Senate race in Arizona, and the incumbent senator, Mark Kelly (D-Arizona), probably doesn’t want to be tied to such impressions about his state’s border with Mexico. In Vermont and Minnesota, “progressives” or casual Democrats are more likely to identify as independents.
