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The issue of an increasing number of young migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border viewed by many as a crisis has caught voters attention, and appears to be exacerbating concerns about Americas security.

According to the latest Morning Consult/Politico poll, 15 percent of voters identified security issues including border security, terrorism and foreign policy as their top set of federal concerns, up 4 percentage points since President Joe Biden took office in late January. The movement was driven largely by Republican voters, 27 percent of whom now say security is their top priority up 5 points over the past two weeks.

The migrant surge has gained prominence in the national media as the conversation in Washington moved past the haggling over the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief legislation. By the time the March 19-22 survey was conducted, 40 percent of voters said they had seen, read or heard a lot about the increasing number of child migrants arriving at the southern border more than those who said the same of former President Donald Trumps last-hour pardon spree earlier this year, but fewer than the share of voters who heard a lot about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot or Bidens signing of the coronavirus package.

Still, the developments yielded one of the years largest partisan divides on self-reported news consumption where Republicans were more likely to hear about a story, mirroring other immigration-related developments. While Democrats are generally more likely than Republicans to report hearing about a wide array of news events in Morning Consult/Politico polls, the reversal in this case reflects the storys salience among GOP officials and conservative media.

Just a third of Democratic voters said they had heard a lot about the migrant surge, compared with half of Republicans. The partisan split is nearly identical to the salience of news about Dr. Seuss Enterprises decision to pull books from publication due to use of racist imagery a part of the GOPs push to elevate cultural issues as Biden was advancing his popular COVID-19 proposal on Capitol Hill.

While the bulk of Democratic voters say they have not heard a lot about the recent migrant surge which has resulted in a large number of young asylum seekers being held in government facilities just 15 percent said theyve heard nothing at all regarding the negative situation unfolding at the U.S.-Mexico border. Still, as Democratic leaders and the White House resist using the word crisis, opinions on the extent of the problem largely differ between the parties.

A plurality of Democrats (48 percent) said the United States is facing a problem with illegal immigration, compared with 74 percent of Republicans who dubbed the issue a crisis. Overall, half of voters said the United States is facing a crisis, while a third called it a problem.

The divide between the two parties on what to call the issue at the U.S.-Mexico border recalls Morning Consult/Politico polling conducted in April 2019, when the Trump administration was facing its own border challenges. At the time, 44 percent of voters including 19 percent of Democrats and 76 percent of Republicans said the United States was facing a crisis. The 2019 survey was conducted around the time that the Customs and Border Protection data showed the United States was experiencing a surge of migration similar to the size of the one currently facing the country and one that would go on to grow larger into the summer.

Amid the increase in migration, voters are now also increasingly prioritizing congressional action on immigration: 39 percent in the latest poll said passage of an immigration reform bill should be a top priority, up 9 points since a survey conducted at the beginning of March.

But as with other major issues facing the country, Democrats currently have an advantage, albeit a slim one: Their proposals to deal with young migrants and provide a pathway to citizenship for those residing in the United States illegally are generally popular, and when it comes to whom voters trust more on Capitol Hill to handle the issue, Bidens party has a 5-point lead over the GOP, 43 percent to 38 percent.

Read this article:
Talk of a Border Crisis Is Breaking Through to Voters, Elevating Immigration and Security Concerns - Morning Consult

By PTI

LUMDING: Appealing not to do politics over illegal immigration, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said the BJP government, if voted to power, will not allow Bangladeshi infiltrators to enter Assam at any cost.

Addressing an election rally here, he said the BJP government has started electronic surveillance across the Indo-Bangla border in Assam to stop infiltration from the neighbouring country.

"We will not allow Bangladeshi infiltrators to enter Assam at any cost. We will not allow politics to play over illegal immigration problem," Singh said.

He said BJP has governments in Assam and Tripura, while it will come to power in West Bengal this time and then the infiltration problem from Bangladesh through these three states will be solved.

The BJP leader also said that misinformation is being spread by the opposition that the saffron party is attacking and destroying the civilisation, culture and identity of Assam.

"BJP simply cannot think of doing so. Today I can say that we will not allow anyone to touch Assamese identity. If we had any bad intention, we would have not conferred Bharat Ratna award on Dr Bhupen Hazarika. We respect Assamese culture," he added.

The Defence Minister also said that misinformation is being spread regarding the BJP's role with the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Talking about the perennial flood problem, Singh said the BJP government, once it is back to power again, will do everything possible in this regard and make Assam a "flood- free" state.

"Today we have also released our manifesto. We will give government jobs to two lakh youths, while eight lakh private jobs will also be created," he added.

Stating that only BJP has worked for the development of Assam, Singh said he has a "long list" of achievements of chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and his government.

He further said government education till Class VIII will be completely free and land pattas will be handed over to all the landless people.

"By 2022, there will be not a single person in Assam who will not have a concrete roof above his head. We will give free cycles to students," Singh said.

To eliminate the middlemen in distribution of the welfare schemes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened bank accounts for the poor people, the senior BJP leader asserted.

"Assam has a proud sprinter Hima Das. If BJP comes to power, then the speed of development will be even faster than the running of Hima Das," he added.

Singh said Congress could have made Assam among the top states in India had the party "even partially" fulfilled its election promises.

"Politics is not only to enjoy and grab power. Politics is done for the country and to make peoples' lives easy," he added.

Talking about the India-China standoff, the Defence minister said the country is proud of the courage and valour of the soldiers in protecting the borders.

"Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a 56-inch chest. India has now emerged as one very strong country in the world. No one can dare to look at us today," he added.

Continue reading here:
Will not allow politics over illegal immigration in Assam: Rajnath - The New Indian Express

"It's going to get nothing but worse," - U.S. Senator John Cornyn on the migrant children situation.

MIDLAND, Texas Members of Congress are agreeing that what's happening at the border is a humanitarian crisis especially given that there's a need for more holding facilities.

The question that remains is what happens next? How does the government stop the massive influx of people illegally crossing into the U.S.? Members of Congress said that it all starts at the border.

However, right now, the number of migrant children coming over is on the rise. U.S. senator John Cornyn believes that it isn't getting better soon.

"Its going to get nothing but worse," Cornyn said.

He said that getting ahead of the curve at this point is impossible.

"Border patrol has told me you cannot build enough capacity to get ahead of the flood of people that are going to come in. I think if the administration believed they had this under control, they are sadly mistaken," Cornyn said.

U.S. representative Tony Gonzales said that in order for the situation to improve, there needs to be a bi-partisan effort to funnel more resources south.

"Now is the time for Republicans and Democrats alike. Were all in on this together. We have to come together to find a solution. One of those solutions is giving resources to border patrol. We have to have a secure border and we have to do that now," Gonzales said.

Highlighting legal immigration is they key according to Gonzales.

"What worries me is they're just going to continue to expand these facilities unless they have a clear policy shift that can address border security and highlight legal immigration and not encourage illegal immigration," Gonzales said.

However, with the backlog of people waiting for hearing dates during the immigration process, it's something that will take time, but Cornyn believes there is a solution.

"What we need to do is to move the judges to the border, and we need to move the children in particular to the head of the line so they can have the court hearing while theyre being detained there to see who can legitimately stay and who cannot," Cornyn said.

Read more here:
Members of Congress looking to solve border issues - NewsWest9.com

A brief analysis published by the Washington Post on March 23 suggested that theres no migrant surge at the U.S. southern border. Instead, the authors argue, the dramatic increase in apprehensions of children and families is just the usual seasonal bump in apprehensions that happens every year. They also argue that the increase in apprehensions reflects pent-up demand of people who would have come in the last year but for the pandemic. (My colleague Andrew Arthur has also written about the Post analysis.)

The first argument is simply not supported by the data. The second argument may have some plausibility except for the fact that this pent-up demand suddenly manifested itself as soon as Biden took office. A far more reasonable interpretation of the data is that President Bidens pronouncements and policies, including not returning unaccompanied children under Title 42 and releasing Central Americans within 72 hours of apprehension into the United States, as well as his stated desire to end most deportations and continued support for legalizing most illegal immigrants, is spurring larger numbers of families and children to enter illegally.

Figure 1 shows that in January and February of last year, before Covid, the number of children and families apprehended was much less than in January and February of this year. (Unaccompanied alien children are called UACs; single minors are children apprehended with adults other than a parent.) Once in place in April, the Covid travel restrictions caused a falloff in apprehensions for a time, but by the end of last year apprehensions were back to pre-Covid levels. However, when President Biden took office, the number surged, suddenly and dramatically. If it really was pent-up demand and unrelated to the change in administration, then the question has to be asked: Why was this demand suddenly released only after Bidens inauguration?

Source: Border Patrol apprehensions from Southwest Land Border Encounters, Customs and Border Protection, March 10, 2021.

On its face, it would seem that the policies and statements by the new administration are being interpreted by prospective migrants to mean that if they are apprehended, they are more likely to be released. Or, if they enter successfully, they are less likely to be sent home than was the case under the prior administration. Some interviews with migrants indicate that this is the case.

Figure 2 examines the seasonality of apprehensions of children and families. It compares December of each year to February of the following year (the green bar). It also compares January to February of the same year. February of this year looks to be very different from prior years. The jump in apprehensions from December to February or January to February is much larger than in the past. In fact, in some years there is little change from December to February or January to February or even an outright decline. The 2019 border crisis, which was building by February of that year, looks to be the only other time when the increase in February came close to the increase we see today. The argument that illegal migration shifting upward this time of year explains the increase in children and families apprehended, as the authors of the Post piece argue, is not consistent with actual trends.

To be sure, seasonality does play a role in the ebb and flow of illegal immigration at the Southwest border. However, in this case, the sudden increase in apprehensions of children and families in January and February of this year is not explained by normal seasonality. We can also see this in Table 1, which shows the number of apprehensions of children and families in January and February each year since 2013. Again, the numbers we are seeing in the first two months of this year are very different from almost every other year.

Sources: Border Patrol apprehensions from Stats and Summaries,Customs and Border Protection, undated; andSouthwest Land Border Encounters,Customs and Border Protection, March 10, 2021.

Figure 3 reports apprehensions of children and families, as well as individual adults. The number of apprehensions of adults surged dramatically after Covid travel restrictions were put in place in April last year. Some of the surge in single adults after April is due to people from countries other than Mexico (OTMs) being quickly expelled back to that country under Title 42, which is an emergency order instituted by the CDC in response to the pandemic. Prior to Covid, single non-Mexican adults had to be processed, which took time. Because most are now quickly expelled, they are able to try over and over again to reenter and this shows up as a dramatic rise in apprehensions. However, this cannot be the whole story because Mexican apprehensions have also been increasing. More analysis is clearly needed in this area, but it is entirely possible that the hope of a Biden victory and then his statements and policies since winning are playing a role in encouraging more single adults to enter illegally.

All of the available evidence indicates that the number of children and families apprehended at the border has surged suddenly in a way that does not reflect seasonal variation. Rather, the surge occurred just as the new administration took office, a clear indication that the profound policy changes of the new president are the primary cause. There is little doubt that America is entering into a new border crisis similar to the one in 2019 that caused the Trump administration to adopt policies that helped to end it policies that have been ended or modified by the new administration, which predictably have sparked a new border crisis.

Continued here:
The Surge of Children and Families at the Border Began when Biden Took Office and Is Not a Seasonal Variation - Immigration Blog

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents take into custody people near the U.S.-Mexico border, Saturday, March 20, 2021, in Hidalgo, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Republican senators are blaming Democrat leadership for the influx of illegal aliens overwhelming the U.S.-Mexico border. Some have even referred to the the border crisis as the Biden effect.

While speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wy.) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) pointed out how the Biden administrations policies are squarely to blame for the crisis at the southern border.

The GOP lawmakers began with data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which shows more than 100,000 illegal immigrants crossed the border in the month of February. Sen. Scott stressed thats more than double the number from that time last year. The Florida lawmaker made the following remarks on the matter:

Youve heard the numbers, 100,000 people were detained last month. Almost 10,000 children. Fifteen-thousand children now in custody. This is all Joe Bidens doing. He needs to go to the border, needs to see the crisis hes created. He said hes going to do it now, but we dont know when hes going to do it. He created this crisis. He needs to go deal with it.

In response, the Biden administration recently awarded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) an $86.9 million contract to secure hotel rooms near the border to provide temporary shelter for families who illegally crossed.

Under the contract, each family receives a comprehensive health assessment, including COVID-19 testing. However, its been reported that more than 100 illegal immigrants who tested positive have been released into Texas.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the nomination of Samantha Power to be the next Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Tuesday, March 23, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Greg Nash/Pool via AP)

Sen. Barrasso said Republicans have solutions, but Democrats dont want to hear them.

This is Joe Bidens crisis, he created it by his policies, asserted the Wyoming lawmaker. Republicans have common sense solutions that would actually reverse this immediately and it involves securing the border, enforcing the laws and restoring the Remain in Mexico orders.

Sen. Barrasso said otherwise, security and safety of the U.S. will continue to suffer. He went on to preview the trip he plans to make to the border in Texas later this week to inspect the situation firsthand since the White House is still in denial.

See the rest here:
GOP leaders sound the alarm on illegal immigration - One America News Network