Are You Fed Up with the Immigration Policies of the Biden Administration?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns the constitutional guarantee of equality before the law for all people. This guarantee of equality should be included in our treatment of immigrants. Yet, the Biden administration does not treat legal immigrants with those migrants who come illegally.

Simon Hankinson compared his experience and that of Andrew Sullivan as legal immigrants with illegal immigrants. Hankinson is “a former foreign service officer with the State Department” and a current “senior research fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center. He, a conservative, agrees with Washington Post reporter Nick Miroff, “a staunch liberal” who recently noted that “the current insanity at the border makes legal immigrants like us ‘look like patsies.’” Conservatives and liberals agree that there is no equality in the treatment of legal immigrants as compared with illegal immigrants. 

In particular, Hankinson noted the announcement by President Joe Biden that Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua would be added to his “successful” Venezuela “parole” program in which a new, possibly unconstitutional, “pathway” was created to facilitate illegal immigration. He asked a question about the feelings of people who wait patiently for visas. “Are they Patsies? Suckers? Mugs, marks, or saps, maybe?”

How Do Visas Work?

Hankinson immigrated into the United States legally. As a consular officer, he also worked on thousands of visa cases for other people trying to come legally. He said that the “arrogant disregard for the law and precedent” made his “blood boil.” He then explained how visas work.

Consular officers will issue non-immigrant (temporary tourist, student, guest worker) visas to foreigners if we (1) are satisfied of their identity; (2) believe that they are not criminals or terrorists, and don’t have a contagious disease; and (3) are convinced that they will return home when their temporary purpose ends.

(That last one is the hardest, because a good percentage of people in many countries can’t show that they would return home without working illegally or overstaying, so their visas are denied.)

With a visa in their passport, foreigners can travel to a U.S. airport or border station, where Customs and Border Protection usually lets them in for the duration needed.

For immigrant (permanent) visas, the requirements are the same, minus the need to show intent to return home.

This arduous process – filling out forms, an interview, and getting the visa – must be done outside the U.S. and can take weeks, months, or even years. It costs $160 to apply for a temporary visa and more than $1,000 to get an immigrant visa.

The framework is spelled out in a law passed by Congress, which, under our Constitution, gets to determine who comes to our country and how.

Hankinson continued by explaining that he spent “half [his] career maintaining the integrity of this legal immigration process” along with thousands of federal employees. However, “our constitutional and equitable – if swamped – immigration system is being sabotaged.” He explained that Biden’s “parole” programs work the same way that a visa does – only quicker. Immigrants now just need to apply on the new “CBP One” application on their smart phone (every illegal immigrant has one). Then they can bypass “the interview, police and medical clearance, and filling out forms.” 

In addition, there is no cost and no navigating “jungles, the Darien Gap, or Mexican buses.” If the application is approved, the immigrant can “fly into the U.S. airport of [their] choice, state that [they] have a credible fear of persecution and that [they] want to file for asylum,” and they are in. They soon have a work permit that will be valid for two years, and they can put their children into the public school system, obtain free emergency medical care, and apply for public benefits.

Under Biden’s new program, another 30,000 will be added per month. “All these people will ride for free, as have the million-plus illegal aliens the DHS has already let into the country since Biden’s inauguration.”

Who Pays for All the Freebies?

American citizens pay for all the freebies. They also deal with “overcrowded schools, underfunded hospitals, higher crime, and drug overdoses from the fentanyl shipped over the border.” We also pay for “social services, cellphones, medical care, and bus and plane tickets for millions of indigent foreigners.” The current illegal immigration is not fair to American citizens, legal immigrants, and other people.

Only Congress can stop the madness of the Biden administration. Last November, Americans fired Nancy Pelosi as the Speaker of the House by electing more Republicans than Democrats. The Republicans are now in charge of the House of Representatives by a small margin. If you are fed up with the unconstitutional policies of the Biden administration, contact your Representative and urge them to stop the madness.