WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has sought to eliminate a major disadvantage to his re-election campaign by issuing an executive order significantly restricting asylum opportunities at the U.S.-Mexico border.
But it’s unclear whether his efforts will be enough to change the minds of voters who are increasingly expressing concern about the record influx of migrants under his leadership. Polls have shown immigration and border security as a top issue this election year, seized upon by former President Donald Trump and his campaign team.
Biden has moved far to the right on immigration since his successful campaign four years ago, when he criticized Trump’s immigration priorities and promised to restore asylum protections. Many Democrats acknowledge that Biden now faces a very different political reality, even as key parts of his base urge him to oppose border restrictions and compare his move to Trump’s policies as president.
Sue-Ann DiVito, a 61-year-old real estate agent in the Philadelphia suburb of Jenkintown who advocated for immigration during the Trump administration, says Republicans have succeeded in spreading anti-immigrant messages in communities like hers, leaving some of her friends who are Democrats concerned about the high numbers of people coming to the United States.
“I think that’s why people who normally support immigrants are quieter now,” DiVito said.
A challenge for Biden among Democrats and Latinos
The border has been one of the most essential issues for voters throughout the entire presidential campaign so far.
According to Gallup’s monthly data, Americans cited immigration as the nation’s top issue in February, March and April, even surpassing the economy despite persistently higher prices. In Gallup’s May poll, immigration was less frequently cited as the top issue as attention turned to Trump’s criminal trial and illegal border crossings declined. The issue remained tied with government and the economy as the nation’s top issue.
According to an April AP-NORC poll, 56 percent of Americans say Biden’s presidency has hurt the country on immigration and border security issues, significantly higher than the 37 percent who said the same about Trump’s time in office.
Even among Democrats, only about three in 10 say Biden’s presidency has helped the country more on immigration and border security, while about the same share say it has hurt it. Nearly nine in 10 Republicans say Trump’s presidency has helped on this issue.
Hispanic adults are also more likely to believe that Trump’s presidency has helped the country on immigration and border security than Biden’s. About half of Hispanic adults said in March that Biden’s presidency has hurt the country more on immigration and border security – a potentially alarming figure as Trump’s campaign aims to erode Democrats’ lead among Hispanic voters.
“President Biden had no choice. He saw what was happening at the border. The number of people wanting to come here to seek asylum was higher than ever before, and he knew he had to do something,” said Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist.
Frank Luntz, a longtime pollster who previously worked for Republicans, said the immigration issue generated unprecedented resonance across the political spectrum this spring.
He believes Biden is particularly vulnerable among African-American men under 40 who worry about competition from newcomers for jobs, and among Latinos who may be furious about illegal immigrants.
“The reason immigration is so important to so many is because it is a living example of Washington’s failure to solve what everyone else in America sees as a crisis,” he said Tuesday. “Biden’s decision seems to be too little, too late. The public doesn’t believe he cares, and therefore thinks he doesn’t get it.”
Trump’s past includes family separation
Trump has been campaigning on border and immigration issues since he launched his candidacy in 2016 with a speech in which he called migrants from Mexico criminals and rapists and promised to build a wall on the southern border.
During his term in office, his administration separated immigrant parents from their children to prevent families from crossing the border illegally – a measure that was widely criticized.
Border crossings reached record highs – albeit well below the levels reached under Biden – until they fell sharply with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In his campaign to return to the White House, Trump has escalated his already alarmist rhetoric, accusing Biden of staging a “bloodbath at the border” and pointing to cases of women and children killed by people who entered the United States illegally. He has vowed to carry out the largest deportation operation in US history if re-elected.
His campaign team quickly sought to portray Biden’s efforts as ineffective and as allowing thousands of migrants to cross the border every week.
“This Biden executive order can only be understood as an executive order that advocates invasion and illegal migration,” said former Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller, who orchestrated some of Trump’s toughest immigration policies, during a campaign-organized call with reporters ahead of Biden’s announcement.
Trump pollster John McLaughlin said the campaign believes the issue will resonate particularly with a group he calls “security moms” – college-educated suburban women who are concerned about crime and the safety of their families.
“There is a feeling of insecurity,” he said. “This does not only affect the border communities, it affects the entire country.”
Trump has always resorted to alarmist rhetoric about the border in election years. The difference now, according to Trump campaign aides and pollsters, is the reality voters see every day.
Crime has declined overall, and immigrants – even those who came to the country illegally – commit fewer crimes than those born in the U.S., studies using available data show. Yet in Democratic-run cities like New York, local news earlier this year was awash with images of clashes between migrants and police and concerns about strained city budgets and resources to accommodate the influx of people across the border.
Conservative media and Trump’s campaign team also took up high-profile incidents such as the murder of nursing student Laken Riley. A Venezuelan living illegally in the United States has pleaded not guilty to the charges related to her death.
Divisions in the democratic base
Biden’s announcement exposed lingering divisions among Democrats. Some left-leaning lawmakers and immigration advocates, who form a key part of his coalition, criticize Biden’s actions as a return to the policies that characterized Trump’s time in office.
Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal said she was “deeply disappointed.” During a press conference with immigration advocates outside the Capitol, Jayapal urged the administration to take measures that would provide relief to immigrants already in the U.S.
Jayapal, Democrat of Washington, said Tuesday’s order “means that there are people, desperate people, who are seeking asylum and should have the opportunity to apply and yet they cannot.”
Senator Alex Padilla, a Democrat from California who has been vigorous in reaching out to Latino communities for the Biden campaign, called the order a revival of “Trump’s asylum ban” in a press release Tuesday.
“You can build a wall as high as you want. You can make it as difficult to apply for asylum as you want. That will not sustainably reduce the number of people who want to come to the United States,” Padilla told reporters.
Other Democrats, however, praised Biden’s move as a necessary measure to address voters’ concerns and gain control of a southern border that has been in chaos at times in recent years.
“The president is saying, ‘I hear you, I know this is a problem, and I’m taking action,'” said Rep. Tom Suozzi, who co-founded a group of House Democrats focused on border security.
Suozzi, who won a special election in New York this year on a campaign that called for stricter immigration enforcement measures, also called for measures to support immigrants already in the country.
DiVito, the immigration activist in the swing state of Pennsylvania, tried to make up the difference from a Democratic perspective.
“This November we have an election, and no matter what negative policies Biden implements, Trump will be a thousand times worse,” she said. “And we all know that.”
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Gomez Licon reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price, Amelia Thomson DeVeaux and Linley Sanders contributed to this report.
