Editorial: 'The certainty of arrest and return is a huge changing point'

The Editorial Board, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Feb 27, 2025

Published in Op Eds

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President Donald Trump has for now delivered smashingly on his campaign promise to gain control of our southern border. The numbers tell the story.

The Border Patrol made 29,000 arrests in January, the Wall Street Journal reported last week. That’s down 38 percent from December.

The New York Times reveals that shelters in south Texas now have plenty of available beds after being overwhelmed last year. “In San Antonio, a shelter run by Catholic Charities plans to shut its doors entirely because of a lack of new arrivals.” In Tucson, Arizona, “once the busiest section of the entire border, apprehensions and other encounters with immigrants have fallen to about 450 per week from 1,200 per week in late January,” officials told the Times.

Notably, the Journal and the Times can’t resist pointing out that illegal crossings were falling during the waning days of the Biden administration — and that’s true. But attempts at whitewashing ignore the fact that, as president, Joe Biden allowed an estimated 8 million illegal migrants into the country in an attempt to appease the open-border wing of his party.

One of Biden’s first acts in the Oval Office was to rescind Trump executive orders intended to deter illegal immigration. He also liberally expanded the definition of asylum-seeker, encouraging more migrant crossings. Those who were apprehended were typically released into the country and told to appear in court years down the road. Many big cities became overwhelmed by the influx, moving even Democratic mayors of “sanctuary cities” to beg Washington for relief.

Even the president of Mexico at the time, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, recognized Biden’s culpability. “Expectations were created that with the government of President Biden there would be a better treatment of migrants,” he said at a March 2021 news conference. “And this has caused Central American migrants, and also from our country, wanting to cross the border thinking that it is easier to do so.”

Only when it became obvious that the issue would be lead weight around the ankle of Democratic candidates in a tight political campaign — three years into his presidency — did Biden take a more aggressive stance, leading to a reduction in border arrests. But it was too little, too late.

Biden’s refusal to enforce immigration law had predictable consequences. Trump’s high-profile crackdown has also led to predictable consequences. “The certainty of arrest and return is a huge changing point,” Sean McGoffin, the chief Border Patrol agent in Tucson, told the Times.

Now, let’s hope Congress and the president can reach a deal on commonsense reforms that recognize the need for the country to protect its sovereignty while recognizing the value of legal immigrants who seek a piece of the American dream.

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