Biden's fix of the border crisis: Hide the facts and do not report the numbers.
When it came time this week for the Biden administration to release April enforcement data showing illegal migration at a 20-year high, U.S. Customs and Border Protection slipped the news into an after-hours news release. There was no public briefing, no questioning from reporters and little evident urgency.
It was a departure from the Trump administration approach. President Donald Trump treated CBP monthly enforcement data like a stock index for his Homeland Security team’s performance, and the calculus was simple: Higher border enforcement numbers were bad; lower numbers were good.
Nearly four months into President Biden’s term, as his administration settles into a new normal of sky-high border numbers, he and his top officials are looking to break with Trump’s measurement standards, at a time when immigration ranks as one of their worst-polling issues.
When it came time this week for the Biden administration to release April enforcement data showing illegal migration at a 20-year high, U.S. Customs and Border Protection slipped the news into an after-hours news release. There was no public briefing, no questioning from reporters and little evident urgency.
It was a departure from the Trump administration approach. President Donald Trump treated CBP monthly enforcement data like a stock index for his Homeland Security team’s performance, and the calculus was simple: Higher border enforcement numbers were bad; lower numbers were good.
Nearly four months into President Biden’s term, as his administration settles into a new normal of sky-high border numbers, he and his top officials are looking to break with Trump’s measurement standards, at a time when immigration ranks as one of their worst-polling issues.
