Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Biden Administration Announces Huge Crackdown on Immigration Ahead of Trip to El Paso

President Biden has announced new severe immigration restrictions for asylum seekers coming through the U.S.-Mexico border. We must fight for open borders and full rights for all migrants.

Sou Mi

January 8, 2023
Facebook Twitter Share
President Biden speaks to reporters outside the White House on January 5, 2023.
Image: Susan Walsh/AP

While many watched with awe the theater unfolding over the election of the next Speaker of the House, President Joe Biden announced a huge crackdown on immigration at the southern border. He aggressively increased restrictions on asylum in an effort to discourage migrant crossing into the United States.

According to this new policy, the U.S. will deny immigrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Haiti from applying for asylum if they cross the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization between official ports of entry, and will be returned to Mexico instead. “If You’re trying to leave Cuba, Nicaragua or Haiti,” Biden said, “or have agreed to pay an attorney to America, do not, do not just show up at the border.” Such a transit ban is already in place for immigrants from Venezuela.

Further, in what he sees as a concession to the tens of thousands of migrants from these countries who attempt to cross the border every month, Biden said that he would give as many as 30,000 people from these countries a chance to migrate legally into the United States. However, these measures are little more than crumbs, and are tied to migrants’ ability to buy a plane ticket, get a U.S. fiscal sponsor, qualify background checks, and meet other requirements and paperwork to obtain legal status. These legal means are often out of reach for most migrants, especially the many who are working class or poor.

Biden’s declaration came shortly before his scheduled trip to El Paso, Texas on Sunday, where Mayor Oscar Leeser declared a state of emergency last month, and called for federal intervention.

This move by the Biden administration is a significant concession to a xenophobic Right embodied in the Republican Party that has made the war on migrants and refugees a significant part of its agenda. Not only have GOP lawmakers been calling on Biden to be tougher on immigration, but Republican mayors and governors across the south have for months been bussing migrants to cities across the country that they consider Democratic party bastions.

But it isn’t sufficient to blame far-right and Republican xenophobia alone. Although it pays lip service to immigrants rights, as one of the two main parties of capital the Democratic party is equally complicit in building and maintaining a system that not only forces millions each year to abandon their homes, but also violently represses them when they do so. 

Lest we forget, the Obama administration deported more immigrants during his tenure than any previous administration. The holding cages that became synonymous with Trump’s callous “zero tolerance” policy and family separations were built during the Obama years. Through the Trump years, the Democratic party and its leaders embraced a rhetoric of immigrant rights, using displays of righteous indignation to paint themselves as the champions of those making the treacherous journeys across the southern border or the families separated and held in cages in detention camps. 

You might be interested in: The Democratic Party Doesn’t Care about Immigrants

For his part, Biden ran on a similar campaign, promising to “overhaul immigration laws.” Now, almost two years since he took office, the Biden administration has continued to build Trump’s border wall. Instead of dismantling cages and family separations as he promised, Biden has continued to maintain them. And although he says he stands against Title 42, his administration has used and expanded it to expel over two million immigrants so far.

For the working class and oppressed, both here and abroad, the Democratic party represents nothing more than a series of dead-ends. Biden and his ilk are tasked with maintaining a capitalist, imperialist system that thrives on oppressing working people everywhere. Indeed, it is the same regime that has, while saying they “stand for Black lives,” increased police funding across and has given billions to an imperialist war machine while saying there’s no money for healthcare, education, or infrastructure. The borders are yet another frontier for Biden and the capitalist state that he and his party serves: one that disrupts the lives of millions of working people and poor and keeps them precarious to maintain U.S. imperialism.

Against this racist, capitalist, imperialist state, its xenophobic policies, and for the lives and dignity of millions of working people displaced by the wrath of U.S. imperialism, we must fight for opening the borders and for the full rights and liberties of all immigrants making the perilous journey across the southern border.

Facebook Twitter Share

Sou Mi

Sou Mi is an activist based in New York City.

United States

The New Hollywood McCarthyism Emerging Around Palestine

Over the past week, a new Hollywood McCarthyism has emerged: multiple people in Hollywood have jobs and representation over their support of Palestine. We must denounce and fight these attacks which weaken the movement and scare supporters into silence.

Sybil Davis

December 3, 2023
A UAW sign is held next to a "Free Palestine" sign

The UAW Has Called for a Ceasefire. It’s Time for All of Labor to Stand Up.

The UAW International union has joined calls for a ceasefire and is exploring how to divest from Israel. This is a step which should inspire union activists to take up the fight to bring their union into the fight against Israel's attack on Gaza and the struggle against imperialism.

Rose Lemlich

December 2, 2023

A Pause in Genocide Is Not Enough: Jewish Voice for Peace Shuts Down the Manhattan Bridge

Amid a pause in Israel’s offensive on Gaza, Jewish Voice for Peace is showing that the movement for Palestine will continue. Civil disobedience must lead to broad protests which bring all sectors of the movement together.

Samuel Karlin

November 26, 2023
Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdel Hamid, and Tahseen Ahmed wearing Keffiyes. They were shot in Burlington, Vermont, USA.

The Three Palestinians Shot in Burlington Are Victims of Rising Islamophobia

Three Palestinian men were shot in Burlington Vermont while walking down the street. The campaign against Palestine has dehumanized all Palestinians and left them more vulnerable to these types of attacks.

Sybil Davis

November 26, 2023

MOST RECENT

All That's Left, the podcast from Left Voice.

#AllThatsLeftPod: What the Historic UAW Victory Means for the Working Class

In this episode of the podcast, we discuss the historic UAW victory, its shortcomings, and the tasks for the future.

Left Voice

December 5, 2023

Robert Habeck Wrote a Play Praising a Right-Wing Mass Murderer

Germany's Green vice chancellor strikes many as an idealist who has been struggling with the tough realities of government. Yet before he was a national politician, he wrote a play that opens a window into a dark soul.

Nathaniel Flakin

December 1, 2023

The World Kissinger Built Must Die Too

Henry Kissinger died at 100 years old. But his legacy remains in the brutal world system he built and the future generations of imperialist ghouls he inspired. They all must go.

Samuel Karlin

November 30, 2023

Fact Check: Did German Leftists Try to Bomb West Berlin’s Jewish Community Center in 1969?

Answer: No. The bombing was undertaken by West Germany’s domestic secret service, originally founded by Nazis.

Nathaniel Flakin

November 29, 2023