Biden Shouldn’t Give Up on Border Security
The failure of a bipartisan immigration compromise shows Republicans have no interest in governing. It’s time for the president to act on his own.
Reinforcements needed.
Photographer: Guillermo Arias/AFP
The glimmer of hope that Congress might pass a bipartisan border-security bill has been extinguished, at least for now. In killing immigration reforms that their party has long supported — and that are now far less likely to become law — Republicans have demonstrated their lack of interest in governing and their unfortunate fealty to Donald Trump, who would prefer to weaponize the issue on the campaign trail.
Despite the failure of this compromise, the bipartisan group that spearheaded the bill shouldn’t give up. Nor can the White House wait for Congress to act. The problems at the border are too pressing — and, for President Joe Biden, too politically damaging to ignore.