Talarico’s Border Policies Could Spark A Biden-Level Migrant Crisis

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect any institutional position for The Heritage Foundation or its board of trustees.

James Talarico, the left-wing Democrat ahead in some polls in the Texas U.S. Senate race against Republican Ken Paxton, has staked out a guiding border security policy idea that has puzzled many voters: “Our border should be like a front porch — it should have a welcome mat out front and a lock on the door,” he has said on the campaign trail and in his online border policy page.

Whatever Talarico is signaling might matter if he becomes the first Democrat senator from Texas since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988. That’s because he proclaims on his campaign page that “Texans should be the ones to lead our country in finally pursuing comprehensive immigration reforms …” and asks voters to “imagine having a U.S. Senator from Texas who will take the charge to get that done.”

So, does Talarico’s metaphor about locking the door of Texas — owner of the longest international border of any of the contiguous states — mean he’s a hardline restrictionist who would channel Trump’s policies, which ended the worst mass migration border crisis in American history? Or does his “welcome mat” metaphor mean Talarico would start another mass migration crisis at the southern border?

The smart money is on the latter option. A careful examination of Talarico’s elaborating public statements, social media, and “commonsense border security” campaign materials demonstrates that his locked-door-welcome-mat ideas, if ever implemented, would closely replicate the Biden administration’s wide-open border and likewise induce another swamping tidal wave of humanity to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

There’s a universal principle that always determines the start or end of mass migration events. It boils down to whether American political leaders and courts allow enough illegal border jumpers to successfully enter and stay to earn enough money to at least repay their smuggling investment. If they are let in to stay, they’ll come in force because the effort is worth the smuggling money. If they’re expelled and blocked, they won’t risk the money.

A pure “welcome mat” policy, therefore, lets illegal immigrants in to earn money long-term without fear of deportation (usually while pursuing meritless political asylum or humanitarian protection claims). If they calculate for that outcome, aspiring illegal immigrants will pay regardless of whether they must beg, borrow, or steal the smuggling money. A profound real-world example happened in 2021, when the Biden administration began admitting most arriving inadmissible aliens into the country to eventually start their meritless asylum claims.

Millions from all over the world paid the smuggling fees and bum-rushed the border for the next four years, the worst mass migration crisis in American history.

Conversely, if an allegedly “locked door” policy stops, blocks, and actively deports, would-be illegal immigrants will just stay home and save their smuggling money for when the welcome mat is laid out again.

A profound real-world example of how the “locked door” works happened when Trump’s proclamation “Guaranteeing the States Protection Against Invasion” suspended the right of illegal crossers to apply for asylum. The asylum ban, plus orders for Border Patrol and U.S. military personnel to catch everyone they could and expel them, along with at least the promise of mass interior deportations, abruptly ended the 2021-2024 crisis. Aspiring illegal aliens are still staying home rather than gambling their money against high-probability border or interior expulsion.

Masking a Biden Border Restoration

But what Talarico means when he says “locking the door” is the opposite of what Trump meant and what most Americans might think it means.

Talarico’s plan calls for restarting asylum claims at the border and fast-tracking determinations by hiring more immigration judges “so that only legitimate claims are approved, and ensure legitimate asylees receive protection quickly,” he promised at a July campaign rally.

Few seem to realize that Talarico’s entire scheme comes straight from the Biden border playbook, right down to its infamous terminology. While Talarico publicly condemns Biden’s border policies as terrible, he adopts the Biden-era “sane, orderly process at our southern border” description to describe his plan, which is almost identical to the “safe, orderly, and humane” asylum processing that Biden’s U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas once deployed. Mayorkas never tired of using the “safe-orderly” euphemism to also describe supposedly fast-tracked asylum decisions.

Sweetening the Old Biden Pie: No Expulsion or Deportation

But here’s the real rub about Talarico’s Orwellian use of “locking the door” campaign imagery. All of his plans exempt the majority of illegal aliens from deportation, presumably to include those DENIED asylum. Deportation is only applied in the unlikely event that some fresh border arrivals who have never been inside the country are somehow discovered to be U.S.-convicted criminals, confirmed gang members, or human traffickers. But the bright, glaring omission in Talarico’s plans and statements is a single provision for deporting everyone who was declined in his fast-tracked asylum process.

The deportation-exempt in Talarico’s world include “our neighbors who contribute to our communities, pay taxes, and pose no threat to our safety … small business owners … moms and babies … folks who want … to pursue the American dream,” his border policy page says. Heads the illegals win, tails the Americans lose.

“We should be cracking down on the cartels, not our communities,” he wrote. “We can both welcome the stranger — refugees, asylum seekers, and folks who want to contribute to our economy and pursue the American dream.”

Just restarting asylum processing at the border and exempting most from expulsion creates an irresistible narcotic draw on the world’s poor. But Talarico’s plan further sweetens the pie. It promises to legalize large categories of illegal immigrants, to end border wall construction, and to vastly increase serf worker visas.

None of this should surprise anyone who would question the authenticity of his “lock the door” policy, as The Daily Signal’s Emily Medeiros reported that Talarico’s voting record in the Texas State Legislature revealed Talarico as an implacable oppositionist to every meaningful piece of border security legislation.

The absence of negative consequences for almost every illegal entrant, combined with an unlocked door opened wide, leaves only the welcome mat. That, stripping away his misdirecting, disingenuous rhetoric, is what Talarico is really about.

Todd Bensman is a senior research fellow for the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation. Before joining Heritage in July 2026, Bensman served the Trump administration as senior adviser to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (ICE Office of Director) and the intelligence community as a National Counterterrorism Center detailee, where he served senior leadership on priority policy matters related to enforcing both legal and illegal immigration, southern border security, and the counter-cartel campaigns. Follow him on X @BensmanTodd.