{"id":1739560,"date":"2022-11-15T07:55:45","date_gmt":"2022-11-15T12:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1739560"},"modified":"2022-11-15T11:34:11","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T16:34:11","slug":"andrew-arthur-biden-and-mayorkas-cant-escape-blame-for-migrant-crisis-by-scapegoating-their-border-czar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/andrew-arthur-biden-and-mayorkas-cant-escape-blame-for-migrant-crisis-by-scapegoating-their-border-czar\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Arthur: Biden and Mayorkas Can\u2019t Escape Blame for Migrant Crisis by Scapegoating Their Border Czar"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fandrew-arthur-biden-and-mayorkas-cant-escape-blame-for-migrant-crisis-by-scapegoating-their-border-czar%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1739560&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Chris Magnus, President Joe Biden\u2019s border chief, resigned <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/11\/12\/chris-magnus-resigns-as-us-customs-and-border-protection-head\/\">Saturday<\/a>, ending a <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/11\/11\/bidens-border-security-czar-chris-magnus-being-forced-out\/\">standoff<\/a> with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who\u2019d threatened to fire Magnus if he didn\u2019t step down. It\u2019s unclear whether the US Customs and Border Protection commissioner\u2019s resignation is a simple personnel matter or represents a shift in White House immigration policy \u2014 but the administration is likely looking for a scapegoat for the <a href=\"https:\/\/cis.org\/Arthur\/Border-Patrol-Set-New-Records-Apprehensions-Children-Families-FY-2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">humanitarian disaster<\/a> at the southwest border it helped create.<\/p>\n<p>Biden inherited what Rodney Scott, his first Border Patrol chief, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ronjohnson.senate.gov\/services\/files\/57C4C0D7-EEB7-4F43-8252-9FD339DDFBD4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">described<\/a> last September as \u201carguably the most effective border security in\u201d US history, but he quickly allowed it to \u201cdisintegrate\u201d as \u201cinexperienced political appointees\u201d ignored \u201ccommon sense border security recommendations from experienced career professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Few Biden appointees had less experience than Magnus, whose career was largely spent in the upper Midwest and San Francisco Bay area. Though he did serve as Tucson, Ariz., police chief for five years before the White House <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/nomination\/117th-congress\/565\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tapped<\/a> him to head CBP, his accomplishments there largely consisted of implementing \u201cprogressive\u201d policies.<\/p>\n<p>It took about seven months for the Senate to confirm Magnus on a largely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.senate.gov\/legislative\/LIS\/roll_call_votes\/vote1171\/vote_117_1_00483.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">party-line<\/a> vote. By the time he assumed the position in mid-December 2021, migrant apprehensions at the southwest border had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbp.gov\/newsroom\/stats\/nationwide-encounters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">skyrocketed<\/a>, from just over 400,000 in fiscal year 2020 to nearly 1.66 million in FY 2021. Overworked Border Patrol agents saw Magnus\u2019 appointment as just another slap in the face.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/USA-IMMIGRATION_BORDER.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/USA-IMMIGRATION_BORDER.jpg\" alt=\"Chris Magnus\" class=\"wp-image-24640511\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/USA-IMMIGRATION_BORDER.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/USA-IMMIGRATION_BORDER.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/USA-IMMIGRATION_BORDER.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/USA-IMMIGRATION_BORDER.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Chris Magnus, President Joe Biden\u2019s border chief, resigned Saturday.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">REUTERS\/Rod Lamkey<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Despite the ongoing border catastrophe he faced on arrival, Magnus focused his attention on attempting to change Border Patrol\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/politics\/story\/2022-11-11\/border-protection-commissioner-chris-magnus-say-he-has-been-asked-to-resign-but-refuses\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">culture<\/a>.\u201d By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/10\/17\/customs-border-protection-chris-magnus-00061963\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mid-October<\/a>, unnamed administration officials were complaining to DC tip-sheet Politico that Magnus was disinterested in the migrant crisis and had fallen asleep during key meetings, prompting congressional Republicans led by Georgia Rep. Jody Hice to <a href=\"https:\/\/hice.house.gov\/news\/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=6924\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">call<\/a> for his resignation.<\/p>\n<p>Such leaks usually indicate the target is being set up for a fall, but Magnus was seemingly oblivious. The last straw for Mayorkas was purportedly a pay dispute between the commissioner and Border Patrol head Raul Ortiz (who was not on board with Magnus\u2019 \u201creforms\u201d) and Magnus\u2019 appearance \u2014 against the secretary\u2019s recommendations \u2014 at a meeting of Border Patrol chiefs in El Paso.<\/p>\n<p>While control of the House remains unsettled following the midterm elections, many in the Republican Party have called for Mayorkas\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawley.senate.gov\/hawley-blasts-mayorkas-over-two-million-illegal-crossings-you-must-resign\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">resignation<\/a> or even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2022\/10\/06\/ted-cruz-alejandro-mayorkas-texas-mexico-border\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">impeachment<\/a> due to his failure to fulfill his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/109\/plaws\/publ367\/PLAW-109publ367.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statutory mandate<\/a> to gain operational control of the border.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/AFP_32ND28D.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/AFP_32ND28D.jpg\" alt=\"migrant crisis\" class=\"wp-image-24640548\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/AFP_32ND28D.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/AFP_32ND28D.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/AFP_32ND28D.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/AFP_32ND28D.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Magnus was disinterested in the migrant crisis and had fallen asleep during key meetings.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AFP via Getty Images\/ Guillermo Arias<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By forcing the embattled and objectively inexperienced Magnus out, Mayorkas\u2019 scapegoating of the commissioner may have been an attempt to buy an insurance policy should Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) take the speaker\u2019s gavel in January.<\/p>\n<p>Alternatively, Magnus\u2019 forced resignation may represent a shift in the administration\u2019s border policies.<\/p>\n<p>Rumors of a rift among Biden\u2019s White House advisers on how to respond to millions of illegal entrants at the southwest border have been swirling for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/biden-trump-immigration-southern-border-mexico-11637256075?mod=hp_lead_pos4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nearly a year<\/a>, and illegal immigration was a key vulnerability for Democrats in Tuesday\u2019s elections, accounting (by my <a href=\"https:\/\/cis.org\/Arthur\/Immigration-and-Border-Were-Ballot-Midterms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">estimates<\/a>) for more than 7% of all GOP votes.<\/p>\n<p>Magnus resigned the same day <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/americas\/cuba-agrees-accept-us-deportation-flights-border-crossings-rise-2022-11-11\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Reuters<\/a> announced Cuba has agreed to accept DHS deportation flights. Border Patrol arrested more than 220,000 Cubans at the southwest border in FY 2022, nearly 10% of all apprehensions last fiscal year. Those migrants were probably banking on Havana not taking them back, and with this agreement, their future numbers will likely drop.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/US-Mexico.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/US-Mexico.jpg\" alt=\"Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas\" class=\"wp-image-24640540\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/US-Mexico.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/US-Mexico.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/US-Mexico.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/US-Mexico.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas threatened to fire Magnus if he didn\u2019t step down. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AP\/Alex Brandon<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It\u2019s notable that calls for Magnus to step down came just days after GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/11\/08\/desantis-heads-to-second-term-in-florida\/\">coasted<\/a> to re-election in Florida \u2014 a state with a significant <a href=\"https:\/\/www.census.gov\/quickfacts\/FL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hispanic<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org\/research\/immigrants-florida\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">immigrant<\/a> population.<\/p>\n<p>DeSantis appears to be a leading <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/11\/11\/its-desantis-time-now-donald-trump-losing-support-on-home-turf\/\">candidate<\/a> to challenge both Biden and former President Donald Trump for the presidency in 2024, and the governor has demonstrated that strict but sensible pro-border-enforcement <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flgov.com\/2021\/12\/10\/governor-ron-desantis-announces-proposals-to-stop-the-flow-of-illegal-aliens-and-protect-floridians-from-the-ongoing-biden-border-crisis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">policies<\/a> can capture wide swaths of the electorate.<\/p>\n<p>Tuesday\u2019s results notwithstanding, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/10\/11\/bidens-about-to-turn-80-dont-expect-a-blowout-birthday-bash-00061090\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">octogenarian<\/a> Biden faces strong headwinds in his re-election efforts, with his approval ratings in the latest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ipsos.com\/sites\/default\/files\/ct\/news\/documents\/2022-11\/2022%20Ipsos%20Tracking%20-%20Core%20Political%20Presidential%20Approval%20Tracker%20November%204-7%202022.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ipsos poll<\/a> at just 39%. And immigration is likely his biggest vulnerability: The RealClearPolitics polling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/epolls\/other\/president-biden-job-approval-immigration-7359.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">average<\/a> shows Biden nearly 24 points underwater with Americans on the issue.<\/p>\n<p>Few agents will miss Magnus. If Biden and Mayorkas think that the commissioner\u2019s departure will satisfy voters and congressional Republicans concerned about a border in chaos, however, they are strongly mistaken.<\/p>\n<p><em>Andrew Arthur is the Center for Immigration Studies\u2019 resident fellow in law and policy.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chris Magnus, President Joe Biden\u2019s border chief, resigned Saturday, ending a standoff with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who\u2019d threatened to fire Magnus if he didn\u2019t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1739563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1739560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1739560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1739560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1739560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1739563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1739560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1739560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1739560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}