As in Europe, immigration is an ongoing point of contention in US politics. For decades, Democrats and Republicans have tried again and again to reach a bipartisan solution, only to repeatedly fail at the finish line.
But now an opportunity arises that everyone assumed had been postponed until Santa Claus. President Joe Biden is in principle ready to sign a bill that the two parties in the Senate have been negotiating for months. It envisages a massive tightening of current immigration practices: asylum applications must be processed much faster, rejected asylum seekers must be deported more quickly and border staff must be significantly increased. Biden even declares that he is prepared to close the borders immediately if more than 5,000 people want to cross them in one day.
To conservatives, this concession from the president and his party must feel like Christmas and Easter falling on the same day. Until now, it seemed impossible that the progressive wing of the Democrats would ever agree to this.
What led to this change in attitude? In fact, the situation at the border with Mexico has become so chaotic that no one can turn a blind eye to it. About 250,000 people crossed in December alone. There have been millions since the Corona lockdown was lifted.
To make matters worse, governors of conservative border states have begun busing immigrants to left-leaning cities. In New York and Chicago, the situation has become so dramatic that even Democratic mayors are urging the president to finally do something about the flow of immigration.
Added to this is the typical bad habit of American politics to combine several facts that have absolutely nothing to do with each other in the same law. In the case at hand, military aid to Ukraine and Israel was combined with stricter immigration laws. In this way, Democrats hope to overcome Republicans’ growing dissatisfaction with Congress’s support for Volodymyr Zelensky. Actually paradoxical, because a majority in both Congress and the population still supports this aid.
Regardless, the bipartisan bill appeared poised to pass in the Senate. Then Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suddenly became a voice of concern. In a familiar circle he explained that we should probably go through the books again; the political climate had changed.
Mike Johnson, the Republican majority leader in the House of Representatives and a dark fanatic, went even further. If the law were transferred from the Senate to the Chamber of Deputies, it would be dead before a word was spoken. In other words: the chairman will not even put the law to a vote. The fact that he has the authority to do so is another bad habit of American politics.
So why do Republicans refuse to accept the gift presented to them on a silver platter that they have been fighting for for decades? Logically, the answer is “Donald Trump.” “As the leader of our party, I declare that there is zero chance that I will support this terrible law because it betrays America,” the Maximum Leader said at a campaign rally in Las Vegas on Saturday. “I will fight this law to the end. Many senators are outraged by this. I say it’s okay. Please, please blame me for this.”
Trump may be a notorious liar, but his motives are generally obvious. Same this time too. The ex-president absolutely does not want peace to return to the border with Mexico. He needs chaos, because that is exactly what he wants to focus on in his election campaign. He has no other option. The economy is doing better, and exit polls after the primaries in New Hampshire and Iowa showed that Trump is doing very poorly with independent voters. Moreover, the Democrats will beat him on the issue of abortion in the coming months until it is no longer possible.
The ex-president may be on par with Biden in national polls, but those polls mean little to nothing at this point. Most Americans are just now starting to think about the election. They notice that the undead Trump is still causing mischief and are not happy about it at all. That is why the ex-president needs caravans of impoverished people from South and Central America again this year who are supposedly planning an invasion and want to ‘contaminate the blood of the Americans’.
It will be a long and dirty election campaign. The fact that only a miracle can prevent the rematch between Trump and Biden does not make things better. Strategists in both camps are already wondering how to prevent voters from becoming dead boring.
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
