Beto O’Rourke, the failed Senate/Presidential candidate who lost the election in Texas this year, called Joe Biden to task for violating his campaign promise not to build “another inch of wall” during his administration.
Biden did not do a good job of defending the flip-flop by his administration on this issue when asked Thursday about it. He complained about how the money was already appropriated. Biden, for good measure also said that walls do not work according to his opinion. Karine Jean Pierre, his press secretary, was also unable to answer questions about the changes during the daily briefing.
But though Biden and his spokespeople can’t (or won’t) explain the “why” behind their sudden 180 on the wall and Venezuelan deportations, an angrygram sent from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) to Biden on Monday inadvertently shed some light as to what likely factored into to the decision to go forth with the wall two and a half years into his term in office.
The letter Pritzker sent also revealed an unpalatable truth about the failures of Vice President Kamala Harris as Biden’s border chief.
Unfortunately, federal support has not matched the help and welcome Illinois has provided to asylum seekers. The federal government’s failure to intervene and coordinate at the border, which is the most critical issue for Illinois, has led to an unsustainable situation.
We are seeing more and more migrants arriving in Chicago every day. The state government of Illinois has been forced by the COVID-19 epidemic to spend over $330 millions on humanitarian aid. This amount is growing every day. This is a huge amount of money, especially for a state that’s still struggling to recover from the economic and health effects of COVID-19. Add the $100 million contribution from the city of Chicago. We have provided temporary housing to a majority in existing buildings, but we still need to find more housing to accommodate the constant flow of refugees who continue to arrive and are forced to sleep on the sidewalks and in police stations. This situation is unsustainable and we need your immediate assistance beyond the upcoming work authorizations of some asylum seekers.
The federal government can and should do more to help address the national humanitarian crisis, which is being handled by local and state governments.
First, I suggest that you have a person who is directly responsible for overseeing the nation’s border efforts in the federal government. We have far too many federal contacts who handle different programs in relation to the humanitarian crisis. They are not coordinated with each other. To manage the challenges that we all face, a single office must be established with a leader to coordinate the efforts of the states and cities across government silos.
Pritzker must have either forgotten that Kamala is Biden’s designated point of contact on the border crisis, or he is fed up with her. Her name does not appear in the letter once.
Pritzker’s tweet is an unintentional, but embarrassing reminder of her failure to address the “root causes” behind the border crisis.
The letter also lends credence to the theory, that the Biden administration’s sudden (and apparent) decision to make border security a top priority 13 months before Election Day had nothing to do actually securing the border but everything to do with trying to silence the blue state/city Democrat leader who is now openly critical of his and Kamala Harries’ handling of this crisis.
