Commentary: National Security – Biden’s Weaponized Migration Policy
By Phillip Keuhlen
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Commentary by Phillip Keuhlen originally published by RealClearDefense and RealClearWire
Recent literature and documentaries do not emphasize enough the forethought and intentionality of Democrats’ migration policy and their blocking of consideration of legislation to secure our borders.
Background
In September 2010 President Barack Obama set the nation on a course to abandon U.S. sovereignty and open U.S. borders with Presidential Policy Directive 6, U.S. Global Development Policy (PPD-6). Presented as a complement to his National Security Strategy, PPD-6 declared development essential to national security objectives and elevated Development to a third pillar in U.S. security along with Defense and Diplomacy.
PPD-6 characterized foreign assistance as creating conditions where it is no longer needed. It signaled accountability based on assessment: policies and programs that did not yield results would be phased out. Recipients of assistance would be accountable for achieving results within their borders, underscoring country ownership and responsibility.
Other PPD-6 provisions had dire implications for U.S. Security. It strengthened the roles of multilateral organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGO), prioritizing partnership (some might opine collusion) with private parties and NGOs from policy conception to implementation. It committed to building USAID into the lead development agency, divorcing development policy from strategic national security objectives.
The Obama administration also ended the national security/law enforcement framework used to screen visa applications for associations with known/suspected terrorist organizations. The State Department Civil Rights Division and the DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties fundamentally restructured U.S. practices for vetting individuals for U.S. entry. They purged intelligence databases used by CBP of data on affiliations with terrorist networks. Shifting to a policy of “engagement and dialog” the agencies responsible for assuring homeland security focused on maximizing entry, intentionally blinded to threats.
The Pump Fake
At the end of the UN 15-year Millennium Challenge the Obama administration entered negotiations to define a new set of goals. Recognized by his Nobel Peace Prize for creating policies in which multilateral diplomacy and international institutions played a central role, Obama’s administration steered development of the successor Agenda 2030. Framing Development policy with respect to advancing national security objectives in his prior term, Obama pivoted radically, negotiating a broader, more ambitious set of international objectives resting upon a new commitment to universality.
President Obama introduced Agenda 2030 in “U.S. Global Development Policy and Agenda 2030” (9/27/15). Stressing continuity, it contained no mention of the seismic shift in policy from serving U.S. national interests to serving international interests/objectives. Strategic Development Goal (SDG)10, Reduce Inequality, is particularly important, committing the US to “Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well managed migration policies.”
Obama had totally jettisoned PPD 6 and transformed U.S. policy from creating local conditions where assistance was not needed, to the mass relocation of populations from less developed nations to more developed nations, with costs borne by the receiving nations.
Consumed by domestic politics, Obama had little opportunity to act on Agenda 2030’s SDG 10. The election of Donald Trump further deferred implementation, as that administration focused on enforcement of U.S. immigration law. But the stage was set for the next Democrat to win the presidency to act on the Obama strategy.
The Full Court Press
Before his inauguration, Biden’s team signaled its intent to reverse immigration policies and dramatically expand mass migration. In November 2020 the Biden team announced Anthony Mayorkas as its Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security nominee. Mayorkas was the Obama administration’s principal architect of its 2012 Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy that allowed 690K-800K individuals unlawfully present, to be deferred from deportation and become eligible for a work permit.
On his first day as President, Biden issued a memorandum to the Attorney General and Director of Homeland Security to stop efforts to contest DACA and institute practices to preserve and strengthen it. Acknowledging that the subjects were in the country illegally, Biden established considerations outside the immigration statutes (e.g., “humanitarian concerns” and “contributions to our economy”) and directed prosecutorial discretion with respect to migration outside of statutory bases.
The same day, Biden’s Executive Order 13993 “Revision of Civil Immigration Enforcement Policies and Priorities” revoked Executive Order 13768 that had directed agencies to enforce immigration laws and prioritize processing individuals who were ineligible for admission on criminal conviction or security grounds, had been charged/convicted of criminal acts in the U.S., made fraudulent official statements, abused receipt of public funds, or were subject to a removal order. E.O. 13768 strengthened relations between federal, state, and local authorities on immigration and authorized withholding federal funds from Sanctuary Jurisdictions that willfully failed to comply with 8 U.S.C. 1373 concerning exchange of information on the citizenship/immigration status of individuals with the INS.
Biden’s transformation of U.S. policy from managing immigration to opening borders to mass migration continued with the issuance of three Executive Orders in his first month. Executive Order 14010 enhanced pathways for migration and broadened exercise of discretion in the asylum system. Executive Order 14012 encouraged migration, enhanced access to public services at taxpayer expense, and reduced the numbers refused entry. Executive Order 14013 expanded refugee resettlement programs.
Biden’s Executive Orders revoked Executive Orders 13767, 13815, and 13888, five Presidential Memoranda, and Presidential Proclamation 9880 that:
*Secured southern border with a border wall.
*Detained individuals apprehended on suspicion of violating Federal or State law.
*Removed individuals whose claims to remain in the United States were rejected.
*Cooperated with state/local law enforcement to enforce immigration law.
*Resettled refugees only in jurisdictions in that consented.
*Enforced existing grounds of inadmissibility.
*Prevented entry of foreign nationals who may commit violent, criminal, or terrorist acts.
*Ended “Catch and Release” at the border.
Biden’s actions can only be understood as preplanned initiatives to abandon sovereign control of the United States border. Biden aggressively shifted policy to encourage and facilitate mass migration and ended any pretense of controlling unlawful entry.
Read the entire commentary here.
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Phillip Keuhlen is a retired naval officer and nuclear industry senior manager. He was educated at the U.S. Naval Academy and the Naval Postgraduate School and had the privilege to command USS Sam Houston (SSN-609), a nuclear submarine. He writes on topics related to governance and national security.
This article was originally published by RealClearDefense and made available via RealClearWire.
