The Biden administration claims its ability to secure the border has been impaired by Congress’s failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform, but that it has done what it could to build a safe, orderly and humane immigration system.

In reality, the administration caused a border crisis by releasing unprecedented numbers of undocumented migrants into the country — and Congress can’t fix that. 

This has resulted in an immigration court backlog that is so large it severely limits the court’s ability to adjudicate asylum applications, with some migrants waiting as long as 10 years for a hearing. The right to apply for asylum is meaningless if the immigration court can’t adjudicate their applications.

The backlog also severely limits the court’s ability to conduct removal proceedings. Illegal border crossers are essentially safe from deportation once they have reached the interior of the country, and they can keep trying until they succeed.

It will not be possible to secure the border until this backlog crisis is ended, and that can’t be done by simply reducing the number of new asylum seekers.

Catch and release and lawful pathways

The Border Patrol has apprehended 5,815,600 illegal crossers since the beginning of Biden’s presidency, and it released more than 2 million of them.

The administration also has created legal pathways to offer migrants an alternative to making an illegal crossing.

The main path is an expanded version of the previous administration’s CBP One mobile application program, which permits undocumented migrants to........

© The Hill