President Biden finally seems to realize there's a crisis on the southern border. In March he breezily assured reporters that “The truth of the matter is: Nothing has changed. It happens every single, solitary year.” But now, with polling clearly showing his vulnerability on immigration, he blames the Trump administration for not telling him there would be a border crisis.
The administration's fear of political fallout is also clear from the game of hot potato for the job of public face of the border effort. First it was DHS Secretary Mayorkas, but when he performed poorly, the White House took control of the border messaging. The obvious point person was former Ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson, who was on Biden's National Security Council in charge of migration issues. But Vice President Harris was named border czar, then Jacobson quit, then Harris clarified that she was only the "root causes" czar, and wasn't going to be stuck having to explain the mess at the border.
The White House befuddlement in response to the surge of Central Americans and others at the border is reminiscent of President Jimmy Carter's response to an earlier migration crisis. Back in 1980 (when Biden had already been in the Senate for more than seven years), Carter sparked the Mariel Boatlift from Cuba by saying he welcomed potential migrants with "open hearts and open arms," and got more than he bargained for.
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