The border is easily the most controversial part of Biden’s presidency. Will it cost him the election this year?

From USA Today. President Joe Biden began this election year between two political fires.

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Have you taken your place on the wall?

He needs to secure the southern border to mitigate a major liability and he needs Congress to approve additional funding for Ukraine to prevent a top foreign policy achievement from collapsing. …

Exacerbating Biden’s longstanding border problems has been the arrival in recent weeks of more than 10,000 migrants per day at the Southwest border.

“Every year we see an ebbs and flowing and that’s what we’re seeing at this time,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday of the increase, while also accusing House Republicans of playing politics instead of working with Democrats to address the problem.

“We’re trying to deal with this issue,” she said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., countered that Biden has “all the authority he needs right now under existing federal law to stop this madness.”

House Republicans are planning a hearing next week on whether to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his management of the border. …

The Biden administration is waging a losing battle with smuggling networks and social media messaging that tell migrants the path to the U.S.-Mexico border is clear. Although the administration has ramped up deportations and expedited removals, and opened limited legal pathways to the country, it’s not been enough to stop people facing violence or economic insecurity from following their hopes for a brighter future.

Democrat-led cities including New York and Chicago have been clamoring for help supporting the tens of thousands of migrants arriving, often bused in from the Texas border. …

“Every state in America is now a border state,” Johnson said in Eagle Pass, Texas, where he was joined by dozens of GOP lawmakers.

Former President Donald Trump weighed in with an opinion piece in the Des Moines Register, arguing the most urgent task facing the next president is ending “Joe Biden’s nation-wrecking nightmare on our southern border.” …

Polls show voters trust Trump more than Biden to address immigration and secure the border.

And immigration is rising in importance as a bipartisan concern, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted at the end of last year. …

While Biden has threatened to veto a House-passed border and immigration bill, he’s talking with Senate Republicans about a possible compromise.

Republicans have been seeking tighter standards for asylum seekers, expanded expedited removals and restricting Biden’s ability to admit classes of migrants on an emergency basis. …

While it is very important for Biden’s reelection chances to get control of the border, it is even more important for humanitarian reasons, says Elaine C. Kamarck, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and member of the Democratic National Committee. …

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has recorded more than 230,000 encounters at the border each of the past four months. In fiscal 2023, CBP reported nearly 2.5 million migrant encounters at the southwest border — a historical record. …

What do you think of Biden’s handling of the border? Share this article to encourage others to pray about this!

(Excerpt from USA Today. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons)