Joe Biden hands US border crisis to Kamala Harris

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Joe Biden hands US border crisis to Kamala Harris
25/03/2021|3min

President Joe Biden has placed Vice President Kamala Harris in charge of stemming the migrant crisis at the US-Mexico border.

President Biden said he could think of “nobody who is better qualified” for the role.

“I gave you a tough job and you're smiling but there's no one better to try to organise this,” he said.

“When she speaks, she speaks for me, doesn’t have to check with me. She knows what she’s doing.”

The vice president will lead a diplomatic effort with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to address the “root causes” of the migration.

“The surge we’re dealing with now started at the end of the last administration, but it is our responsibility to deal with it humanely and to stop what’s happening,” President Biden said.

“The vice president's agreed – among multiple other things and I appreciate it – agreed to lead our diplomatic effort and work with those nations to accept the returnees and enhance migration enforcement at their borders.

“I have asked her, the VP, today, because she is the most qualified person to do it, to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the countries that are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border.”

I am confused. I thought Trump was the one who wanted to build the wall, and Biden was the one who said not a single inch of the wall will be added once he is the president. Of course one argument is that wall is not effective, which implies that something else more effective should be in place of it. But I am still confused. I thought its a Republican thing to try to stop immigrants from Mexico?

Illegal immigration is the same whoever is in power. Trump just had to go that one step further and tar all Mexicans as criminals with his use of language which was both a dog whistle to racists and he could still hide behind in case he's dragged to court. (Trump has more lives than a proverbial cat). 

Language, maybe, but the actual wall does not imply that. After all, the wall doesn't stop Mexicans from boarding the plane to the US. It only stops them from walking to the US. And I assume there aren't legal ways of simply walking into the US (regardless of whether its Mexicans or Canadians). The fact that he didn't need the wall with Canada simply says there are "more" Mexicans that would try it than Canadians that would, but it doesn't say "all would".

Our Australian conservative government of John Howard used the same fear tactics about stopping illegal Asian boat people, Everybody was irrationally obsessed with boats (much the same as Americans obsessions that a wall would stop walking Mexicans).

In Australia the reality is most illegals fly by plane

and most illegals are white New Zealanders

Our Australian conservative government of John Howard used the same fear tactics about stopping illegal Asian boat people, Everybody was irrationally obsessed with boats (much the same as Americans obsessions that a wall would stop walking Mexicans).

In Australia the reality is most illegals fly by plane and most illegals are white New Zealanders

When you have a nationalist government like Australia, Canada or the US with free everything for people living there of course people are going to come. It doesn't matter if you are completely surrounded by water and the only way in is by boat or airplane.

Compared to most of Europe, America is particularly bad at providing "free everything for people". Healthcare and college textbooks are two things that immediately spring to mind. Nonetheless I'd imagine the overall standard of living is generally higher than in Mexico or Cuba? So it's still appealing. The bigger mystery is why people coming to the USA are such a surprise, when Americans spend so much of their time telling everyone how great the place is. And why that's suddenly a problem when America is a nation founded on immigration and enterprise. Especially when American trade barriers and sanctions are partly why these neighbouring nations are so poor. Shouldn't exactly come as a shock, should it?

If extra people aren't wanted, surely the international message should be "Look at our poverty figures, look at the crime rates, look at the corruption. Honestly it's rubbish here, you don't want to move in, go away".

Compared to most of Europe, America is particularly bad at providing "free everything for people". Healthcare and college textbooks are two things that immediately spring to mind. Nonetheless I'd imagine the overall standard of living is generally higher than in Mexico or Cuba? So it's still appealing. The bigger mystery is why people coming to the USA are such a surprise, when Americans spend so much of their time telling everyone how great the place is. And why that's suddenly a problem when America is a nation founded on immigration and enterprise. Especially when American trade barriers and sanctions are partly why these neighbouring nations are so poor. Shouldn't exactly come as a shock, should it?

If extra people aren't wanted, surely the international message should be "Look at our poverty figures, look at the crime rates, look at the corruption. Honestly it's rubbish here, you don't want to move in, go away".

There are arguments on both sides. Regardless where you stand on the issue, the fact is that republicans are trying to focus on illegal immigration, democrats do not. The part that is surprising is that Biden is suddenly trying to deal with illegal immigration, despite the fact that he is a democrat. .

How is it possible? Wouldn't they be stopped when they go through customs at the airport?.

What is their motivation? I always assumed that economies in Australia and New Zeland are roughly the same, although I haven't looked into it, it was just an assumption..

I do, however, recall something else though. Someone living in New Zeland told me that she was really worried that they want to openly let Asians flood both Australia and New Zeland because they consider it to be australasia. But then several years later I learned that actually "austral" stands for "south" and "autralasia" simply means "south of asia". So they have no intention of combining australia with asia. They simply used the word "south" both as the name of the country (australia) and as "south of asia" (australasia).

‘This is not a zoo’: Biden administration blocks Ted Cruz from filming migrant facility
29/03/2021|4min

Senator Ted Cruz has released a video he says shows a Biden administration staffer clashing with him at a border facility and trying to prevent him from filming – telling the Republican “this is not a zoo, sir”.

Senator Cruz said the facility he filmed in Donna, Texas, was a “giant tent city”.

He and eighteen of his colleagues visited the border to see for themselves the unfolding humanitarian crisis.

“We went and toured the Biden cages, you know for four years we heard Democrats and the media talking about kids in cages under president Trump, Joe Biden has built more cages, the cages are bigger and they’re more full,” he said.

In the video Senator Cruz shared, the staffer quickly jumped in the frame after he began filming.

“Please give dignity to the people,” the staffer said.

“So you work for the commissioner, you’re a senior adviser, you were hired two weeks ago and you’re instructed to ask us to not have any pictures taken here because the political leadership at DHS does not want the American people to know it,” Senator Cruz said.

“Please respect the rules,” the staffer said.

“You keep standing in front of the picture, so you don’t want the pictures taken, the rules are arbitrary, and they’re designed to keep the American people in the dark,” Senator Cruz said.

Senator Cruz told Fox News the children in the Donna facility were testing positive for COVID-19 at “roughly” a 10 per cent rate.

“They’re locking them in these cages where COVID in a pandemic is a real risk, it is inhumane, it is unconscionable, and it’s the direct result of the political decisions that Joe Biden has made,” he said.

“It's massive, it's designed to hold a thousand people but under COVID restrictions, its capacity is 250.

“It right now has over 4,000 people in it, it is at a 1,500 per cent capacity and that meant you saw in these cages children, little boys and little girls, side by side, they're not six-feet apart, they’re not even six inches apart.”

Compared to most of Europe, America is particularly bad at providing "free everything for people". Healthcare and college textbooks are two things that immediately spring to mind. Nonetheless I'd imagine the overall standard of living is generally higher than in Mexico or Cuba? So it's still appealing. The bigger mystery is why people coming to the USA are such a surprise, when Americans spend so much of their time telling everyone how great the place is. And why that's suddenly a problem when America is a nation founded on immigration and enterprise. Especially when American trade barriers and sanctions are partly why these neighbouring nations are so poor. Shouldn't exactly come as a shock, should it?

If extra people aren't wanted, surely the international message should be "Look at our poverty figures, look at the crime rates, look at the corruption. Honestly it's rubbish here, you don't want to move in, go away".