He had been in office only two months at the time, and there was already a crisis at the southwest border. Thousands of migrant children were jammed into unsanitary Border Patrol stations. Republicans were accusing Biden of flinging open the borders. And his aides were blaming one another.
Biden came into office promising to dismantle what he described as the inhumane immigration policies of former President Donald Trump. But for much of Biden’s presidency so far, the White House has been divided by furious debates over how — and whether — to proceed in the face of a surge of migrants crossing the southwest border.
Senior aides have been battling one another over how quickly to roll back the most restrictive policies and what kind of system would best replace them.
Now Biden finds himself the target of attacks from all sides: Immigration activists accuse him of failing to prioritize the human rights of millions of immigrants. Conservatives have pointed to surges of migrants at the border as evidence that the president is weak and ineffective. And some moderate Democrats now fear that lifting Trump-era border restrictions could hurt them politically.
