Joe Biden hasn’t abolished ICE, but he’s done something just as bad. He’s made it impossible for the agency to do its job. Just two months into the White House’s amnesty experiment, the scene along our southern border is chaos. And who’s fault is it? According to the administration: Donald Trump’s.

“We recognize this is a big problem,” Press Secretary Jen Psaki finally conceded after days of ignoring the situation. Then, to the surprise of no one, trotted out a familiar punching bag. “The last administration left us a dismantled and unworkable system and, like any other problem, we are going to do all we can to solve it.” Lately, you have to wonder what Joe Biden would do without his predecessor. He couldn’t take credit for all of Trump’s successes — or blame him for all of his failures. That may have worked on the vaccine, but on this issue? The American people aren’t fooled.

What they’re seeing unravel at the border is a crisis of Biden’s own making. If this president cared more about national security than catering to the extreme Left, there wouldn’t be 13,000 migrant children — alone, without their parents — in U.S. custody. We wouldn’t have coyotes and cartels selling women into sex trafficking rings or luring teenage boys into labor gangs or drug running. It’s inhumane, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) shook her head. And even if the Biden administration had done nothing on immigration when they came into office, it would’ve been a good deal better than what they did do — which was overturn all of Trump’s progress. “Now what you have,” she said with disgust, “is an absolute mess.”

She’s right. When I was on my second trip to the border about a year ago, it was like a ghost town. Very few people were trying to get in illegally. Why? Because the process the Trump administration put in place stemmed the flow with a management system that protected our borders — and upheld law and order. Was it inconvenient for people trying to get into the country illegally? Absolutely, but that’s what breaking the law should be. The last thing America should be doing is turning the border into a welcome center where you’re greeted with gift bags and maps, which is basically what the Biden team has done. It’s insanity!

And now that things are approaching catastrophic levels, this White House is like a cat in a sandbox, trying to cover its tracks. Congressman Michael Cloud (R-Texas) was part of the Republican delegation that just visited the border, and he says what they saw was tragic: overflowing facilities, young children separated from their parents, and local communities and immigration agents stretched thin and overwhelmed. “It’s sad to see that we’re at this point,” he said soberly. Unfortunately, this is what happens when the president of the United States puts out the call for people to ignore our laws and cross the border. Now, of course, Biden is backtracking under pressure, finally telling the caravans, “Don’t come…” But it’s too little, too late.

He’s already abandoned the border wall mid-construction, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) pointed out, ticking off all of the ways America’s immigration policy has been upended. With a stroke of the pen, the president released almost anyone traveling with a child under 18 directly into the country. He’s granted sanctuary status for a whole host of criminal offenses, including drunk driving and sexual abuse. He’s restored unrestricted travel from hotbeds of international terrorism. He ended the agreement that people requesting asylum (usually for bogus reasons) wait in Mexico until their hearing is scheduled. And now, taxpayers are stuck with the tab for all of this — and whatever surge in coronavirus cases come later.

Trump got control of the border, Rich Lowry insists. Biden threw it all away. And with it, any trust from the American people that this administration cares about the future of the country it’s destroying.

Originally published here.

A Cash Course in Beating the Woke

The corporate mob may have some people shaking in their boots, but a new trend says there’s no reason to. After January 6th, when CEOs were tripping over themselves to say they’d stop giving to Republicans, it sounded like a death knell for fundraising. But, two months later, the threat has turned out to be an empty one. Everyday Americans pack a much bigger punch than these woke businesses, it turns out. And they’re just getting started.

If anything, the GOP has been rewarded — not punished — for refusing to back down on things like election fraud. When the cancel culture came calling, leaders like Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) weren’t intimidated. They just dug in harder. Now, the conservatives who stood up to the bullies are reaping the benefits. In the weeks since the inauguration, Republicans have seen a surge of donations, “more than offsetting the loss of corporate money,” Newsmax reports. In fact, the evidence suggest the boycott by woke corporate America has awakened Americans who are tired of the Left and their elite corporate friends pushing their anti-American drivel to give to political leaders who are pushing back on the Left.

Tuesday, on “Washington Watch,” former RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said he wasn’t surprised. The grassroots may not realize it, but they’re a much bigger force to be reckoned with than Big Business. As several pollsters have pointed out, the corporate PACs that stopped donating didn’t donate that much to begin with! They “account for a VERY small percentage of total fundraising that is more than offset by a huge surge in grassroots support,” Wes Anderson wrote in a memo.

In the meantime, contributions from small and big donors alike have been pouring into Republican headquarters, as more people see the danger of the Left’s agenda. “The Democrats have become our best fundraisers,” fundraiser Fred Zeidman half-joked. And the evidence is everywhere.

“Individual giving has actually gone up,” Reince said. “I mean, I look at these numbers… at the RNC and the congressional and senatorial committees, and they had a great January. It’s going to be reported that they had a great February. So obviously, the individuals out there — in spite of what companies are saying to the public — [people] out there are giving, and they’re giving in big number.” He pointed to the Republicans Senatorial Committee. “When do you start a cycle with $17 million dollars in cash on hand?” At the RNC, the story is the same: more than $80 million dollars in cash on hand. “So the individuals are making up for [whatever these corporations gave], and they’re doing it because Joe Biden has overreached… He’s hit everyone between the eyes of these executive orders [and the $1.9 trillion dollar COVID bill]. And people are scared and rightly so.”

Even more incredibly, most of these donations are smaller–$200 or less — and yet the sheer number of people giving to the conservative cause is offsetting the punch that corporate America thought they had. As Reuters points out, “The biggest beneficiaries of raising small donor donations are often rabble-rousing politicians who vow to take on the Washington establishment.” A lot of the credit for this ground game belongs to Donald Trump, Reince says. He was capable — not just connecting with everyday people, but motivating them to donate. “He built this small-dollar giving operation,” Reince explained, that taught the party a lot.

Even now, with Trump out of office, the individual donations streaming into the Republican Party and its committees is record-breaking. That’s even more unbelievable when you consider the great pains Democrats have taken to shame conservatives and anyone who supports them. Two months in, that seems to have backfired, Reince points out, because “for the first time in a long time, the Republican Party is going toe-to-toe with the Democratic Party on giving.”

That ought to be a huge encouragement to every conservative who’s frustrated by the media, Big Business, and the cancel culture. Everything you give to Christian candidates for office or to organizations like FRC who are advocating for biblical truth in the public square, makes a difference. And no gift is too small!

Originally published here.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.