Biden Blames The Immigration Crisis On Trump

Joe Biden has convinced himself that immigration is a winning issue for Democrats. The plan is to persuade voters that stratospheric levels of unlawful migration on his watch are entirely someone else’s fault. “I’ll be taking this issue to the country,” the president announced last week from the White House. “Every day between now and November, the American people are going to know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends.” Huh?

It may be the most bizarre presidential campaign strategy since Walter Mondale promised to raise taxes in 1984 and went on to lose 49 states to Ronald Reagan.

Joe Biden has convinced himself that immigration is a winning issue for Democrats. The plan is to persuade voters that stratospheric levels of unlawful migration on his watch are entirely someone else’s fault. “I’ll be taking this issue to the country,” the president announced last week from the White House. “Every day between now and November, the American people are going to know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends.” Huh?

Political damage from the president’s border neglect is still being calculated. Lately, illegal immigration has become a top issue for voters in both parties. An ABC News/Ipsos survey released Sunday showed that Americans not only trust Mr. Trump more than Mr. Biden on illegal immigration but also blame Democrats for the Senate’s border-bill collapse last week, even though Mr. Biden supported the legislation and Mr. Trump opposed it.

Republicans control the House and obviously share blame for this debacle. They must explain to GOP voters why conservatives rejected bipartisan legislation, even though it included many border provisions that the party has demanded for decades. Mr. Trump clearly wants to run hard on border security this fall, and he fears that doing something to address it now will steal his thunder. It’s also clear that Republicans in Congress are loath to cross their presumptive nominee, even if the price of doing nothing is another year of historically high illegal immigration.