The following statement was issued by Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), in response to President Biden’s plea for amnesty as part of his State of the Union address:

“Tonight, President Biden spoke of the ‘need to secure the border,’ something we have long championed. Oddly, policies that were actually keeping the border secure were in place when he took office a little over 13 months ago.

“Perhaps President Biden forgot that it was he who ended construction of a border wall that the American public had already paid for. Maybe it slipped his mind that he suspended agreements with Northern Triangle nations that sought to prevent massive flows of migrants from heading north. Perhaps he overlooked his administration’s attempt to end the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program which deterred asylum fraud by requiring applicants to wait in Mexico for a hearing. We could go on and on.

“The American public has not forgotten. They are witnessing unprecedented flows of illegal immigration. They see control of our border ceded to criminal gangs that smuggle and traffic human beings, and flood our country with lethal narcotics. The American people know who is responsible for the chaos at the border: It is President Biden and his Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

“While offering little in the way of reassurance to an alarmed American public, the president once again called for amnesty for illegal aliens and more cheap labor for business interests. Rewarding illegal immigration and flooding the labor market with low-wage foreign workers is not immigration reform, and the American public will not be fooled.

“President Biden also spoke extensively about the importance and sanctity of national borders. But he was talking about Ukraine’s, not ours. All Americans share his outrage about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But whether it is a power hungry madman or criminal cartels reaping billions in profits by brazenly smuggling people and lethal narcotics, both inflict lasting damage on the country whose borders are being breached. As the leader of the free world, President Biden has an obligation to ensure that Vladimir Putin’s aggression does not stand. As the president of the United States, he has a sworn duty to end the wholesale breach of our nation’s borders.”

EDITORS NOTE: This FAIR column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.