May 15, 2023 12:16 PM UTC

Boebert Hyperventilates While Migrant Surge Fails To Materialize

• 2 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: We’re just going to leave this here:

Fortunately, 9NEWS’ Kyle Clark is there to help:

The days of the week, in order, are: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. https://t.co/tQxh9a9wpT

— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) May 15, 2023

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For weeks leading up to last week’s expiration of Title 42 public health border controls put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, Colorado’s low-information max-volume Rep. Lauren Boebert has warned of impending catastrophe, falsely declared Democrats in support of “open borders,” and freely recirculated racist memes and misinformation about the looming “invasion” of the southern U.S. border:

This last image is especially problematic since there’s no actual evidence that the person depicted is in the country without documentation. This seems to be a judgment made entirely based on the skin color of the person in the photo. It’s a case of racist presumption that would have sunk Republican careers a decade ago (here’s looking at you, Dave Schultheis), but for Boebert it’s par for the vitriolic course.

The bigger problem for Boebert may be, as NBC News reports, that at least so far the dire warnings of a massive surge of migrants at the U.S. Border with the expiration of Title 42 have not come true. In fact:

“Over the past two days, the United States Border Patrol has experienced a 50% drop in the number of encounters versus what we were experiencing earlier in the week before Title 42 ended at midnight on Thursday,” Mayorkas said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” [Pols emphasis]

Still, he cautioned that it’s “too early” to tell whether the migrant surge has peaked.

“It is still early. We are in day three, but we have been planning for this transition for months and months. And we have been executing on our plan. And we will continue to do so,” Mayorkas said. “It is too early. But the numbers that we have experienced over the past two days are markedly down over what they were prior to the end of Title 42.”

Instead of the expiration of Title 42 prompting a surge, the new rules put in place by the Biden administration appear to be significantly slowing migrant crossing attempts. Even the conservative Wall Street Journal is acknowledging this development:

Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that allowed for the rapid expulsion of migrants seeking asylum, expired just before midnight Friday and was replaced with new rules that the Biden administration said included tougher consequences for those who cross into the U.S. without legal authorization.

Although the situation remains fluid by all accounts, the reality of the past few days on the southern border has proven the polar opposite of Boebert’s alarmist rhetoric over Biden’s border policy. The new rules put in place strongly incentivize asylum seekers to follow the lawful process, and an admittedly controversial new rule requires most asylum seekers to apply for protected status in other countries they’ve passed through on their way to the U.S. border. Much like former President Barack Obama received absolutely zero credit from Republicans while becoming known as the “Deporter in Chief” by immigrant rights activists, Boebert is pathologically unable to acknowledge that Biden’s policies might be having an impact she should support.

But as we’ve seen countless times, the reality-based debate over this issue has no relationship whatsoever to the nonsense Boebert sprays like a fire hose. Of course, Boebert doesn’t let facts get in the way of the incendiary script she’s reading from. If Boebert has decided there is an “invasion” underway, no amount of evidence to the contrary will ever convince her.

For solutions to these important and complex issues, the world must look to grownups.