Biden’s Border Crisis and the ‘Root Causes’ Excuse

For four years, the Biden administration and the media kept telling us that the crisis at the southern border was out of the president’s hands because it was caused by international, uncontrollable “root causes” of migration. No matter what policy changes Biden made, millions of migrants would keep showing up. They were pushed out of their home countries by forces beyond domestic politics, like poverty and violent conflict — as though these were novel developments.

This was the official line from beginning to end. In March 2021, two months after Joe Biden was sworn in, he assigned Vice President Kamala Harris to help stem the flow of migration by addressing its “root causes” in poor Latin American countries. The administration rarely specified what forces or events it was referring to.

About the Author

John R. Puri

John R. Puri is the Thomas L. Rhodes Fellow at National Review.

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For four years, the Biden administration and the media kept telling us that the crisis at the southern border was out of the president’s hands because it was caused by international, uncontrollable “root causes” of migration. No matter what policy changes Biden made, millions of migrants would keep showing up. They were pushed out of their home countries by forces beyond domestic politics, like poverty and violent conflict — as though these were novel developments.

This was the official line from beginning to end. In March 2021, two months after Joe Biden was sworn in, he assigned Vice President Kamala Harris to help stem the flow of migration by addressing its “root causes” in poor Latin American countries. The administration rarely specified what forces or events it was referring to.