The NY Times has published two different opinion pieces, one yesterday and one today, essentially warning Joe Biden and the Democratic Party they need to move on immigration. The piece yesterday was written former Obama administration adviser Steve Rattner and Maureen White, an academic with expertise in “refugee issues.” It opens with a very clear illustration of the problem. About 3.1 million people came to the US border last year. Around 600k got across the border without being caught. Of the the remaining 2.5 million who were caught, about 1.8 million ended up in the US, most of them claiming asylum. In all that’s 2.4 million people who arrived last year who will be here for at least 5-7 years.

From there the authors make the case that something needs to be done. They propose a compromise:

Broadly speaking, Democrats want more money to process the backlog while Republicans want to substantially narrow the grounds on which migrants would be permitted to remain in the United States (along with building more of the wall that Donald Trump has been urging). We need lots of the former and a bit of the latter.

The Democratic push for more funding is correct. The country’s immediate need is to unclog the immigration court system that has allowed millions of asylum seekers to float around the country, unable to work for the first six months after entry and then potentially remain in limbo for years.

So far this is standard stuff for Democrats. But here’s where Rattner admits Republicans have a point, one Democrats need to acknowledge.

But that’s not enough. We must reduce the flow to the border, which will require making immigrating into the U.S. by such means more difficult. As Republicans have long demanded and Democrats are coming to see as necessary, our obligation under international law to provide asylum need not create chaos.

For starters, we should require asylum seekers to apply in Mexico or other countries, including their home countries, before they reach the U.S., reducing the incentive to travel here to gain entry during drawn-out proceedings. Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden have tried to accomplish this, but these changes have been mired in legal challenges and strained negotiations with Latin American countries.

The solutions Rattner offers aren’t terribly helpful but he’s right that sticking to the Democratic solutions won’t be enough. Several of the top commenters pointed out that Democrats were playing with fire by refusing to act.

Millions of economic migrants are abusing the asylum system and are able to come to the US & walk across the border. What they receive is housing (hotels and motels), food, Medicaid, education and stipends courtesy of the American taxpayer. Billions of taxpayer dollars are being spent to accommodate the migrant crisis in cities, so much so, that budgets are being cut for things like sanitation, law enforcement and public schools.

Are working class and middle class American citizens receiving any subsidies to pay for healthcare or crushing deductibles? How about food or housing stipends? No they are not. 70% of Americans are deeply financially stressed.

The Democrats have allowed this crisis to continue under their watch. Yes it takes congress also to move sweeping immigration reform, but everyone with two eyes can see that the border needs to close immediately, Title 42 reinstated and the military/National Guard needs to assist border agents in protecting the border. This the President will receive resounding support for.

America has a right to sovereignty and this issue is the main reason voters are moving right and will vote for the candidate who ends this madness. That includes Black and Latino voters as well.

Democrats and their campaign strategists who refuse to understand this have only themselves to blame for a loss in November.

Today the Times published another, similar opinion piece by Mike Madrid, a co-founder of the Lincoln Project. Madrid is even more explicit that it’s time for Democrats to make a deal with Republicans on the border or risk serious consequences for refusing to do so.

Securing the borders of a sovereign state isn’t racism — it’s among the first responsibilities of government. And many voters, including Democrats, are demanding that the Biden administration do a better job with that responsibility. A recent Fox News poll showed that fully 22 percent of Democrats favor Republican candidates on border security…

Mr. Biden, whose campaign has only recently and reluctantly begun to acknowledge the slide in support by Latino (in fact, all nonwhite) voters for the Democratic Party, is facing growing pressure from advocacy groups to take a more progressive position on immigration than the party in past decades — even though polling and electoral data suggest Latino voters are moving in the opposite direction…

The president finds himself and his re-election prospects at a crossroads. He can double down on a strategy of outwardly opposing increased border protection, or he can reframe the debate and begin to rebuild the ethnic and racial coalitions that brought him and Barack Obama to power. To do that, he must assert that a Latino agenda, as it exists, has grown far bigger than one predominantly focused on ethnic ties to immigration.

Looking at both of these opinion pieces, you can pretty easily read between the lines. People in the Biden administration’s orbit are sounding an alarm that his campaign will be in trouble unless he moves to the right on the border. That will be uncomfortable because a lot of well-funded activists on the left will begin shrieking when he does so, (“You’re just like Trump!”) but he really has no choice. If he doubles down on the usual left-wing talking points while the number of migrant encounters keeps going up, he could lose a lot of voters, including Latino voters. This could do permanent damage to the Democratic Party and its chances in future elections.

None of this is very complicated. A majority of Americans aren’t happy with what is happening at the border. Biden needs to show he gets it and he’s on their side or he’s going to become an obstacle they want to overcome. We’ve seen this play out all around the world over the past several years. European nations that experience high rates of immigration and asylum claims wind up voting for more conservative governments who promise to stop the influx. It will happen here too. Joe Biden may not know that but people around him do and they are trying their best to get his attention before it’s too late.