Anxiety grows among Democrats over Biden border issues

Democrats have downplayed the political threat they face this year due to the huge surge of migrants across the southern border, but their recent actions show they are increasingly nervous about the political liability of the issue, which polls at the top of voters’ concerns.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is stepping up his messaging effort on border security, and he has told colleagues he plans to bring the bipartisan Senate border security deal back to the floor for a vote next week.

And he has also discussed breaking the legislation up into several components for vulnerable colleagues to introduce separately, according to sources familiar with the planning talks.

At the same time, Senate Democrats in tough races are putting pressure on the Biden administration to address the surge of hundred of thousands of migrants into the country, even if Congress doesn’t pass legislation.

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), the Senate Democrats’ most vulnerable incumbent, last week confronted Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin over what he called the “unacceptable” situation on the southern border.

He also became the first Senate Democrat to cosponsor the Laken Riley Act, which would require federal officials to apprehend and detain people living in the country illegally who commit certain crimes until they can be removed from the United States.

And Senate Democrats are calling for President Biden to take executive actions to secure the border, something they expect the White House to announce soon.

“It’s definitely going to be an important issue, and Democrats in swing states — our incumbents from Jacky Rosen to Jon Tester – are going to need to talk about their vote for the bipartisan border security bill. They’re going to be talking about the work they’ve done to support law enforcement,” said a Democratic strategist who has worked on several Senate races. Rosen is running for reelection in Nevada.

The strategist called Biden’s recent poll numbers in swing states a “disaster.”

The source cited the price of groceries, gas and Biden’s age as issues impacting voters’ views of him and the presidential race. But the source also cited border security as a major issue in swing states, especially for Democrats who need to outperform Biden in November.

“Democrats realize, on the border and immigration, you need to talk about that. You can’t just not talk about that. I’ll be interested in seeing what the Biden team does on executive actions. I think it can be helpful,” the strategist added.

New polling shows Biden trailing former President Trump in several battleground states, including two where border security and immigration are especially salient issues: Arizona and Nevada.

A New York Times/Siena College poll of more than 4,000 registered voters across six battleground states found Biden trailing in five of them: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania, which is bad news for Senate Democratic candidates running in all of those states except for Georgia, which does not have a Senate race.

The poll found that voters in those battlegrounds cited immigration as the second-most important issue deciding their votes, behind only the economy and ahead of abortion.

Jon Ralston, a longtime commentator on Nevada politics and CEO and editor of the Nevada Independent, pointed out that immigration ranked second only to the economy as the top issue for Nevada voters.

“When you asked registered voters what one issue was most important in deciding your vote, immigration was second,” he said. “If the race is going to be close, and 10 percent are voting just on immigration — which is a stand-in word for ‘border’ in these polls — that could change the game. That could determine the race.

“Even though Nevada is not a border state, it’s always been an issue here because of the large number of undocumented workers in the state,” he added.

The New York Times poll showed Biden trailing Trump 50 percent to 38 percent in a head-to-head match-up in Nevada, but it showed Rosen with a slight lead over Republican candidate Sam Brown, 40 percent to 38 percent.

Ralston said a lot can change in the presidential race over the next five months and that it’s “inconceivable” that either candidate would win the purple state by double digits, but he said local Democrats are worried.

“The Democrats I talk to who know what’s going on are very worried. They think Biden’s behind in Nevada. They’re worried about what the Biden campaign is doing in Nevada to combat this,” he said.

There’s a frustration among some Senate Democrats that the Biden White House hasn’t been aggressive enough in dealing with the border.

Tester vented his frustration with Austin at a Senate hearing last week.

“Look, I’ve repeatedly called upon Secretary Mayorkas and President Biden and Congress to step up and fix what’s going on at the southern border. It’s not sustainable at all, and it’s unacceptable,” he told Austin sternly.

Tester previously confronted Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at a hearing last month.

“The fact is the border needs to be fixed. And we need to step up as Congress, the administration needs to step up, you need to step up!” Tester said, his voice rising as he glared at the Cabinet official.

Jim Kessler, executive vice president for policy at Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank, said Senate Democrats are right to feel nervous about how border politics are playing in the 2024 election and urged Biden to pay more attention to the issue.

“I certainly hope they’re nervous. They need to be much more aggressive on the border,” he said. “There needs to be executive actions on the border, dealing with asylum and anything else that can convince voters that Biden’s top goal at the southern border is to make sure there’s order there.”

Biden administration officials, however, argue that there’s only so much they can do to stop migrants from entering the country without congressional action, because current law requires border officials to process asylum claims, which often take years to work their way through the courts.

But Kessler said Biden would help himself politically by making a second trip to the border to show that fixing the migrant crisis is a top priority.

“It’s something Democrats have been too reluctant to talk about because there’s a fear it may offend some in our base, and they have to throw that fear aside,” he said, arguing Biden can talk about border crossings dropping 40 percent since December and an increase in fentanyl confiscation.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), the Senate’s second-most vulnerable Democrat, is touting the passage of the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, which he co-sponsored and was signed into law as part of the foreign aid package.

He’s using that accomplishment to fend off attacks related to the border.

“Watch our fentanyl stuff at home,” he said. “People are thrilled we passed that bill, and they know that I was the lead sponsor and they know in Ohio that’s a big, big part of the issue.”

Reflecting the growing angst among Democrats, Schumer tackled the border security issue head-on last week, devoting time in three of his floor speeches to castigate Republicans for voting against the bipartisan border security deal in February, despite it having the support of the National Border Patrol Council.

“Democrats know that the situation at the border is unacceptable. We know that the status quo cannot continue,” he said Thursday. “But Democrats also know that fixing the border requires bipartisan legislation from Congress.” 

Speaking at the weekly leadership press conference, Schumer called on Republicans to support the bill they rejected earlier this year, which was paired with a $95 billion emergency foreign aid package that included $61 billion for Ukraine.

“When Republicans first saw a bill, they said ‘Wow, this is a strong, tough bill. We like it.’ The minute Donald Trump said he wants chaos at the border for electoral purposes, they did 180 degrees and didn’t support a border bill supported by The Wall Street Journal editorial page, [the U.S.] Chamber of Commerce and the Border Patrol union,” Schumer said, standing next to a poster illustrating that 91 days had passed since Republicans blocked the bill.

A Republican senator who requested anonymity to discuss internal border politics said Democratic colleagues are feeling more pressure than Republicans on the issue, citing polling in battleground states.

“The polling numbers in battleground states, I’ve seen a lot of polling in battleground states … [show] the immigration issue isn’t just about immigration, it’s also about crime and the economy. Those things get all wrapped up into it. Independent voters are putting their finger on that and saying, ‘See, that border is open, and my wages aren’t going up and I’m not safe and my kids aren’t safe,’” the GOP senator.

“Democrats can read polls,” the senator added. “I’m sure they’re saying something to Schumer, ‘make a push at this.’ Because it’s hurting Biden.”