Can we have a good-faith debate about limits while the government runs a de facto open borders policy?

Before announcing her candidacy for U.S. President, Sen. Kamala Harris told MSNBC's Chris Hayes that she didn't believe in abolishing ICE, but she would prohibit ICE from deporting anyone who had not also committed a "serious or violent crime." Today, in 2021, the Biden administration has put the Vice President's 2018 position into practice.

According to The Washington Post, ICE is "an agency on probation," and deportations in April fell to the lowest level on record. Privately, ICE officials told The Post that their work had been "essentially abolished," even as illegal border crossings remain at a 20-year high.

Think anyone noticed?

The New York Times reports that the Central American border surge now includes migrants from all over the globe.

"Friends and family members already in the country, along with smugglers eager to cash in, have assured them that they will not be turned away," reports Miriam Jordan, "and this is proving to be true." Emphasis added.

Axios reports that more than 33,000 people crossed illegally into the United States in April from nations other than Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Anna Giaritelli reports:

"Many of the European migrants are flying into Mexico from Europe because Mexico does not require visitors to obtain a visa before entering the country. From Mexico, the migrants travel to the U.S.-Mexico border and make their way through the border river in south Texas, where Border Patrol agents on the U.S. side will take them into custody. People who make asylum claims will not be turned away at the border despite a public health order in effect that states all illegal crossers ought to be returned across the border."

Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who represents a border district in Texas, tells Giaritelli that agents are too overwhelmed to even issue orders to appear in court before releasing the migrants into the United States.

"It's an admission and release document," Cuellar says, "not a notice to appear."

Over 60,000 were released from Border Patrol stations in February, March, and April - up from the 18 who were released during Trump's last month in office.

Those numbers do not include unaccompanied minors, with whom the Department of Health and Human Services is so overwhelmed that they have "diverted more than $2 billion meant for other health initiatives toward covering the cost of caring for {them}," according to Politico. The diverted money includes $850 million that was meant to rebuild the Strategic National Stockpile after the pandemic.

High-speed chases and horse races

Border politics have upended politics in some communities. Arelis R. Hernandez details the chaotic rhythm of daily life in LaSalle County, Texas, where "hazardous high-speed chases have become routine," as smugglers take advantage of the overwhelmed and distracted Border Patrol. Even before the current crisis, Donald Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win the 87-percent Hispanic county in three decades.

"Root Causes" of a "Non-Crisis"?

When Biden put Vice President Harris in charge of the border, Harris' team quickly clarified that "The Vice President is not doing the border," but would be addressing the "root causes of migration," none of which include the policies that led to the current crisis. In fact, the official White House position is that there is no crisis on the border -- and the number of Democrats in Congress who are willing to say otherwise is diminishing.

Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, who earlier this Spring called on President Biden to implement policies to prevent the border surge, now says "No, we don't have a crisis at the border, we have a crisis in three Central American countries" -- entirely consistent with the White House's messaging.

Katherine Doyle reports President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador aren't exactly thrilled with the Biden administration's charge that their countries are to blame for the chaos at the U.S. border.

Mark Krikorian sees little reason to believe this "root cause" approach will be more successful than the previous attempt that Biden led during the Obama administration, particularly when the sending countries number "more than 160," not three.

Krikorian and Andrew R. Arthur discuss the loopholes that are actually driving the crisis.

Can't this thing go any faster...?

The New York Times reports that Biden may soon expand asylum eligibility to include victims of domestic violence, a policy change that could turbocharge the surge of asylum claims.

Byron York says the Biden administration views the challenge at the border as one of accommodation, not prevention: "The message has gotten out to the world," York writes, "and the world is coming."

Joseph Chamie contemplates the possibilities of America's de-facto open-border policies:

"The number of people who indicated a desire to migrate to the U.S. in a worldwide survey in 2018 is about 158 million adults. If all those people with their immediate families were able to achieve their migration desires in the near future, America's population would increase to more than a half billion people."

But that would only get us halfway to a billion!

Farhad Manjoo wants an open border. Matthew Yglesias wants a billion Americans. The editorial boards of The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post all want to increase immigration-driven population growth (i.e. 90 percent of all U.S. population growth).

Tom Joyce detects a whiff of hypocrisy as many advocates for increased immigration-driven population growth also claim to prioritize the environment.

Gary Wockner says "the two million people added to the U.S. every year, mostly by immigration, create a new Los Angeles-sized footprint on the U.S. landscape and environment every five years," and the established environmental groups are missing in action.

Karen Shragg says "otherwise intelligent journalists" are fooling themselves if they think immigration-driven population growth isn't putting "tremendous pressure on our limited resources."

Lex Reiffel says an immigration policy designed to "enhance the well-being of American families" would allow for population stabilization.

Chamie says a gradual stabilization would require "substantially lower future levels of immigration," but he warns that as long as America has a de facto open border policy, "the nation will be seriously challenged and disunited on the vital issue of U.S. immigration."

Spread the word.