Texas is suffering from border failure. What Biden must do to get it under control

The Biden administration has had a bad run of luck with predictions lately.

First, there was the guess that it would take the Taliban perhaps more than a year to take Afghanistan. It happened in a matter of days.

Closer to home, when migrants began arriving at the southern border in huge numbers this spring, administration officials tried to portray it as a normal surge that would taper off in the heat of the summer.

That, too, was catastrophically wrong. July saw the highest number of migrants detained by U.S. officials in more than 20 years — more than 212,000.

If that many encountered U.S. officials, imagine how many made it through. It can’t go on.

This is a Texas problem. More detentions happen here than any other part of the border. McAllen and Laredo have been overwhelmed, and migrants are being moved into other cities, including Dallas.

Texas leaders are responding, again aiming to divert state resources to address the problems the federal government has failed us on. Lawmakers may double border-security spending to increase National Guard deployments and allow for state arrests of immigrants on charges such as trespassing, The Dallas Morning News reported Thursday.

Much of this money may be used to build a border wall, an expensive and wasteful project that the state should have no part of. If additional law enforcement is necessary in the Rio Grande Valley, fine, but it’s not the state’s role to enforce immigration law, especially if there’s risk of rights being violated.

This response is driven by politics, especially Gov. Greg Abbott’s determination to beat back hard-core conservative primary challengers. But the problems a failed border causes for the entire state are real.

The administration seems, finally, to recognize the crisis. Homeland Security Secretary Alejando Mayorkas reportedly told Border Patrol agents he knows they’re overwhelmed and the situation is close to a breaking point, according to audio of a meeting leaked to Fox News. Mayorkas is seeking to add thousands of agents to the border and maintain emergency authority to immediately deport many adults seeking asylum.

Those cases are at the heart of the problem. By the tens of thousands, migrants are claiming a need for protection from persecution in their home countries. Under U.S. law, they are entitled to a hearing, but the system was never designed to handle so many asylum seekers. As a result, many simply stay in the U.S. for long periods.

The Trump administration’s solution was to strike a deal with Mexico for asylum applicants to stay there. President Joe Biden reversed that as soon as he took office, but Texas and other parties sued, and courts are ordering the administration to keep the policy in place for now. Eventually, though, the administration will probably be able to make the change.

The government is proposing ways to speed up the asylum vetting process, but they’ll take time to implement. And they don’t address the root problem of the crime and destitution so many people are fleeing, even though asylum is meant for political and religious persecution, not simply poverty.

The administration wants to help Central American countries with violence and economic stagnation. And over time, that will surely help. But the current flood includes migrants from all parts of the world. Whether through sheer desperation or the belief that, under Biden, more people will be allowed to stay, it’s clear the word has gone out that it’s a good time to try to get to the U.S.

We need policies to dissuade that belief, including tougher asylum regulations and deportations for those who overstay their welcome.

But the strain upon Texas shows the need for a rational overhaul of immigration policy, too. Even as we struggle with the flood of arrivals, we lack workers in many industries, especially hospitality, and it’s holding our economic recovery back.

Texas and the nation need a reliable supply of workers, admitted in an orderly fashion. The millions of immigrants here illegally, most contributing and raising families here, need resolution of their status, starting with young people who have known no other home.

But none of that will be possible if the border remains out of control. That’s one prediction you can take to the bank.