EDITORIAL: Mexican president looks at border, points at Biden

The Biden administration insists that it inherited the worsening situation at the southern border, but even Mexico’s head of state isn’t buying it.

“They see him as the migrant president,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador said two weeks ago, “and so many feel they’re going to reach the United States.”

Mr. Lopez-Obrador reasserted his view this week at a press conference that no doubt left the White House fuming. “Expectations were created that with the government of President Biden there would be a better treatment of migrants,” he said Tuesday. “And this has caused Central American migrants, and also from our country, wanting to cross the border thinking that it is easier to do so.”

In fact, the ongoing fiasco highlights that there are indeed consequences for advocating open borders, relaxing restrictions on entry for unaccompanied minors and providing unlimited door keys for desperate migrants. Border Patrol projections indicate that the current March surge will exceed by 60 or 70 percent the peaks during both the Obama and Trump presidencies.

Mr. Biden this week lamely attempted to discourage migrants, telling them to “stay in place and make their case from their home countries.” The administration maintains all is well, but then takes steps to limit coverage of the detention centers. At least one Democratic House member called this the wrong approach, arguing that publicizing the realities at the border could discourage others from making the trek.

“They’ve got to do more to overcome the messages you hear in Central America,” Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, told Axios. “The conditions are terrible for the children. The system is being overwhelmed right now. No ifs, no buts about it.”

If anything good can come of this, perhaps it will nudge Mr. Biden to embrace that spirit of bipartisanship he promised by reaching across the aisle to craft a workable immigration policy that rejects the extremists on both sides. Neither throwing everything open to all comers nor deporting everyone in the country illegally makes sense. A sane and compassionate policy must recognize the right of America to control its own borders, while acknowledging the cultural and economic contributions of those seeking to migrate here in search of opportunity and a better life.

Embracing the progressive alternative — “that people should be allowed to come to the U.S. on their terms rather than ours, and that it is our collective responsibility to take care of them if they can’t take care of themselves,” in the words of Wall Street Journal columnist Jason L. Riley — will be a nightmare for the nation and the Biden presidency.