President Biden’s immigration policies are a frequent target of conservative and liberal media outlets, often reflecting criticism from Republican and Democratic elected officials. His reaction to his executive order Tuesday, limiting asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, was no different.
Conservative media outlets criticized the policy for being too lenient and accused Biden of being slow to address what they see as a crisis. Some made misleading claims about the order.
The liberal media paid less attention to the news. Those who gave it significant coverage echoed a long-standing frustration among progressives with Biden’s approach to the southern border, saying the executive order was harmful to migrants and denouncing it as a version of policies favored by former President Donald J. .Trump. .
This is how some of those outlets covered the news:
RIGHT
Breitbart
Biden’s executive order prevents migrants from seeking asylum at the border as crossings increase, one of the most restrictive U.S. immigration policies enacted by a Democrat.
But that wasn’t enough for many conservative outlets, including Breitbart, which covered its site with stories criticizing Biden’s policies. Since he took office in 2021, Biden has been repeatedly accused by the right-wing site. of causing an influx of immigrants crossing the southern border.
Headlines on the site this week emphasized the details of Biden’s order, which cut off access to asylum at the border starting Wednesday. The order will be lifted if daily crosses fall below 1,500 for a period of time, but will return if they rise to 2,500.
“Joe Biden issues executive order allowing gatherings of 2,500 migrants at southern border,” read a misleading Breitbart headline on June 4. The executive order does not allow anyone to enter the country illegally; establishes new restrictions on asylum.
Another story published Tuesday highlighted the outlet’s long-standing promotion of the false far-right notion that liberal elites want to “replace” white Americans, saying the administration is “seeking to add one migrant to the American population for every two American births.”
RIGHT
Daily call
The Daily Caller, a conservative website that has also consistently criticized Biden’s immigration policies, argued that he could have done more to address this crisis earlier in his term.
In an article with the headline “Biden unveils immigration executive order after months of insisting he couldn’t do anything,” the site’s White House correspondent Reagan Reese said Biden “denied having the ability to take action on the border, instead blaming congressional Republicans for the current immigration crisis.”
Jason Hopkins, a contributor to the site, said the Biden administration had “made a concerted effort to undo many of the immigration policies” of his predecessor. (Mr. Biden rolled back many of Mr. Trump’s immigration rules at the beginning of his presidency, but has since taken a more conservative approach). Hopkins also highlighted both liberal and conservative immigration experts who condemned Tuesday’s order.
FROM THE LEFT
Democracy now
Biden’s order resembles a 2018 Trump policy that also sought to prevent immigrants from seeking asylum and was blocked by a federal judge. That fact did not go unnoticed by some liberal media and commentators, who criticized Biden for following the previous administration’s approach to immigration.
Democracy Now, a progressive online radio and television show, devoted 15 minutes of its hour-long show Wednesday to Biden’s executive order, which host Amy Goodman said would “continue to codify the far-right’s anti-immigration agenda.”
John Washington, who wrote a book defending open borders, argued on the show that Biden’s rightward shift on immigration was unlikely to be politically successful.
Democrats have “tried to lean to the right, compromise on their principles and hope to gain some political capital. But it doesn’t work,” Washington said.
FROM THE LEFT
The harsh story
The Raw Story, a liberal outlet that frequently criticizes Trump and Republicans, devoted little coverage to Biden’s executive order. On Tuesday, the site’s home page began with an unrelated article about MSNBC host Joe Scarborough holding back laughter on his show while reacting to a Fox News interview with Trump.
An article on Tuesday that did refer to the order highlighted Biden’s break with the progressive wing of his party over the order. It published with the headline: “Biden in trouble with AOC,” in reference to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York.
FROM THE LEFT
Mother Jones
An article for Mother Jones, a liberal website, began with a quote from an advocate for freer borders: “Biden is now fully embracing Trump’s policies as his own.” In the article, journalist Isabella Dias noted that Biden’s order came at a time when border crossings had decreased since December.
“Despite calls from immigration advocates and experts to adopt an overtly pro-immigrant agenda,” Dias wrote Thursday, Democrats and the Biden administration have “gradually ceded ground to the right.”