Overview

• Nuñez-Neto’s op-ed diagnosed the border crisis as primarily an asylum crisis that incentivizes economic migrants to claim persecution to remain and work in the U.S.
• He highlighted CBP data showing roughly 8.5 million migrant encounters since 2021 and noted that Biden’s 2024 executive order on asylum restrictions drove crossings to their lowest levels since the pandemic.
• The Department of Homeland Security mocked his column on X with a “Humpty Dumpty” jab, inspiring hundreds of parody headlines across social platforms.
• Right-leaning outlets and commentators seized on the op-ed to question the credibility of Biden’s immigration legacy and to ridicule calls for legislative reform.
• Republican members of the House Homeland Security Committee continue probing NGOs’ alleged role in facilitating illegal migration, and no new bipartisan immigration legislation has emerged.