Quick Hit:

Victor Davis Hanson argues that President Joe Biden's border policies have done more than dismantle immigration enforcement—they have fundamentally and dangerously reshaped the American demographic landscape. In a powerful June 5 op-ed for American Greatness, Hanson warns that Biden’s deliberate inaction and policy choices have triggered a demographic and national security crisis that will reverberate for decades, long after Biden has exited the political stage.

Key Details:

• Hanson estimates that 10–12 million illegal immigrants entered the U.S. during Biden’s presidency, with little to no vetting.

• Roughly 500,000 of these illegal entrants are believed to have criminal records—more than the population of Oakland, CA

• Biden’s refusal to enforce immigration law contrasts sharply with the efforts of 47th President Donald Trump, who is now attempting to reverse this damage.

Diving Deeper:

Victor Davis Hanson does not mince words when describing former President Joe Biden’s immigration record. In his American Greatness op-ed, Hanson charges that Biden’s policies amounted to a “spiteful open-borders legacy” that will "plague America for generations to come." With an estimated 10–12 million foreign nationals having illegally crossed the southern border during Biden’s term, Hanson asserts this influx is not just unsustainable—it is perilous.

“Almost all were unaudited,” Hanson writes, highlighting how these millions were not subjected to even basic background checks, in stark contrast to the identification and medical scrutiny imposed on American citizens. He notes the irony of citizens being expelled from the military over COVID vaccine refusals, while “millions of foreign nationals... crossed the southern border, exempt from any vaccination requirement or medical examination.”

Hanson contrasts this with the ongoing deportation efforts under the Trump administration. While Trump’s border patrol reportedly manages to deport 800 of Biden’s illegal entrants on some days, Hanson points out that “ten times that many entered illegally each day under Biden.” To reverse Biden’s immigration legacy, Hanson estimates that Trump's administration would have to deport over 8,000 individuals daily during his full four-year term.

Equally disturbing are Hanson’s claims about the national security implications. “Some 500,000 illegal entrants are believed to have criminal records,” he writes, adding that “thousands of these unknown criminals are deadly land mines waiting to explode.” He underscores a disturbing trend of daily reports of Americans being raped, assaulted, or murdered by illegal aliens—many of whom the political left aggressively defends to “hurt Trump politically.”

Beyond the southern border, Hanson widens his focus to international student visas and overstayed tourist entries. He describes elite American universities as willing accomplices, admitting nearly 300,000 Chinese nationals, most without serious vetting. “No wonder, then,” Hanson writes, “that... Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government... trained and graduated hundreds of Chinese nationals who were either Communist Party members or the children of prominent Chinese communist apparatchiks.”

Recent headlines, such as the arrest of Chinese national Yunqing Jian, who was allegedly attempting agro-terrorism in the Midwest, serve as chilling real-world examples of these threats. Hanson reports Jian’s goal was to "seed toxic fungus into midwestern farmland... and thereby starve his hosts."

The crisis also extends to visa overstays. One example Hanson cites is Egyptian national Mohamed Soliman, who firebombed Jewish individuals while shouting “Free Palestine.” Soliman and his family had overstayed their visas, yet remained in the U.S. without consequence.

Americans have not been silent on this issue. As Hanson notes, “Americans overwhelmingly polled against this Biden border nihilism.” Even the House moved to impeach Biden’s Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas. Yet, “Biden, or his handlers in the shadows, would not stop destroying the borders and immigration law.”

The question, Hanson argues, is not merely how this happened—but why. He raises the possibility of Biden’s “characteristic incompetence or dementia,” but also suggests a more calculated motive: “Did Biden simply want to alter the demography to find a constituency for his otherwise unpopular agendas?”

Ultimately, Hanson concludes that “no one knows why Biden did it, only that he did—and we will suffer his nihilist legacy for years to come.”