Talarico vs. AOC: Have Democrats learned to back strong borders?

Will Democrats moderate on border security? Can they?One early post-election test will be the migrant caravan, the third since September, now getting underway in Mexico.Some Dems now explicitly admit that President Joe Biden failed.Biden “failed us during his administration by not securing the border,” said Texas Sen.-elect James Talarico on the campaign trail, calling himself a “border-security Democrat.”“The Biden administration had it wrong,” charged Texas Rep.Henry Cuellar; Iowa’s Sen.-elect Josh Turek said Trump did a “better job” on the border than Biden. Joining border moderates like Pennsylvania’s Sen.

John Fetterman and Washington’s Rep.Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, this is plainly the wise political call: America wants secure borders with strong, competent enforcement, not Biden-style “wave them in” policies. But other Democrats refuse to admit either the disaster itself or the electoral harm it did the party in 2024. Leftist Rep.

Delia Ramirez (Ill.), for one, wants not only to abolish ICE but CBP and the entire Department of Homeland Security as well. Michigan Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed wants drivers’ licenses for illegals, insisting, “we owe it to the world to open our doors”; New York’s Rep.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a possible 2028 presidential front-runner, has long advocated for open borders under the guise of respecting the rights of asylum seekers (which most illegal migrants lack any legitimate claim to be).  Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Please provide a valid email.

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And this wing of the party has only grown more confrontational these last two years, with violent resistance to ICE enforcement — the 24/7 protests, illegal “checkpoints” and attempts to ram agents with cars.And Biden himself ran his 2020 campaign vowing to normalize policy post-Trum...