Fox op-ed misreads Biden immigration as false choice
A Fox News opinion piece uses Thomas Sowell's trade-off concept to argue Biden immigration policy forced a false choice, but ignores enforcement actions and fails to engage with data on economic integration, instead offering a simplified narrative.
This Fox News opinion piece recites Thomas Sowell's famous aphorism on trade-offs but misapplies it to Biden-era immigration policy, claiming Americans were 'forced a false choice' between open borders and enforcement. In reality, the Biden administration maintained significant enforcement actions—including continued Title 42 expulsions (42 U.S.C. § 265) for much of its term, asylum restrictions under the Asylum Eligibility and Processing Rule, and a surge in interior removals—undercutting the 'open borders' caricature.
The author ignores the concrete trade-offs embedded in current policy: backlogs of millions awaiting asylum decisions (with USCIS processing delays), a functional collapse of legal pathways (refugee caps and visa delays), and employer sanctions that go unenforced (IRCA worksite penalties). The real false choice is the one the op-ed perpetuates—that the only options are the current dysfunctional system or the Trump-era mass deportation approach.
Daylight readers should recognize that federal policy is not a binary; incremental reforms like expanding legal immigration pathways, funding immigration courts (EOIR), and enforcing workplace standards (ICE worksite enforcement) are all administratively feasible alternatives that the piece does not mention. The article serves as a narrative anchor for the right-wing claim that any openness is a 'betrayal,' when the actionable reality is that neither party has delivered a functioning system.
The humanitarian alternative
A humane and effective federal immigration policy would not force a false choice but instead invest in three concrete levers available under current law: first, fully funding and staffing immigration courts to clear the existing backlog (DOJ appropriations); second, expanding visa pathways for essential sectors like agriculture and caregiving (DHS rulemaking); and third, enforcing existing employer verification and wage rules so that immigration does not suppress labor standards (DOL enforcement). These policies could stabilize the system without the mass deportations the op-ed tacitly or explicitly endorses, and they directly address the 'trade-offs' the author invokes by making the costs and benefits visible and accountable.
Falsifiable predictions
What this entry claims will happen, and what data would prove it wrong. The Reckoner revisits these against current reality.
- Federal immigration court backlogs will exceed 3 million cases by end of 2027 absent major funding increases.
Original source — excerpted
news Biden administration forced a false choice on Americans about immigration"NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! Economist Thomas Sowell famously observed, "There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs." Few ideas better ..."