Personal Story and then the Facts
My executive producer, has a Chinese wife and daughter. Ethan and Jo. Jo (the wife) had worked extremely hard, starting on a work visa to move towards permanent residence. They got engaged in 2018 but was shocked to find out that getting married was only a small step towards legalization. After spending about $40,000 dollars on the green card process and boxes of documents, information, letters, etc. (about a 3 foot high box), everything was submitted to the USCIS, through a professional and popular guidance service, the trouble began. The USCIS sent confusing and conflicting letters, often getting information wrong, claiming certain steps were not completed, when everything was done by the book and by guidance of the service. It was a nightmare scene. Ethan had spent numerous hours on the phone trying to get through to USCIS to resolve mistakes, only to find out that whoever they talked to, did not follow through on promises, and troubling letters kept coming in.
Due to one of USCIS's own mistakes related to Jo's employment status, Ethan received a call from ICE directly asking him to turn over his fiance (at the time) and daughter within 24 hours, unless they could produce certain “employer” documents. They had also called me asking status of the family who I vouched for them. In a panic that he was about to lose his new family, Ethan frantically worked with Jo's employer directly to resolve the issue and prove that Jo was still legally working.
Jo was one of the first people that I personally heard from about the COVID pandemic. I, admittingly and many others including Ethan, did not take this seriously and downplayed the impact. Of course, months later, it hit our shores and turned into the “China Flu” and other dismissive statements from our commander in chief. One million deaths later, it turned into a nightmare scene across the United States. I brought this up because the immigration process became increasingly worse, especially for Chinese immigrants. Their daughter started getting threats and bullying at her school related to the Chinese hate that erupted among Trump supporting family kids. Jo also suffered blowback from the pandemic.
For Ethan and Jo, working with a USCIS that was essentially dysfunctional, letters were more confusing, and the service number for USCIS was shut down to recordings only. One of the most important interviews required was requested and sent in to the USCIS, date still pending. When Ethan and his family had to rush to take care of Ethan's mother out of state, Ethan was able to get through to the USCIS and let them know they were out of town. A few weeks in to the trip, an appointment was scheduled back in their resident city, Phoenix, 1,200 miles away. Knowing that missing an appointment would certainly unravel all the effort, they were in panic. Ethan struggled to get through to the USCIS and letters were sent in, and ignored, about the situation.
Ethan reached out to both senators in Arizona, Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly. Sinema's office reached out to them and helped to get a delay on the appointment whever the family got back to Phoenix. Whew! The family did receive their green cards once they did, finally, but expired in one year.
After 3 years of expired green cards and having done everything by the book to get a new one, more trouble began, now considered illegal by the USCIS's own doing. They went through an immigration lawyer in Eagle Pass, Texas, who was not practicing law in Phoenix, but out of the goodness of his heart, worked for the family for free, helped to get them back on USCIS's radar. The lawyer also recommended going through naturalization at the same time as it may be the faster route. For the green card itself, this meant that the family would receive phone calls, that they could not miss, from the USCIS directly. Jo literally almost had an accident driving while trying to answer their call. Callbacks were prohibited. Luckily, this landed her an appointment at the USCIS office. The office, in Mesa, was unmarked, and felt like going into a prison. For the family, the agents at the office were extremely generous and explained that they had been called in out of retirement to work on the backlog of USCIS requests. They even admitted that the dysfunction was deliberate and that it made even their lives extremely difficult at an old age. Wow!
To end the story on a positive note, the green cards came in finally and Jo was naturalized almost immediately after. This is of course $150,000 dollars later, under Joe Biden of course.
All the signs that Donald Trump did this purposely
Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency and beyond, one of his most persistent talking points has been the claim that Democrats—and specifically President Joe Biden—support “open borders.” This assertion, repeated endlessly at rallies, in interviews, and across social media, has no factual basis. It is a distortion designed to inflame public fear, distract from the failures of Trump’s own immigration policies, and rewrite the history of his administration’s actions.
The “Open Borders” Lie
The accusation that Biden and Democrats have opened the borders is one of the most misleading narratives in modern U.S. politics. In reality, the Biden administration has maintained many of the same enforcement mechanisms as its predecessors—often to the frustration of immigration advocates. Deportations, asylum restrictions, and border surveillance remain in place, and there has been no legislation or executive order that “opens” the border to unrestricted entry.
Trump’s framing of Biden as the architect of an immigration free-for-all serves a clear purpose: to shift blame for the humanitarian and logistical crises that Trump’s own administration created. The separation of families, “Remain in Mexico” policy, and the mass closure of asylum pathways under Trump caused backlogs and chaos that continue to affect the system today.
Exaggerating Immigrant Crime
Trump repeatedly painted immigrants as criminals, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. His administration cherry-picked isolated crimes committed by undocumented individuals and portrayed them as representative of a larger trend. Studies from the Cato Institute, the American Immigration Council, and multiple universities have shown that immigrants—both documented and undocumented—commit crimes at lower rates than native-born citizens.
Nonetheless, Trump used exaggerated rhetoric about “immigrant invasions” and “rapists and murderers” to justify draconian policies such as the Muslim travel ban and zero-tolerance prosecutions. This narrative was not only dishonest but deeply damaging, fueling xenophobia and hate crimes against Latino and Muslim communities.
Undoing Efficiency and Progress
While claiming to “fix” a broken immigration system, the Trump administration actually dismantled many of its most functional components. Programs that streamlined the process for legal entry and citizenship—such as family-based visas and humanitarian parole initiatives—were gutted. Processing times for green cards, asylum applications, and naturalization skyrocketed as Trump’s team imposed new layers of bureaucracy and arbitrary restrictions.
The administration also reversed previous efforts to bring undocumented immigrants with established lives in the U.S. toward legal status. In particular, the cancellation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and attempts to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for refugees from countries like El Salvador and Haiti effectively pushed many long-term, law-abiding residents into “illegal” status overnight. These actions not only disrupted families and communities but also harmed the U.S. economy by removing productive workers from the legal labor market.
Reversing America’s Humanitarian Identity
Historically, both Republican and Democratic administrations viewed immigration as a balance between security and opportunity. Programs under George W. Bush and Barack Obama aimed to modernize border technology while preserving pathways for asylum and citizenship. Trump’s approach shattered that balance—treating all migrants as potential criminals and stripping the system of compassion and practicality.
His administration slashed refugee admissions to historic lows, detained children in cages, and turned away asylum seekers at ports of entry, violating both U.S. and international law. By conflating “illegal immigration” with all immigration, Trump weaponized fear and erased America’s proud tradition as a nation of immigrants.
The Legacy of Deception
Today, the “open borders” myth remains one of Trump’s most powerful political tools. It persists not because it is true, but because it taps into the fears of voters misled by years of calculated disinformation. Behind the slogans and scapegoating lies a simple reality: Trump’s immigration policies were never about improving the system—they were about weaponizing it.
By lying about Biden’s intentions, exaggerating immigrant crime, and reversing decades of bipartisan progress, the Trump administration didn’t strengthen America’s borders. It fractured the nation’s moral compass and undermined the very principles that once defined its greatness.