Texas Shooting Is a Nightmare for Biden 

The latest revelations about the immigration status of the suspected gunman in last weekend's Texas shooting are intensifying the pressure that President Joe Biden is already facing over the U.S.-Mexico border.

On Monday, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed to Newsweek that the Mexican national suspected of fatally shooting five people, including a 9-year-old boy, in Cleveland, Texas, had been deported four times before Friday's tragedy.

Concerns about Francisco Oropeza's immigration status at the time of the shooting have furthered Republican criticisms that Biden's approach to the southern border is not strict enough. Since Biden has taken office, monthly migrant encounters have reached record highs at levels not seen in more than two decades, government statistics show.

Texas has seen some of the greatest increase in migrant crossings, with some places like El Paso experiencing a 130-percent spike. Governor Greg Abbott has attempted to bring national attention to the issue by transporting migrants who arrive in his state up north to cities run by Democratic mayors.

The renewed criticisms of Biden's immigration approach also come days before Title 42, a Trump-era policy that allowed the U.S. to expel undocumented migrants, is set to expire, on May 11. The policy had initially been enacted in the early days of the pandemic, allowing the government to override immigration laws that had allowed migrants who enter the U.S. illegally to seek asylum and instead send them back across the border. There have been more than 2.5 million expulsions under Title 42, most of them under the Biden administration.

The Biden administration has repeatedly sought to end the use of Title 42, saying the policy "makes the problem at the border even worse" because it would allow migrants who are turned away to repeatedly try to re-enter the U.S. illegally.

In the wake of last week's shooting, Republicans have ramped up their criticisms of Biden's immigration policies, arguing that the tragedy is "the predictable and tragic result" of the administration's approach to the border. Democrats, on the other hand, have focused their response to the shooting on gun control, highlighting that the gunman used an AR-15-style rifle and that the massacre was only one of 174 mass shootings that have already occurred this year.

But even some members of Biden's own party have called for increased security measures at the border. On Tuesday, Senator Mark Kelly, a moderate Democrat, told Newsweek that the shooting "highlights that border security is national security."

"It's critical to the safety of communities, especially in the south and southwest," the Arizona Democrat said. "That's why I've been a strong advocate for more border patrol agents, more technology at the border, and in some cases barriers where they make sense where Border Patrol needs them."

Political consultant Jay Townsend told Newsweek the shooting in Texas raises questions about "why neither party has been able to craft an immigration or border security policy during the past 25 years."

A Gallup poll released in February showed that Americans, on both sides of the aisle, are increasingly concerned about immigration, with satisfaction at its lowest point since 2012. Of the 63 percent of Americans who said they were dissatisfied with the level of immigration to the U.S., the majority said they wanted to see numbers curbed.

Another poll conducted by the Associated Press in March found that only 39 percent of Americans approve of how Biden is handling immigration and only 38 percent approve of him on border security—both slightly below his overall approval ratings.

Republican strategist Matt Klink told Newsweek that the end of Title 42 could "dramatically raise the stakes" for Biden as Americans are bombarded with "visuals of thousands of people pouring across the border" in the coming days.

"It will be increasingly difficult for administration officials to claim that the border is secure when the American people can see that it's anything but with their own eyes," Klink said.

Biden has sought to find a solution to the influx of migrants that are expected to arrive at the border once Title 42 ends. On Tuesday, it was reported that the administration will send a temporary increase of 1,500 military personnel to the border for 90 days, at the request of the Department of Homeland Security.