Trump Shifts Blame for Immigration Chaos to Biden and Harris

Trump amplifies a New York Post opinion column arguing that Democratic border policies, not his administration, caused the current immigration turmoil.

First Published: July 21, 2026, 9:53 AM ETUpdates (3): July 21, 2026, 9:53 AM ET

WASHINGTON D.C. — Donald J. Trump pushed responsibility for the nation’s immigration turmoil onto his predecessors, sharing a New York Post opinion column that faults former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump directed followers to the piece by mentioning the source (see nypost), which argues that Democratic border policies set the stage for the enforcement clashes now unfolding across the country. The move sharpens a familiar line of attack as his administration presses ahead with deportations.

“The activists want to provoke the violent chaos in which tragedy can strike,” columnist Miranda Devine wrote in the piece, published July 16, 2026, according to nypost.

The post keeps immigration at the center of a national fight over enforcement, where the stakes reach from courtrooms to street-level confrontations between agents and demonstrators.

Here is the full post on Truth Social: “Blame immigration chaos on Biden and Harris — not Trump: https://nypost.com/2026/07/16/opinion/blame-immigration-chaos-on-biden-and-harris-not-trump/” on July 21, 2026 at 11:03 AM ET.

This is the first message released by Trump today. On average, Trump produces roughly 15 posts per day since his inauguration on January 20, 2025.

The move fits a broader pattern in Trump’s recent messaging, with 20 of his 467 posts over the last 30 days focused on immigration.

The column responded to the death of Sebastian Guerrero, who was fatally shot in Maine during an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, according to nypost. Whether Guerrero drove his car toward the officers before he was shot remains undetermined, the column said, adding that the shooting will be investigated and that ICE will have to reform its practices.

The stakes cut both ways. The administration benefits by framing enforcement failures as inherited problems, deflecting criticism as removals accelerate. Immigrant communities and their advocates bear the cost, warning that heightened tension around ICE operations raises the risk of violent confrontations. Civil liberties groups argue that aggressive enforcement sweeps up people with no criminal record, according to aclu.org.

The dispute traces back to a surge in border crossings during the Biden years, when encounters at the southwest border reached record highs before falling sharply after enforcement changes. Democrats counter that Trump’s expanded deportation operations have provoked the very confrontations now cited as chaos, according to theguardian.com. State officials in New Jersey and elsewhere have clashed with federal authorities over the scope of raids, according to njspotlightnews.org.

For the average reader, the fight shapes what happens in workplaces, schools, and neighborhoods where enforcement actions occur, and it influences the political debate that will define the next election cycle.

This has happened before. Trump has repeatedly blamed his predecessors for immigration conditions, and Democrats have repeatedly answered by pointing to his own enforcement record. The pattern has defined the immigration debate for the better part of a decade.

The next move rests with federal investigators reviewing the Maine shooting and with courts weighing challenges to deportation policy. A date for any decision has not been announced.

Blaming a rival administration for border strife isn’t the first time American leaders have traded responsibility over immigration. In 1954, the federal government launched Operation Wetback, removing more than 1 million people amid political fights over labor and border control, according to britannica.com. Decades later, the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act granted legal status to nearly 3 million people while promising enforcement that critics said never fully materialized, according to britannica.com. Each effort reshaped the debate without settling it, leaving successors to inherit the same unresolved questions.