(Tribune News Service) — “Let me tell you something New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to — I don’t see an ending to this. This issue (i.e. the influx of migrants crossing the Mexican border into the U.S.) will destroy New York City,” said New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, also a Democrat, let out a similar cry for federal assistance.

More than 110,000 immigrants lacking permanent legal status have entered Adams’ city in the last several months. They came from the Mexican border in an invasion-like manner due to America being unable to secure its own borders. Adams projects that as many as 10,000 per month will be entering the city.

Over 1.5 million estimated migrants have skirted around border security on President Joe Biden’s watch. Their whereabouts are unknown.

About 5.8 million have been caught and relocated throughout America as so-called “asylum seekers.” Deportation numbers have not been disclosed, however.

If they wore uniforms and carried weapons or were all of Chinese or Russian descent, their incursion would be classified as a war against America. Trojan Horse? Only time will tell.

One of the causes of the Roman Empire’s fall was its inability to secure its territories and borders. Do we care to learn from history?

Sometimes I think that Biden is handling the border situation in a very sinister and calculative way. Other times I believe he is just being overly kind to others. But generosity should start at home. Many Americans — including some veterans — are living on the streets, while some migrants are put up in hotels and given three meals a day.

Then there are other times when I think the administration is just grossly incompetent.

But I never think of Biden doing anything out of ignorance. He is a skilled politician, though old and distracted by family issues.

In politics, Biden has made his own “luck.” For example, to ensure his being able to stay in office once nominated for president, he picked the only candidate who literally had the least relevant experience for vice president — Kamala Harris. Great job security for Biden. This choice makes his impeachment less likely.

Then he gave Harris the most difficult domestic task of all: border control. Yet she didn’t have the tools or authority to properly address the problem. And she performed as he knew she would. She made statements and demonstrated her commitment to solving the issue, but did nothing. This only added to what people already thought about her, and in a warped way, it elevated Biden. As a result, her poor polling numbers make it easier for him to remove her from the ticket before the 2024 election.

If defined as having prior experience in one or more of the most “relevant” prior positions — representative, senator, governor, ambassador, Cabinet member — her four years as a senator, with half of that time spent running for president or vice president, Harris would rank near the bottom of the 49 past vice presidents.

Biden knew that.

Back to my original dilemma: Is Biden allowing the invasion at the border to change the political makeup of America so that Democrats can win the Electoral College for decades to come?

Let us remember, Democrats win with a divided white population’s vote and 90+% of Black Americans voting Democrat. On the presidential level, the Democrats have failed to carry the white vote for nearly 50 years. Amazing.

Conversely, after the Civil War nearly every Black American voted for Republicans. Why? Because then-President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, had freed the slaves.

It was the same reason Republican Ulysses S. Grant, the general who won the war to free the slaves, won the White House twice after the war with sizable Electoral College victories.

Is Biden trying to become Lincoln to the migrants? Is he granting them the American way of life so they will reciprocate for decades by voting against those bad Republicans, while voting for the soft-hearted Democrats? Maybe.

If that was the case, the Republicans screwed up those plans by sending migrants to sanctuary cities and states — locations like Chicago, New York City, Washington, D.C., and even Cape Cod, Mass. — places that Republicans could not win even if their candidate were Mother Teresa.

America should say thank you to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Biden ignored Republicans on this problem, but when Democrats like Adams and Hochul started “crying uncle” … well, let’s see what happens next.

It is not hard. No other president has handled the protection of our borders worse than Biden. If you want to help Americans and not play politics, simply “close the border.” Stop the flow of people, pure and simple. Use our military to do so if necessary. That is the first step to fixing the overall immigration problem.

I am sure Russia, China, India, Israel and all the other major powers around the world are quietly laughing at us. It is truly embarrassing that the most powerful country in the world has allowed more than 7 million people to just “walk right in.”

Is Biden incompetent or is he the shrewdest politician in America’s history? Sadly, both may be true.

Gary Franks served three terms as U.S. representative for Connecticut’s 5th District. He was the first Black Republican elected to the House in nearly 60 years. He is the author of “With God, For God, and For Country.”

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