Former US ambassador says Biden woke up too late on border crisis

Former Cabinet secretary and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar says the Biden administration “woke up too late” to address the border crisis, arguing its failure to prioritize Mexico and effectively communicate its strategy helped hand President Donald Trump one of his strongest political issues.

Salazar, whose family has lived in the southwest since it was part of Mexico, laid out in his new book “Borderlands” how America’s foreign policy is too often on an “east-west paradigm” looking to Asia and Europe and neglecting Mexico and the Americas. He also argued that same mindset plagued the Biden administration, leaving it overly focused on Europe and Asia while neglecting Mexico and the Western Hemisphere.

“From day one, there should have been a great sense of urgency in addressing the crisis of a broken border and the migration crisis that we are seeing,” Salazar said, arguing the Biden White House lacked both a comprehensive strategy and a coherent communications operation, creating what he described as a communications vacuum that Republicans filled.

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President Biden, left; Ken Salazar, right. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“I think that’s what trapped the administration into this sense that they woke up too late by the time they did the right things to get control of the border,” he said.

In the book, he recounts nearly resigning from his ambassadorship during a visit to Mexico with Biden and several inner-circle officials after being left out of an important meeting where he wanted to make the case for appointing a border-and-migration czar.

After one meeting at the Palacio Nacional in Mexico City, Salazar wrote that he decided to present his plan the next day but found out that he and former Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., weren’t going to be in the key meeting the next day.

Ultimately, he was able to meet privately with Biden at the last minute, where he expressed his concerns:

“We need someone in the White House to oversee the border, migration, Mexico, and the Americas. No one is in charge now. We need a border and migration czar,” he said, reminding Biden that adviser Jeffrey Zients served as a “czar” for the COVID-19 response.

“[We need] someone focused exclusively on this crisis, with the authority to coordinate and direct action across agencies in Washington and communicate the message with one voice on these issues. With all due respect, Mr. President, if we are to succeed, it is urgent that we have someone like this in charge.”

Salazar wrote that even after Biden’s June 2024 executive order sharply reduced crossings, the administration failed to communicate the policy’s success before Biden exited the race.

He said that gave President Donald Trump an opportunity to campaign on the “low-hanging fruit” of the border crisis.

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A split screen of former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar and President Joe Biden. Salazar criticized Biden and his administration’s handling of the border crisis and revealed he almost ran for president in 2024. (Matt Kelley/AP Photo)

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Biden for comment.

Both Biden and Trump, however, displayed what Salazar called “foreign policy malpractice” in terms of the Americas — something administrations have struggled with for 100 years, according to Salazar.

“That’s where everybody gets trapped,” he said.

“Republicans, like Donald Trump, use it as a political advantage because that’s how they win elections. And they realized that way back 20-some years ago.”

“Democrats, on the other hand, have a sense that it is very important. And they do focus, but only on the border and on domestic migration issues [like] immigration reform. They don’t focus at all or enough on Mexico [or] the border between Mexico and Guatemala — And that’s what I believe we have to do. And that is what ‘Borderlands’ proposes that we do,” he said, referring to his book.

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WASHINGTON – FEBRUARY 12: U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar speaks during an Abraham Lincoln birthday celebration event at the Lincoln Memorial February 12, 2009, in Washington, DC. It marked the 200th birthday of the 16th President of the United States Abraham Lincoln.  (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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Instead of demonizing migrants or focusing only on social aspects of the crisis, Salazar said his “Borderlands Platform” is a new vision that is grounded in realizing economic and national security prosperity for all three North American countries.

Salazar’s proposed “Borderlands Platform” calls for a “New American Alliance” among the United States, Mexico and Canada, including deeper security cooperation, expanded labor mobility and renewed investment in North American trade. He argued immigration policy should be treated as both a national security and economic issue rather than solely a domestic political fight — and wrote supportively about renewing Trump’s USMCA, which had supplanted Bill Clinton’s NAFTA.

Salazar said Trump is correct that the border is “broken,” but said he disagreed with Trump’s approach, calling it divisive and pointing to ICE-involved shootings.

“It’s not the American way where people have rights, where you have a sense of security, understand the importance of our security within our own country and the importance for supporting law enforcement.”

Salazar pointed to his tenure as Colorado attorney general, where he led “thousands of cops,” as evidence of his longstanding support for law enforcement.

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“What is being neglected here is the bigger picture. And that’s this foreign policy paradigm that is so required for the United States and Mexico and the Americas. And I don’t see this administration moving in that direction to create the kind of legal frameworks that are essential that will give us our national security and ensure that we have a border that works and ensure we have an immigration system that is reformed and does the right thing,” he said.

Salazar confirmed he has met with several Democrats viewed as potential 2028 presidential contenders, strongly advising them to make border and migration policy a top issue.

“Not that I have a lot of sway, but at least I will do everything I can to make sure that this is at the heart of every Democrat running for president,” he said, noting that Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., was one lawmaker who met with him and endorsed his “Borderlands” book.

Asked if he would entertain Republican invitations, Salazar said if Trump reached out he would meet with him, but underlined that he would not become “political fodder for anybody.”

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“I do think that the Trump administration has an opportunity here because they, at the end of the day, recognize that the big questions of our time are affordability for the American people. The cost of strawberries, blueberries, and avocados, food, fuel, all those things are very much impacted by what’s happening with tariffs and the uncertainty with Mexico right now,” he said.

“I spent a lot of time on our ranch, I pumped the diesel into our [machinery], and I can tell you that across rural America, people are hurting because of what’s happening with trade and we are losing a lot of our advantage here. Agriculture is in for a very hard time in the years ahead.”

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He said he hopes Trump would consider a “Borderlands”-type plan for a “new era” in Intracontinental relations.

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“I don’t think that’s going to happen, but I certainly would give him that advice.”