Times Square billboard highlights impacts of border crisis

An organization advocating for the economic well-being of small businesses has placed a billboard in Times Square slamming the Biden administration for its inability to resolve the crisis at the southern border.

The billboard features a video of migrants assaulting New York City police officers in January. The Job Creators Network, a non-profit group that advocates for economic policies that maximize economic freedom, put up the billboard to educate the public about the worsening situation at the border.

Addressing President Joe Biden, the billboard reads, “Hey Joe! If cops aren’t safe because of your open borders, nobody is.”

Alfredo Ortiz, CEO of Job Creators Network (JCN), said that Biden’s minimization of the conditions at the border has come at the expense of small business owners.

“President Biden is seeking to downplay the severity of the border crisis because it has become one of his top political vulnerabilities,” Ortiz told The Center Square.

Ortiz explained that the JCN’s internal polling indicated that roughly a third of national business owners reported higher business costs as a result of increased crime. Respondents identify illegal immigration as a major source of the crime wave, Ortiz said.

“The border crisis is now so great that it’s become a small business issue. It is impacting every part of society. Only now that Biden can’t ignore it any longer is he finally wading into this issue. Biden is also being dishonest about needing Congress to fix the border, which he has the tools to secure at the executive branch level.”

Ortiz suggested Biden use the “tools” at his disposal to address the surge of illegal crossings at the southern border that began after he was inaugurated.

“He should reverse the permissive policies he took when he entered office to make it easier to cross the border. He should also reinstate President [Donald] Trump’s smart measures that kept border crossings at far more manageable levels. Securing our borders secures our communities,” Ortiz told The Center Square.

Violent incidents have intensified at the border in recent months. Twice as many border patrol agents have been assaulted in El Paso in 2023 compared to the preceding two years, according to reports by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

More than 785,000 people were apprehended attempting to illegally cross the border in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 alone, The Center Square previously reported, the highest in U.S. history.