Sure.
They could be doing more to improve things and stop crap like this that makes it worse
This is conveniently ambiguous. What, specifically?
I have no earthly idea how you could think this will do that, it’s going to do the exact opposite by making all the people who aren’t really paying attention say “Gosh, I guess the Republicans must be right about this if the Democrats are trying to to pass their type of policies. I guess if we need a Republican approach to solve this totally real issue we should probably get it from a Republican government.”
Why would you think that and not, "Gosh, I think Democrats are actually doing a pretty good job and I really don't want to vote for Trump, and since they seem to be trying to solve the border issue as well which was my chief concern, I really don't have a reason to not vote for them now."?
You have to remember that the independents / moderates / centrists in this country are pretty easily-swayed. They go with the currents. They get fixated on the national talking-points that tend to be governed by the onslaught of right-wing media propaganda that dominates the airwaves and social media.
If people are saying: "I like Democrats, but I am concerned about the border," -- what option do Democrats have BUT to at least LOOK like they're cracking down on this issue (even if they know deep-down the premise is bullshit)?
- So you're Biden.
- You can't actually change the current events in any meaningful way with a split Congress and Republican border states unwilling to work with you.
- Yet you're still being blamed publicly for not "handling" the border.
- Public polling is showing your team that this is the ONLY thing that is really sticking with swing voters.
- You know it's all bullshit, but you can't publicly state this because right-wing media propaganda is controlling the narrative.
- You know if you lose, someone proven far, far worse will get in and be orders-of-magnitude worse for such immigrants.
- So what do you do...?
- You Call the Bluff of Republicans. You say, "Okay let's do it. But give me control to do it."
- Republicans obviously won't because they don't actually want to do this; they just want to use it as a political tool to hammer Democrats with.
- Nothing changes, but now you can at least have a rebuttal come election season.
What is wrong with this, and what alternative do you offer, substantively, concretely?
If this legislation does pass people will suffer and die
It won't. Trump already undermined it. And if it does, Democrats win the election and can reverse it instead of it just passing a year down the road and being in place for much, much longer with even more people dying.
Edit: Sorry I forgot to respond to this:
Voters: “I like their confidence! And besides, when I think ‘tough’ on the border or crime or whatever, I know that isn’t Democrats, that’s the Republican’s thing! Maybe a Democrat will talk tough when they want to get reelected but they won’t ever really do it, and there is absolutely nothing that can happen to change my mind about this because I don’t pay attention to anything because the news depresses me.”
Fairly, I do agree there are voters out there like this. The question is how many versus how many who go, "Well, at least I see Democrats are trying, and what difference is it when Trump said he'd build the wall but didn't... So I think I'll just go with the stable choice since the border was my #1 issue and that was my last concern for voting for Biden. Trump is otherwise just too risky..."
And I mean not to sound like a broken record, but what is the alternative plan -- just ignore the fact that a majority of independents view this as a major concern and the border issue (again, manufactured as it is) is now the #1 issue with voters overall? Is that really a winning strategy?
Regardless, you and I aren't privy to the massive amount of polling and focus groups these campaigns with millions of dollars have. Clearly, they have data that probably fills in the gaps that you and I can only otherwise speculate over.