WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Republicans today held a press conference blasting the Biden Administration for creating a catastrophe at the Southern Border and calling on Biden to secure the border. With the end of Title 42, Border Patrol officials are bracing for a record-surge of illegal migrant crossings at the Southern Border. Biden has no plan to deal with this humanitarian, national security, and drug catastrophe.
Here is what Senate Republicans are saying about how Biden’s border catastrophe is impacting every American:
Senator James Lankford (R-OK):
“The chaos on our Southern Border continues to accelerate. This administration has not done what it needed to do. This was a very predictable crisis. And may I remind everyone there was conversation about the end of Title 42 in the very first weeks of the Biden Administration’s term. We’re now 2.5 years in, and they’re showing they were not prepared for this moment. We have got to enforce our border and to be able to manage this crisis in a way that honors the law and honors the American people.”
Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA):
“Now, Iowa is over 1000 miles away from our Southern Border. I get that – but it is impacting Iowa. It is impacting our communities. […] And in Iowa, what we have experienced because of this border crisis is a spike in fentanyl overdose deaths from Iowans under 25 – a spike up to 120%. These are Iowans who are losing their lives because of this border crisis and an uncontrolled border. Biden has failed our American people.”
Senator Rick Scott (R-FL):
“Joe Biden doesn’t give a damn about Americans – and why would I say that? 70,000 Americans died of fentanyl overdoses. Why? Joe Biden doesn’t care – he has a completely open border. We’ve got criminals, we’ve got terrorists coming into our country. Just last week, a family was murdered by an illegal immigrant in this country. And have you seen anything that Joe Biden has done to secure the border?”
Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS):
“The open Southern Border is the number one national security threat that this nation faces. […] There’s 170,000 people waiting to come across the border – that would be the third largest city in Kansas. That’s enough people that would fill the Chiefs Stadium, Royals Stadium, Kansas State football stadium, and Kansas University’s football stadium. Think about the impact that that’s going to have on Americans, as well as all of our nation.”
Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS):
“We have a border crisis, we have a fentanyl crisis, and we have a humanitarian crisis. […] If the Biden Administration had tried to make this a crisis they couldn’t have done a better job than they’ve done. […] During the campaign, candidate Joe Biden sent every signal that our border was going to be open. During the transition period, and during the first days of his administration, he sent a clear signal. And whether he meant to or not, that signal went around the world and has caused this crisis.”
Senator John Hoeven (R-ND):
“This is about enforcing the law. Border security is national security and [Biden] can do it, but he won’t. He won’t implement the policy that is required to enforce the border. […] CBP and Border Patrol can and will secure the border, but the Biden Administration won’t do it. […] The reality is this: if the Biden Administration puts those two policies in place, Remain in Mexico and [Safe Third Country] protocol, the professionals on the border, CBP and Border Patrol, will secure the border right now.”
Senator Ted Budd (R-NC):
“Every single county in North Carolina is now a border county because of Joe Biden’s policies. We’ve simply got a president that has retreated from his responsibility to defend and to protect this country. Bottom line, this is a dereliction of duty. Securing the border used to be a bipartisan issue. Now, all of us here, we’ve got solutions in addition to and that go beyond Title 42, which is ending at midnight. So I want to call on President Biden to change course, to open a dialogue so that we can solve this crisis together. We know what to do. And we know that in order to be a strong nation, we have to have strong borders.”
Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN):
“I want to welcome all of you to the next chapter in the horror story that is Joe Biden’s America. Joe Biden has decided that it’s best to cede control completely of our Southern Border to cartels, multi-billion dollar criminal organizations that work in partnership with the Chinese Communist Party to flood fentanyl into our country to kill our youth. In fact, the number one killer of young Americans today between 18 and 45 years of age is overdose, most of it fentanyl coming across that Southern Border. This is the next chapter in Joe Biden’s America.”
Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE):
“We’ve seen a record of five million illegal crossings at the Southern Border under President Biden. There have been another 1.4 million known got-aways under President Biden. We have 85,000 unaccompanied children – they crossed the border and now they’re missing. […] We need to step up and secure our border. It was secure when this president came into office, and now we have total chaos. That is a humanitarian crisis, that is a fentanyl crisis, and it is a national security crisis.”
Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK):
“The biggest falsehood being peddled in Washington, D.C. right now and to the American people is that our border is secure. Day after day, we hear senior Biden Administration officials repeating that the border is secure. […] The big lie of 2023 is that the border is secure. The president knows it. Secretary Mayorkas knows it. I think you guys in the media know it. Certainly our Border Patrol agents know it. And most importantly, the American people know it.”
Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE):
“President Biden’s handling of the humanitarian and security crisis at our Southern Border has turned that crisis into a catastrophe. […] This catastrophe at the Southern Border could have been avoided. The policies were in place. We know what we need to do. Among those things is the infrastructure like the wall, better technology for our Customs and Border Patrol, and more personnel. […] We need him to take action to secure our border, and the problem is getting worse. That’s why my Republican colleagues and I are here today to call on the president to take action to keep the American people safe.”
Senator Katie Britt (R-AL):
“What I am here to tell you is that we have a humanitarian and a national security crisis at our border every single day. As a mom, it was gut wrenching to watch women pregnant attempt to cross the border with multiple tiny children behind them. […] When in the world is this administration going to wake up? […] We have real solutions. Come to the table. Let’s secure our border. Let’s put the American people first. Let’s put the safety of our children and communities all across this country before anything else.”
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