Republican Senators on Thursday gave a thumbs-down to President Joe Biden’s assessment of the migrant surge at the southern border — and doubts he can fix the problem they say he created.
In a Twitter thread, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he didn’t buy Biden’s assertion that his policies aren’t to blame for the influx.
“What’s sad is that President Biden doesn’t understand the basics about the current dynamic at the border and the ‘pull’ factors of illegal immigration,” he wrote. “The Trump policies created dramatic decreases in illegal immigration. The changes made by President Biden have created a virtual human tsunami.”
“The misinformation being given by President Biden on immigration is stunning,” he added.
“It’s clear he does not have the situational awareness he needs to understand what is going on at the border or how to fix it.”
In a later Tweet, Graham wrote: “President Biden’s news conference today makes our immigration problems worse. He doesn’t have the situational awareness to fix the problem because he doesn’t understand the problem.
“What he did today was entice people to come, not deter them from coming.”
At a news conference, Biden pushed back when asked if had rolled back former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies too fast, Fox News reported.
According to Biden, the “Remain in Mexico” policy, funding for the border wall and interior immigration enforcement mechanisms “were not helping at all, did not slow up the amount of immigration.”
“Rolling back the policies of separating children from their mothers?,” the president said.
“I make no apologies for ending programs that did not exist before Trump became president that have an incredibly negative impact on the law — international law — as well as on human dignity. And so I make no apologies for that,” Biden said.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., also blasted Biden’s border stance, tweeting photos of migrants wearing shirts with Biden’s name on them and the words, “Please let us in!”
“President Biden said ‘nothing has changed’ at the border?” Cotton wrote.
The number of migrants arriving at the southern border was down last year from a high in May 2019 after Trump closed the border because of the COVID-19 pandemic, enacted a policy making asylum seekers wait in Mexico while their claim is being processed and enforced stricter entry policies.
At the news conference, Biden said he won’t send back minors who arrive at the border, but that he’ll turn away all families.
“Some families are not going back because Mexico is refusing to take them back. Some, not all,” the president said. “We’re in negotiations with Mexico. That’s going to change. They should all be going back,” he said, Fox News reported.
Source: Newmax
