Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) says immigration reform for the United States is long overdue.
“It is beyond time, past time to do immigration reform. Immigration reform should be a pathway to citizenship. People who have been here, they might have come here the wrong way, but they came here for the right reason,” Manchin said during a press conference Thursday.
He added, “We have children that came here that have no other home but America. There should be a pathway for that, for our dreamers.”
Watch his remarks below:
Sen. Joe Manchin: "It is beyond time, past time to do immigration reform. Immigration reform should be a pathway to citizenship. People who have been here, they might have come here the wrong way, but they came here for the right reason." pic.twitter.com/KdSBxWBr5Y
— The Hill (@thehill) April 1, 2021
The situation at the U.S.-Mexico border has increasingly become an issue for the Biden administration. More than a million migrants are expected to reach the southern border this year.
Border facilities are now reportedly holding more than double the number of migrant children held under the Trump administration in 2019.
Fox News’s Peter Doocy pressed White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki about a video that surfaced showing children being tossed over a border wall in New Mexico, as IJR reported.
“Our concern and our focus is on sending a clear message to the region that this is not the time to come,” Psaki said during her press briefing on Thursday.
She continued, “You should not send your kids on this treacherous journey. That these smugglers are praying on vulnerabilities in these communities.”
A Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey found 48% of Americans approve of how Biden is handling the border. The number is down from 56% that approved of his approach in February.
Biden announced last month he tapped Vice President Kamala Harris to handle the situation.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) voiced his criticism of the president for making that decision, as IJR reported.
“Putting the vice president in charge of solving this problem is like making El Chapo the drug czar. I mean Kamala believes in open borders,” Kennedy said during an interview with the Daily Caller Wednesday.