House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday the U.S.-Mexico border was being “completely overrun,” and blamed President Joe Biden for the situation.
Johnson and dozens of other Representatives visited Eagle Pass, Texas, Wednesday to get a look at the situation on the border. Almost 380,000 illegal immigrants have been encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border during fiscal year 2024, which started Oct. 1, according to data released by United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), following 2,045,838 encounters in fiscal year 2023, 2,206,436 in fiscal year 2022 and 1,659,206 in fiscal year 2021.
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“What she just said is patently absurd,” Johnson told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow after Kudlow played a clip of White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre attacking Republicans over immigration. “They want more money to process illegals into the country, Larry. We’re down here on the border of Eagle Pass. This is the epicenter of the problem, of course. We have 64 members of Congress representing 29 states and one U.S. territory. We have people from California, Maryland and Florida because every state is a border state. This administration opened the border wide for the whole country.”
The Justice Department announced on Wednesday it was filing suit to stop Texas from enforcing SB4, which makes illegal entry into Texas a state misdemeanor. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed the legislation on Dec. 18.
“This is intentional. These are policy choices that got us into this situation, Larry,” Johnson said. “We passed H.R. 2 seven months ago. Our legislation, the Secure the Border Act, does exactly what is necessary to stem the flow and get on top of this crisis. It would restore the remain in Mexico policy that worked so well under the Trump Administration, end catch-and-release, it would rebuild the wall, finishing building the border wall that is a important deterrent and importantly, it would do things we know that can be done. The president doesn’t even need new federal laws. He needs to enforce the ones on the books. He could do much of this by executive order, but he refuses to do it.”
The Biden administration reportedly pared back the vetting process for illegal immigrants from the People’s Republic of China due to the influx over the southern border.
“We’re completely overrun,” Johnson said. “South Texas cannot handle what’s happening and neither can the rest of the country.”
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