It’s a President’s responsibility to fix this crisis. But this President is taking major steps to make it even worse… Senate Democrats have taken every meaningful opportunity to back the Biden Administration’s border policies and vote down Republican efforts to improve security. Their votes have helped create this crisis. We’ll see if they finally change course and begin voting to help Republicans end the crisis instead.’
U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 7, 2022) – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the crisis at our southern border:
“Here’s a quote from Candidate Biden’s campaign website in 2020: ‘The U.S. has a right and a duty to secure our borders and protect our people against threats.’
“That was then. This is now.
“The Biden Administration’s weak border policies set a new record in 2021. Customs and Border Protection had to make two million arrests.
“And it doesn’t appear that new record will last long. 2022 is already trending even worse.
“CBP is currently seeing about 7,000 encounters every single day and they fear they could soon see as many as 18,000 per day. A staggering figure.
“To put this in perspective, President Obama’s former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson has reflected that a daily count above one thousand was, ‘a relatively bad number, and I was gonna be in a bad mood the whole day.’
“Now we’re at seven times that figure and climbing.
“It’s a President’s responsibility to fix this crisis. But this President is taking major steps to make it even worse.
“The Biden Administration has announced they will cancel legal authorities that have helped CBP contend with these massive surges.
“A group of states led by Arizona have explained in court that Title 42 is, ‘the only safety valve preventing this Administration’s disastrous border policies from devolving into an unmitigated catastrophe.’
“The Administration’s attempts to explain why they’re caving to the far left and throwing our borders open make no sense whatsoever.
“The White House keeps claiming this is a public health decision and they cannot keep Title 42. Why?
“Democrats don’t act like they think COVID is finished. They give speeches daily about the need for more funding. They say we should be sending health assistance around the world. The only place on the planet where Democrats say COVID is over is on our southern border.
“A growing number of House and Senate Democrats have expressed concern and anger over President Biden’s awful decision. But press releases are one thing. What matters is how people vote.
“Senate Democrats have taken every meaningful opportunity to back the Biden Administration’s border policies and vote down Republican efforts to improve security. Their votes have helped create this crisis.
“We’ll see if they finally change course and begin voting to help Republicans end the crisis instead.”
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