Independent journalist Auden Cabello joins ‘America Reports’ to discuss the White House and Mexico holding a meeting amid the migrant surge. Republican lawmakers are criticizing President Biden for vacationing in the Caribbean with his family while the crisis at the southern border threatens to spiral out of control.
Biden is ringing in the New Year on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He arrived Wednesday as strained discussions over how to handle the record number of illegal immigrants crossing the border continue in Washington. Border towns and sanctuary cities like New York City are seeing their infrastructures buckle under the surge of people.
Sources told [Digital] that there have been more than 276,000 migrant encounters in December so far, already making it the highest month on record. “President Biden’s entire presidency has been a vacation from reality — 760,000 illegal immigrants have been encountered at the border since October,” Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., chairman of the House GOP Policy Committee, told [Digital].
Republican lawmakers like Reps. Gary Palmer and Mark Alford are criticizing President Biden for going on vacation as the border crisis worsens. “This is intentional and tells the American people everything they need to know. President Biden has no desire to stop it. He will continue to vacation while the border burns because this is the outcome he wants,” said Rep. Palmer.
“President Biden’s dereliction of duty is on full display while he sits on the beach and ignores the thousands of illegal immigrants invading our country daily,” Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas, told [Digital]. “America as we know it will be unrecognizable unless this administration comes to the table, starts enforcing the laws and stops the flow of illegal immigrants.”
Rep. Mark Alford, R-Texas, said Biden and his officials “should be ashamed” at the state of the U.S. migrant crisis. “Every month, we continue to see record-breaking encounters at our southern border. Instead of pursuing solutions, Joe Biden is spending time on vacation,” Alford said. “Mr. President, the world is watching. They see that our borders are in shambles and your administration has zero intention of course correcting.”
Another Texas Republican, Rep. August Pfluger, criticized Biden’s lack of action on the border crisis. “Texans are enduring some of the highest numbers of illegal crossings on record while the White House and Senate Democrats refuse to take action,” Pfluger said.
Since the new fiscal year began on October 1, there have been more than 760,000 migrant encounters at the southern border, making it the highest quarter on record. Additionally, there have been 82,000 known getaways since October 1. This surge in numbers has overwhelmed Border Patrol, leading to multiple records being broken.
Republicans blame the surge on the policies of the Biden administration, including the ending of Trump-era policies. However, the administration argues that it is dealing with a hemisphere-wide challenge and requires more funding and immigration reform legislation from Congress.
Digital has reached out to the White House for comment on the situation.
Griff Jenkins contributed to this report.
Elizabeth Elkind is a reporter for [Digital] focused on Congress as well as the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and politics. She has previously written for the Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow Elizabeth Elkind on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to [email protected].
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