HYDE-SMITH REGISTERS ALARM OVER BORDER CRISIS, SAYS CONGRESS MUST ACT TO OVERCOME BIDEN INACTION
‘This is a Crisis of President Biden’s Own Making. We can fix it,’ Miss. Senator Declares
VIDEO: Senator Hyde-Smith Says Border Crisis is Beyond Alarming, Demands Action.
PHOTO: Senator Hyde-Smith Speaks at Border Crisis News Conference.
Graphic: Southwest Border Apprehensions.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today said Congress must take strong action to overcome inaction by the Biden administration to secure the southern border, calling the record-breaking crisis of illegal crossings by migrants, criminals, and illicit drugs into the United States “beyond a cause for alarm.”
Hyde-Smith, who serves on the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, joined a news conference to call attention to ongoing defilement of U.S. border security and immigration laws in the first year of the Biden administration.
“There is a major crisis going on at the border,” Hyde-Smith said. “It is beyond a cause for alarm. It is truly a direct result of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris doing nothing about this at all. They are feeding into this crisis. They stopped the border wall. They have totally undercut the border agents, and they refuse to go down there. I am with Senator Lankford, that this is a crisis by design, that it is purposely created.”
There were more than 2 million illegal crossings at the southern border during President Biden’s first year in office, an all-time record. There was a 242 percent increase in illegal border crossings in December 2021 alone, compared to December 2020. In addition, the administration spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on failing immigration policies that include processing, relocating, housing, and caring for detainees.
“This is a crisis of President Biden’s own making. We can fix it. It is proven that we can fix it, that we can curb illegal crossings,” Hyde-Smith said. “We have to continue to do that and fix this crisis for the sake of the American people.”
At the news event, Hyde-Smith advocated enactment of the Wall Act of 2021 (S.3146), a measure she cosponsored to fully fund completion of the U.S.-Mexico border wall. The Joint Committee on Taxation has projected this legislation would result in savings of more than $33 billion, offsets that are more than enough to cover the $25 billion cost of the wall.
Hyde-Smith recently signed a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that sought justification of his handling of immigration policies, particularly the alarming practice of allowing illegal immigrants to use Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrest warrants as an acceptable form of identification by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to board airplanes.
“We struggle to understand why TSA would permit dangerous, criminal illegal aliens to use ICE arrest warrants to fly. This policy appears not only to be misguided, but also to defy the purpose of these arrest warrants in the first place,” Hyde-Smith and nine other Senators wrote.
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