Republicans Visit Detention Center in El Paso to Press Biden on Migrant Surge

Republican members of Congress are trooping to the U.S.-Mexico border to put a spotlight on a surge of migrants at the frontier that they say is the result of President Joe Biden’s shift from the hardline immigration policies of his predecessor.

Less than two months into Biden’s term, both parties are already framing their messages on immigration -- a perennial political flashpoint -- for the 2022 election to decide control of the House and Senate.

“On the border, we see that Biden’s policies created a border crisis,” House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy said last week as he prepared to lead a dozen other Republicans on a trip Monday to a detention center in El Paso. “President Biden announced that it was his priority to offer citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants. What did he think would happen?”

It was much the same during President Donald Trump’s time in office when high-profile Democrats such as New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren used trips to the border to draw attention to the squalid conditions for asylum seekers and people caught crossing the border illegally. It was, they argued, the purposeful result of Trump’s harsh policies.

The point and counterpoint of such trips illustrate just how far apart Democrats and Republicans have moved from any consensus on what to do about an immigration system that both sides agree is broken and in need of a fix.

Biden campaigned on a pledge of offering more assistance to those seeking refugee status in the U.S. Republicans say he is embracing an “open borders” approach that includes undoing a Trump administration program that sent thousands of asylum seekers back to Mexico until their immigration court hearings.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said last week it is “absolutely incorrect” to refer to Biden’s policy as open borders, adding that the “vast majority of individuals apprehended or encountered at the border continue to be denied entry and are returned.”

Still, the recent surge is striking. On Wednesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that 100,441 people tried to cross the border illegally in February, the first full month of the Biden administration, a 28% increase over January. More than 9,500 unaccompanied children came to the border in February, a 62% jump above January.

The Biden administration announced Saturday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency will assist shifting minors from Customs and Border Protection custody to the Department of Health and Human Services, which has longer-term housing facilities and attempts to connect underage migrants with family already in the U.S.

Psaki on Monday said the previous administration left the system “dismantled and unprepared” to figure out the best place to send children.

“It’s a very emotional issue for a lot of people,” Psaki said. “The challenge here is there are not that many options.”

There will be pressure on Congress to act, and it’s not clear yet whether both parties can find a middle ground like they did in 2014, during a big migrant influx at U.S.-Mexico border.

Responding to what was then a record number of more than 68,000 apprehensions of unaccompanied minors under President Barack Obama, lawmakers crafted a bipartisan $1.6 billion infusion for the Department of Health and Human Services, geared largely to help humanely detain, house and place unaccompanied children.

Any congressional action to address the surge this time will come the same time Democrats work to push through broad immigration-law changes that will be divisive. Biden has proposed a plan that would provide a pathway to citizenship for roughly 11 million people living illegally in the U.S., would bolster assistance to Central American countries and would ease immigration for people fleeing violence. Republicans declared the bill dead on arrival.

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[maureenjanousek]

Creepy Uncle Joe...definitely NOT my president

[cassandra]

They're worrying about people coming in. WE'RE WORRYING ABOUT THE US CITIZENS ALREADY LIVING

[Madmongul]

We can't even take care of our own people why are we letting more people in?!?

[williamppl]

Well if you open your country like that, people are gonna go in. The problem is, you dont know if these people are good or bad.
Have a great one America.

[norasee]

Bloomberg needs to quit interrupting the videos

[Garapetsa]

It's a mess.
TB, covid, lice, etc...real mess

[bennycolburn]

The best way you send them all back unlike us were American citizens we have to pay for everything we have to pay for our homes our food are cars everything but if you're illegal you get free Medicare and get free healthcare you get free food they pay you to live they give you money to live off of and you don't have to pay taxes but as an American citizen we have no rights

[Brainhoneywalker]

Didn’t show up when Trump had them sleeping on the ground in cages, after splitting up families (some still not reconnected). They should save their grifted funds for voter suppression. That’s where their “hearts” really are.

[fermiticus]

I bet we won't see any one of them posing with an over-dramatic face, by a fenced in parking lot!

[DRAGNET-pnvf]

PRESIDENT TRUMP 2024 OR SOONER. SOON BEING THE BEST OPTION!! 🇺🇲🌞✌️👍

[JesusSavesFromSin]

Jesus Christ saves from sin.
Romans 3: 23
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Hebrews 9: 27
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Isaiah 64: 6
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Revelation 21: 8
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Romans 5: 8
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
John 3: 16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 14: 6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Romans 10: 9-10.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Jesus said John 5: 24
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
1John 5: 10-13
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Ephesians 2: 8-9
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Romans 8: 1
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 15: 3-4
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
2 Corinthians 5: 21
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

[mikehall]

If there was a caravan of MAGA shirt wearing immigrants headed to the border we could get full border security with full democratic support by tomorrow morning

[st.roberts]

Come on man, that’s not a crises at the border. Everyone in the world has the right to vote in America so don’t stand in their way.

[mariejones]

how many visits does it take?! same amount of licks to get the middle of the lollipop?!!!!

[jessepadilla]

This is just sad. People are just blaming each other because they don't wanna admit that they are wrong even tho its basically everyone's fault. Instead if actually solving the problem they're just trying to get rid of it. I don't understand why its even called the united States even though its divided.

[dpedd]

Lmao now they wanna stop by and make a big deal out of it.

[Hendrix-Jimi]

Well, nobody else wants to go take a look so why not ?
Where’s AOC when you need her ?

[nightmarestitcher]

Should have brought a seal team and some body bags

[JohnTB]

Biden/Harris 2020 "Build Back Browner"

[patriciapeck]

What did they think was going to happen