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Tags: mo brooks | cnn | berman | border wall

Rep. Mo Brooks Compares Border Situation to 9/11

rep. mo brooks
Rep. Mo Brooks  (Bob Gathany/AL.com via AP)

By    |   Friday, 11 January 2019 01:00 PM EST

Rep. Mo Brooks Friday compared the Mexican border situation to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks by tying in overdose deaths and saying that thousands of Americans are dying every year because of a lack of border security.

"Let's look at 9/11, by way of example," the Alabama Republican told CNN "New Day" co-anchor John Berman, while arguing for the need for a border wall. "We lost 3,000 people, more or less, on 9/11. That justified going to war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and our troops are still there in varying degrees."

Meanwhile, with the southern border, "we have at least the loss of 15,000 lives," Brooks said. "You have 2,000 homicides by illegal aliens, according to federal government data. Another 15,000, 16,000 that die from heroin overdoses, 90 percent of which comes across the southern border not counting 55,000 additional deaths ...how many dead people do you have to have, John, before it's an emergency."

Berman argued that the "vast majority " of heroin crosses at ports of entry, and attempted to disprove the homicide numbers Brooks provided, using statistics from the Cato Institute showing low crime rates among undocumented immigrants.

However, Brooks dismissed the report as "propaganda" and called the studies "flawed." He also told Berman CNN is "misleading the public" when he referred to statements Brooks made in 2015 when then-President Barack Obama used executive authority.

"Those are different circumstances than what we face today," he argued. "What we are facing today is a national emergency of major proportions. Congress has delegated to the president of the United States the right. It is expressed in the United States code. You can look it up yourself. The right to declare a national emergency under certain circumstances. This meets that bill. "

Sandy Fitzgerald

Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics. 

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Rep. Mo Brooks Friday compared the Mexican border situation to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks by tying in overdose deaths and saying that thousands of Americans are dying every year because of a lack of border security.
mo brooks, cnn, berman, border wall
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2019-00-11
Friday, 11 January 2019 01:00 PM
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